Alcorn McBride Application Note - How Much Flash Do I Need?

App Note:

How Much Flash Do I Need?

Determining Playback Duration For Different File Types

Many Alcorn McBride Digital Audio and Video Products utilize flash media for audio/video storage and playback. It's easy to find these storage devices from a variety of manufacturers, but if you're not purchasing your media from Alcorn McBride you should verify the brand has been tested and shown to work at the data playback rates needed by your product. That information is in your user manual, or may be obtained from our technical support department.

Alcorn McBride recommends SanDisk Brand Flash Memory. Thousands of our products are in use with these devices, and our customers have had very good results with them. They are compatible with all of our products, and can handle the high bitrate demands of video playback. If you're contemplating using a different brand, please check with us about compatibility.

The next step is to determine how large a device you need. This guide will help you do that.

Jim Carstensen

Director of Engineering

Equipment
Audio	8-TraXX/E ProTraXX TourTraXX AM4 Digital Binloop
Video	DVM-7400 Video Binloop DVM-8400 Digital BinloopHD
Lighting	LightCuePro LightCue with Ethernet

Step 1 - Identify Your Product

The first step in determining the flash card your application requires is to identify what type of audio or video will be stored on it, as well as the total length of the presentation. The following Alcorn McBride products use flash media for the storage of audio/video data:

Digital Audio Machine Model AM4	MP3 Stereo Audio 16-Bit PCM Stereo or Mono Audio (44.1KHz, 48kHz) All Compact Flash sizes supported
Digital Video Machine Model 7400	MPEG2 Video at 8Mbps (15 Mbps max) All Compact Flash sizes supported
ProTraXX 8Traxx/E TourTraXX	MP3 Stereo Audio (up to 8 independent tracks at once) All Compact Flash sizes supported
Digital Binloop (Repro24D)	16-Bit PCM Stereo or Mono Audio (44.1KHz, 48KHz, 96kHz) 24-Bit PCM Stereo or Mono Audio (44.1kHz, 48KHz, 96KHz) MPEG2 SD Video at 8Mbps (15 Mbps max) All Compact Flash sizes supported
Video Binloop (Repro16V)	16-Bit PCM Stereo or Mono Audio (44.1KHz, 48KHz) MPEG2 SD Video at 8Mbps (15 Mbps max) All Compact Flash sizes supported
LightCue with Ethernet	1 Universe of DMX Lighting Data 512 Channels of DMX Recorded Every Frame All Compact Flash sizes supported
LightCue Pro	1-4 Universes of DMX Lighting Data 512 Channels of DMX Recorded Every Frame (Per Universe) All Compact Flash sizes supported
Digital Binloop HD (ReproHD)	MPEG2 HD Video at 30 Mbps (40 Mbps max) H.264 HD Video at 20Mbps (30 Mbps max) All Compact Flash sizes supported
Digital Video Machine HD Model 8400 Model 8500	MPEG2 HD Video at 30 Mbps (40 Mbps max) H.264 HD Video at 20Mbps (30 Mbps max) All Compact Flash sizes supported

Step 2 - Determine the Storage Device Size

The final step is to select the correct size of storage device for your application from the selection chart below. For example, let's say you have a Digital Binloop and wish to play a total of 20 minutes of CD-quality (44.1KHz sampling rate) stereo sound effects from a single reproducer. According to the Audio chart, you would need to purchase a 256MB storage device (or larger) to store the required amount of audio.

Here's a handy Flash Memory Size Calculator.

Playback lengths are listed in minutes unless indicated otherwise. The actual storage capacity of your card may vary slightly according to the manufacturer's specifications.

Audio

	MP3	16-Bit PCM Audio				24-Bit PCM Audio
Media Size	Variable 128kbps	44.1KHz (Mono)	48KHz (Mono)	44.1KHz (Stereo)	48KHz (Stereo)	48KHz (Mono)	96KHz (Mono)	48KHz (Stereo)	96KHz (Stereo)
64 MB	1 hour	12	11	6	6	8	4	4	2
128 MB	2 hours	24	22	12	11	14	7	8	4
256 MB	4 hours	48	44	24	22	30	15	15	7
512 MB	8 hours	97	89	48	44	1 hour	30	30	15
1 GB	16 hours	3 hours	3 hours	96	89	2 hours	1 hour	1 hour	30
2 GB	32 hours	6 hours	6 hours	3 hours	3 hours	4 hours	2 hours	2 hours	1 hour
4 GB	64 hours	12 hours	12 hours	6 hours	6 hours	8 hours	4 hours	4 hours	2 hours
8 GB	128 hours	24 hours	24 hours	12 hours	12 hours	16 hours	8 hours	8 hours	4 hours
16 GB	256 hours	48 hours	48 hours	24 hours	24 hours	32 hours	16 hours	16 hours	8 hours
32 GB	512 hours	96 hours	96 hours	48 hours	48 hours	64 hours	32 hours	32 hours	16 hours

Video

	MPEG-1 SD Video	MPEG-2 SD Video	MPEG2 HD Video	H.264 HD Video
Media Size	3Mbps (CBR)	8Mbps (CBR)	30 Mbps (CBR)	20 Mbps (CBR)
1 GB	46	17	5	7
2 GB	91	34	10	14
4 GB	3 hours	1 hour	20	29
8 GB	6 hours	2 hours	40	1 hour
16 GB	12 hours	4.5 hours	80	2 hours
32 GB	24 hours	9 hours	2.5 hours	4 hours
64 GB	48 hours	18 hours	5.5 hours	8 hours
128 GB	96 hours	36 hours	11 hours	16 hours

Lighting

	1 Universe	2 Universes	3 Universes	4 Universes
Media Size	123Kbps	246Kbps	369Kbps	492Kbps
64 MB	1 hour	30	20	15
128 MB	2 hours	1 hour	40	30
256 MB	4 hours	2 hours	80	1 hour
512 MB	8 hours	4 hours	160	2 hours
1 GB	16 hours	8 hours	5 hours	4 hours
2 GB	32 hours	16 hours	10 hours	8 hours
4 GB	64 hours	32 hours	20 hours	16 hours
8 GB	128 hours	64 hours	40 hours	32 hours
16 GB	256 hours	128 hours	80 hours	64 hours
32 GB	512 hours	256 hours	160 hours	128 hours
64 GB	1024 hours	512 hours	320 hours	256 hours