Firewire

[jaycook]

How do you tell the difference in these, I see them they say 4 to 4 pin, 6 to 4 pin, 6 to 6 pin and so on, all cables in various length.
Is there no standard pin? and if so how do you...
A - Tell what your computer needs and
B- Tell what your whatever needs, in my case a DV camcorder
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Thanks!

[thecoalman]

They are practically the same, 6 pin has power in it for powering smaller devices such as the Canopus ADVC 110. Cams only have 4 pin because they supply there own power (at least I have never seen one with 6 pin). The one to choose depends on your computer. Most likely it has 6 pin so you'll need 6pin to 4 pin. If you only have 4 pin on your comp 4 pin to 4 pin will work just as well.

If you cam just happens to have a 6 pin which is highly unlikely you'll need a 6 pin port on your comp using a 6 pin to 6 pin cable.

[Conquest10]

The easiest way you can tell is by looking at them. 6 pin is larger than 4. 4 pin looks like the mini-USB plug. Like thecoalman said, they are the same except that 6 pin also provides power.

[jaycook]

Sorry I posted this again under Off Topic, but I added to the question and it didn't seem like it fit in Computers...anyways:

Another question I have is, I have read there is a 800mb/s thats new, compared to the 400mb/s ver that is standard, what do I need to utilize this. And my camera is a canon zr-300

[redwudz]

It's called 1394b. 800Mb/S Firewire requires a 800Mb/s Firewire card and a 800Mb/s Firewire device, such as a harddrive. It would make no difference at all, if it would even work, with a slower Firewire device. Some 1394b devices use a different socket layout.

[EggyToast]

Yeah, they're backwards compatible. You just need to get a FW800 to FW400 cable. Note that you won't get a speed boost. Just make sure that the FW800 port on teh computer is plugged into the FW800 device first, and then chain FW400 off of that.

Anyway, if you have a camcorder, you 99% likely need a 4pin to 6 pin. As said above, 4 pin is small, 6 pin is just a little bigger than USB and is what most computers have. Most PC laptops have 4 pin plugs (stupid, since you can't plug in bus-powered FW drives), Apple computers always have 6 pin.

If you *have* FW800 ports, then you should get that. Unless you have a newer Mac, or bought the card specifically, then you have FW400. The plug is a different shape.

But your camera only supports FW400, so don't worry about it.