On 16 Nov 2002, at 9:58, Tony Beckett wrote:

> When down loading onto a PC something you had "filmed" with a digital
> video camera would you expect the file to be created in real time on the
> PC? So that a piece of video that takes 5 minutes to view would take 5
> minutes to down load. Is it possible to down load faster that it takes to
> view the video?
>
> Any help appreciated as I am very new to this and  I lack an understanding
> of the basics.

  The download time for a file is going to be determined by the speed of the
connection and the size of the file.  The length of time it took to create
the file, or that you expect playing it back to take, are not directly
relevant.

  Digital video is typically recorded in an uncompressed format, where the
file size is pretty much going to be proportional to the playback/record
time.  But at some point it is usually compressed to avoid encless copies of
unchanging background details, etc, dramatically reducing the file size.
  While I do not know specifically of any digital video cameras that perform
this compression *in* the camera before download, the equivalent is fairly
common in the digital still photography world, and I'm sure it is only a
matter of time before digital video cameras start offering this.

David Gillett

      "Hold No Punches.." Rode brings you great shareware/freeware
        programs with his honest opinions in this weekly column.
                       http://freepctech.com/rode