Firewire Card

[eddd333]

Hi i was wondering if anyone could tell me if when looking for a firewire card are there any specific spec's i should look for? I am using it to transfer video from my dv recorder. I see alot of cheap ones so i do not know if there are certain spec's to look for...
thanks...

[LeoNapier]

Hi there!

Firewire cards come in various brands/prices but the specs to my knowledge are the same.
Just pick up a cheap one with enough ports to accomodate yr future needs (did you know you can plug in external HDD's to a firewire card? -just in case your IDE is as crowded up as mine is! ) and you are all set to capture DV!!!

BTW, if your camera is a Sony: i-Link = Firewire.
Sony thought they 'd be cute and give it another name!!
Sony Firewire Card (sorry i-Link I meant!!! :P )) and cable went for $280 back when I was looking for a way to transfer DV to my PC! I picked up an Asus Firewire (IEEE 1394) card that came with a bonus 4-6 pins cable for about $90!!! I have been happily capturing DV ever since....

Good Luck!!


LeoNapier

[Faustus]

Sony calls it something different then Firewire because they changed the spec a little, the connector is smaller and the bus is not powered like Firewire is (of course if you add in a firewire card its not usually powered either, but onboard firewire is) But the only difference for most people is if you get a normal firewire and have an ilink device you need a slightly different cable and thats it.

So get whatever firewire card you can find cheap, I know around here every few months I see one for $20 or less onsale.

[LeoNapier]

Hi flaystus!

Didnt realise that Sony had changed the spec on the firewire...

Actually I went through my camera's manual very carefully back then and there waz only a tiny little paragraph, in tiny little writing that clearly stated (in parenthesis!! ) that the Sony i-Link fully complies to the IEEE 1394 standard.
If i-Link complies with IEEE 1394 would it not mean that it should work with any 1394 cable and card??



LeoNapier

[turk690]

The first thing to look for is that the FireWire card should be open-host control interface (OHCI). This is mostly a given nowadays, but old, very cheap FireWire cards may only be universal host (UHCI), which can NOT be used for camcorders, but only for FireWire HDDs, scanners, etc. Second, there are a number of FireWire chipsets. The most successful cards use a Texas Instruments (TI) chipset (in the sense that it gives the best chances of the PC recognizing whatever connected DV camcorder). This is easily verified by looking at the marks of the ICs on the card. Some cards using an Agere chipset, for example, do not recognize some Samsung DV camcorders, but have no problems with Sony. I use a very well-behaved ADSTech PyroPlatinum FireWire card (which uses the TI chipset) that comes bundled with a full version of Adobe Premiere 6.5 (can't beat that value at $260 for the lot).

[Jester700]

Sony calls it something different then Firewire because they changed the spec a little, the connector is smaller and the bus is not powered like Firewire is (of course if you add in a firewire card its not usually powered either, but onboard firewire is) But the only difference for most people is if you get a normal firewire and have an ilink device you need a slightly different cable and thats it.

So get whatever firewire card you can find cheap, I know around here every few months I see one for $20 or less onsale.

That small connector is still part of the firewire standard, and still IEEE1394. Yes, the difference in the 4-pin vs. 6-pin connector is power. But Sony isn't exclusive in using this; my Dell laptop sports one, too.