Is there an advantage to using memory stick pro ultra for movies?

[mshaf]

A newbie to videos on my clie nx80 and I was wondering if it is worth it to pay the extra money for a 1GB memory stick "ultra" versus the regular version. It's about an 80 dollar difference.

[Tam Hanna]

IMHO the ultra is faster when it comes to data transfer. If the regular one is fast enough, then no. Else, yes.

[shender]

I've tried playback of recorded video using the sony VR100K (records directly onto Memory Stick media) and have notice no issues using the regular memory stick, and the memory stick pro. I have not tried the ultra, but understand the processor becomes the bottleneck. The ultra (as I understand it) is targeted at digital cameras, that need the speed to shoot rapid shots in sequence. Suggestion is to go with the regular pro...

[Tam Hanna]

I would go with whatever yo can get chapest if you don't write data regularily and don't need a high reading speed either(e.G. you have no big apps on the MS, etc-MP3's are read sequencially and thus are no problem).

[lmame]

By the way, do the CLIE really fully handle the ultra speed in first place?
When I have a movie or MP3 on a "classic" MS, it is played as fast as if it was on a MS Pro, which is supposed to be much faster than a MS (10 times if I'm correct)... So I guess if you use an Ultra one, you won't see much difference as the hardware does not handle it...

By the way, a standard MS is fast enough to play movies, I only had some troubles with cheap CF cards on a VZ, but none on NX70V, UX50 or VZ90 using standard or compatible MS...

[D. Dumas]

I've been wondering about the Ultra sticks also. I just got off the phone with Sandisk tech support. The guy didn't know the difference and told me they had the same speeds as the regular Pro. When I pressed him he went and asked someone else and came back and told me the Ultra 2 was much faster! He said they have a sustained read of 10megs and write of 9 megs. I guess that means the read/write specs of the regular Pro are burst speeds.

He also was told that they are made for cameras and might not work reliably in a PDA. This makes no sense to me and I think this is nonsense.

According to Sony the Th55 does not utilize the higher speeds anyway. I was told by their tech support that they recommend the Pro sticks only because they come in larger sizes (over 256 megs). They will perform the same as non pro sticks in the device.

Another difference is that the Ultra sticks are warrantied for life (original owner only) and the regular Pro sticks have a 5 year warranty.

So I agree with Tam Hanna, buy the cheapest stick. Unless you also want to use it in a camera or want the lifetime warranty.