Cheap vs Expensive Firewire Cards is there a difference?

[cpholmes]

Is there a difference between a $50 firewire card, and say a $150 to $300 card?

They all come with bundled software, and it appears that the better the software, the more expensive the card is. My question pertains the the actual card itself.

If I intend to stay below $250, my assumption is that the cards themselves are all the same quality, and I am pretty much comparing bundled software. Is this accurate?

[snowmoon]

That's my understanding as well. There are only a couple of diffrent after market firewire chipsets for the PC so most cards use ONE of them. Software and support appear to be the big cost of the $$$ ones.

[Nolonemo]

Those prices must be because you are purchasing editing and/or authorings software along with the card. You can find a card and cable without software for $20 on eBay. By and large, cheap cards work as well as more expensive ones - but if you have problems you won' t have as good support.