diff --git a/edexOsgi/com.raytheon.edex.plugin.radar/res/spring/radar-common.xml b/edexOsgi/com.raytheon.edex.plugin.radar/res/spring/radar-common.xml
index 91a5b1c02a..ff53c9efa1 100644
--- a/edexOsgi/com.raytheon.edex.plugin.radar/res/spring/radar-common.xml
+++ b/edexOsgi/com.raytheon.edex.plugin.radar/res/spring/radar-common.xml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 		<property name="pathProvider">
 			<ref bean="radarPathProvider" />
 		</property>
+        <property name="compression" value="LZF"/>
 	</bean>
 
 	<bean id="radarRegistered" factory-bean="pluginRegistry"
diff --git a/edexOsgi/com.raytheon.uf.common.dataplugin.vil/src/com/raytheon/uf/common/dataplugin/vil/dao/VILDao.java b/edexOsgi/com.raytheon.uf.common.dataplugin.vil/src/com/raytheon/uf/common/dataplugin/vil/dao/VILDao.java
index 470e75e73b..4c631aa5d7 100644
--- a/edexOsgi/com.raytheon.uf.common.dataplugin.vil/src/com/raytheon/uf/common/dataplugin/vil/dao/VILDao.java
+++ b/edexOsgi/com.raytheon.uf.common.dataplugin.vil/src/com/raytheon/uf/common/dataplugin/vil/dao/VILDao.java
@@ -29,8 +29,10 @@ import com.raytheon.uf.common.dataplugin.persist.IPersistable;
 import com.raytheon.uf.common.dataplugin.vil.VILRecord;
 import com.raytheon.uf.common.dataplugin.vil.VILRecord.DATA_TYPE;
 import com.raytheon.uf.common.datastorage.IDataStore;
+import com.raytheon.uf.common.datastorage.StorageProperties;
 import com.raytheon.uf.common.datastorage.records.FloatDataRecord;
 import com.raytheon.uf.common.datastorage.records.IDataRecord;
+import com.raytheon.uf.edex.core.dataplugin.PluginRegistry;
 import com.raytheon.uf.edex.database.plugin.PluginDao;
 
 /**
@@ -49,51 +51,61 @@ import com.raytheon.uf.edex.database.plugin.PluginDao;
  */
 public class VILDao extends PluginDao {
 
-    public VILDao(String pluginName) throws PluginException {
+    public VILDao(final String pluginName) throws PluginException {
         super(pluginName);
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected IDataStore populateDataStore(IDataStore dataStore,
-            IPersistable obj) throws Exception {
+    protected IDataStore populateDataStore(final IDataStore dataStore,
+            final IPersistable obj) throws Exception {
         VILRecord VILRec = (VILRecord) obj;
 
-        if (VILRec.getDataArray() != null
+        String compression = PluginRegistry.getInstance()
+                .getRegisteredObject(pluginName).getCompression();
+        StorageProperties sp = null;
+        if (compression != null) {
+            sp = new StorageProperties();
+            sp.setCompression(StorageProperties.Compression
+                    .valueOf(compression));
+        }
+
+        if ((VILRec.getDataArray() != null)
                 && VILRec.getFieldName().equals(DATA_TYPE.VILD.name())) {
 
             IDataRecord rec = new FloatDataRecord("Data", VILRec.getDataURI(),
                     VILRec.getDataArray(), 2, new long[] { VILRec.getNx(),
                             VILRec.getNy() });
             rec.setCorrelationObject(VILRec);
-            dataStore.addDataRecord(rec);
+            dataStore.addDataRecord(rec, sp);
         }
 
-        if (VILRec.getDataArray() != null
+        if ((VILRec.getDataArray() != null)
                 && VILRec.getFieldName().equals(DATA_TYPE.DVILD.name())) {
             IDataRecord rec = new FloatDataRecord("Data", VILRec.getDataURI(),
                     VILRec.getDataArray(), 2, new long[] { VILRec.getNx(),
                             VILRec.getNy() });
             rec.setCorrelationObject(VILRec);
-            dataStore.addDataRecord(rec);
+            dataStore.addDataRecord(rec, sp);
         }
 
-        if (VILRec.getDataArray() != null
+        if ((VILRec.getDataArray() != null)
                 && VILRec.getFieldName().equals(DATA_TYPE.EDVILD.name())) {
             IDataRecord rec = new FloatDataRecord("Data", VILRec.getDataURI(),
                     VILRec.getDataArray(), 2, new long[] { VILRec.getNx(),
                             VILRec.getNy() });
             rec.setCorrelationObject(VILRec);
-            dataStore.addDataRecord(rec);
+            dataStore.addDataRecord(rec, sp);
         }
-       
+
         logger.debug("VILDao: writing " + VILRec.toString());
 
         return dataStore;
     }
 
     @Override
-    public List<IDataRecord[]> getHDF5Data(List<PluginDataObject> objects,
-            int tileSet) throws PluginException {
+    public List<IDataRecord[]> getHDF5Data(
+            final List<PluginDataObject> objects, final int tileSet)
+            throws PluginException {
         List<IDataRecord[]> retVal = new ArrayList<IDataRecord[]>();
 
         for (PluginDataObject obj : objects) {
@@ -114,4 +126,3 @@ public class VILDao extends PluginDao {
         return retVal;
     }
 }
-
diff --git a/edexOsgi/com.raytheon.uf.edex.plugin.vil/res/spring/vil-common.xml b/edexOsgi/com.raytheon.uf.edex.plugin.vil/res/spring/vil-common.xml
index 6fe71fbce5..1625c30e43 100644
--- a/edexOsgi/com.raytheon.uf.edex.plugin.vil/res/spring/vil-common.xml
+++ b/edexOsgi/com.raytheon.uf.edex.plugin.vil/res/spring/vil-common.xml
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 		       <value>com.raytheon.uf.common.dataplugin.radar</value>
 		    </list>
 		</property>
+        <property name="compression" value="LZF"/>
    </bean>
    
 	<bean factory-bean="pluginRegistry" factory-method="register" depends-on="radarRegistered">
diff --git a/pythonPackages/pypies/pypies/impl/H5pyDataStore.py b/pythonPackages/pypies/pypies/impl/H5pyDataStore.py
index 7f8084bf95..4e0e7e514a 100644
--- a/pythonPackages/pypies/pypies/impl/H5pyDataStore.py
+++ b/pythonPackages/pypies/pypies/impl/H5pyDataStore.py
@@ -28,7 +28,8 @@
 #    Date            Ticket#       Engineer       Description
 #    ------------    ----------    -----------    --------------------------
 #    06/16/10                      njensen       Initial Creation.
-#    05/03/11      9134        njensen       Optimized for pointdata
+#    05/03/11        9134          njensen       Optimized for pointdata
+#    10/09/12                      rjpeter       Optimized __getGroup for retrievals 
 #    
 # 
 #
@@ -528,6 +529,7 @@ class H5pyDataStore(IDataStore.IDataStore):
         if chunks:
             plc.set_chunk(chunks)
         if compression == 'LZF':
+            plc.set_shuffle()
             plc.set_filter(h5py.h5z.FILTER_LZF, h5py.h5z.FLAG_OPTIONAL)
         
         szDims = tuple(szDims)
@@ -612,28 +614,28 @@ class H5pyDataStore(IDataStore.IDataStore):
     
     def __getGroup(self, f, name, create=False):
         t0=time.time()
-        parts = name.split('/')
-        grp = None      
-        for s in parts:
-            if not grp:
-                if not s:
-                    s = '/'
-                if s == '/' or s in f.keys():
-                    grp = f[s]
-                else:
-                    if create:
+        if create:
+            parts = name.split('/')
+            grp = None      
+            for s in parts:
+                if not grp:
+                    if not s:
+                        s = '/'
+                    if s == '/' or s in f.keys():
+                        grp = f[s]
+                    else:
                         grp = f.create_group(s)
-                    else:
-                        raise StorageException("No group " + name + " found")                
-            else:
-                if s:
-                    if s in grp.keys():
-                        grp = grp[s]
-                    else:
-                        if create:
-                            grp = grp.create_group(s)
+                else:
+                    if s:
+                        if s in grp.keys():
+                            grp = grp[s]
                         else:
-                            raise StorageException("No group " + name + " found")
+                            grp = grp.create_group(s)
+        else:
+            try:
+                grp = f[name]
+            except KeyError:
+                raise StorageException("No group " + name + " found")
 
         t1=time.time()
         if timeMap.has_key('getGroup'):