Device reservation in audio/video editing systems

Abstract

What fraction of disks and other shared devices must be reserved to play an audio/video document without dropouts? In general, this question cannot be answered precisely. For documents with complex and irregular structure, such as those arising in audio/video editing, it is difficult even to give a good estimate. We describe three approaches to this problem. The first, based on long-term average properties of segments, is fast but imprecise: it underreserves in some cases and overreserves in others. The second approach models individual disk and network operations. It is precise but slow. The third approach, a hybrid, is both precise and fast.