It's sad the average computer user hardly knows Firewire, let alone its real world benefits. USB 2 - brainwashing at its finest.
Is FireWire doomed?
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This is especially true of that fact that the FireWire standard has a much faster interface in the form of FW800.... All of my external drives are FW800, and the performance is noticeably better. Unfortunately, the availability of lower-end drives with FW800 interfaces seems to be getting sparser.
Fortunately, I don't see Apple abandoning FireWire on their computers any time soon.... I was worred about the MBPs in the first release, but was happy to see they added FW800 back in with the later generation. On the other hand, it's a shame the iPod line left it behind with the 5G, but the benefits of FW on the iPod were minimal at best except when doing a complete reload of your iPod (which shouldn't have to be done all that often).
Fortunately, I don't see Apple abandoning FireWire on their computers any time soon.... I was worred about the MBPs in the first release, but was happy to see they added FW800 back in with the later generation. On the other hand, it's a shame the iPod line left it behind with the 5G, but the benefits of FW on the iPod were minimal at best except when doing a complete reload of your iPod (which shouldn't have to be done all that often).
Firewire = Beta?
USB = VHS?
Beta is better quality but a victim of less marketing. Still, people who need the absolute best (TV stations, filmmakers) stuck with it.
USB = VHS?
Beta is better quality but a victim of less marketing. Still, people who need the absolute best (TV stations, filmmakers) stuck with it.
No conspiracy theories there, just the ease of use of having two or three interchangeable interface sockets. Talking about let people down, I have been moaning about Apple not having 2x400 FW on the MBPs and 2x400 (like in the old days) and 1x800 on the iMacs. Video capture does require 2xFW, there is no way around it if you don't want dropped frames and not everybody wants to upgrade all their drives to 800.
Actually, FW800 is backward-compatible, so with the proper cable, you can plug a FW400 drive into a FW800 port with no issues (or vice-versa, for that matter). You'll only get FW400 speeds of course, but it will still work.
Therefore, the FW800 port on the MBP can be used as a second FW400 port if you prefer -- you just need a 9-pin to 6-pin FW cable.
Therefore, the FW800 port on the MBP can be used as a second FW400 port if you prefer -- you just need a 9-pin to 6-pin FW cable.
Ah, didn't know that. A cable should be cheaper than a new drive...Therefore, the FW800 port on the MBP can be used as a second FW400 port if you prefer -- you just need a 9-pin to 6-pin FW cable.
Baloney. I used to do video editing on my 500MHz iBook with one Firewire port. Camera into External HD. HD into my computer. Occasionally if my hard drive was fragmented, I would get hiccups, but a quick defrag, and I would capture DV perfectly.Video capture does require 2xFW, there is no way around it if you don't want dropped frames and not everybody wants to upgrade all their drives to 800.
G
I think that was one of the worst articles from arstechnica I've ever read .. not sure who did their research on that one. It was not much more than speculation. The part about the "IP owners" fees was a bit laughable.
There are a lot of firewire devices out there, most significantly in the hard drive market, and the video market has it pretty much locked up solid. DV is a standard and is not going to go away anytime soon, and FW800 is far superior to USB2 for hard drive usage (like RAID towers) and is still a very viable option in that market.
Moscool: If you get errors when trying to do captures with more than one FW device on your chain, blame your Camera/Deck ... not the protocol. Lots of cameras (and some cheaper decks) do nasty things to the firewire bus, like requiring it drop it's speed down to 100MB/sec for all devices. Given that case it's not a surprise that you would get dropouts. That's not a FW problem, but a cheap chipset in the camera/deck.
There are a lot of firewire devices out there, most significantly in the hard drive market, and the video market has it pretty much locked up solid. DV is a standard and is not going to go away anytime soon, and FW800 is far superior to USB2 for hard drive usage (like RAID towers) and is still a very viable option in that market.
Moscool: If you get errors when trying to do captures with more than one FW device on your chain, blame your Camera/Deck ... not the protocol. Lots of cameras (and some cheaper decks) do nasty things to the firewire bus, like requiring it drop it's speed down to 100MB/sec for all devices. Given that case it's not a surprise that you would get dropouts. That's not a FW problem, but a cheap chipset in the camera/deck.
A few years ago (2004) James Wiebe wrote
Seems to be on the mark...
http://www.wiebetech.com/whitepapers.phpApple’s role as a storage standard bearer has been diminished because of errors in the FireWire 800 rollout. While professionals and high end consumers will continue to acquire and use FireWire 800 for a long period of time, purchasing decisions will move in other directions, starting in 2005. FireWire 400 will continue to retain market share. USB2 will be popular among cost conscious consumers. NAS will offer benefits for some, but SATA will be the biggest winner, because of its low costs and high
performance.
FireWire 800 is a great technology which was not supported by great planning or great marketing. It succeeded in its mission to provide a technically superior alternative to FireWire 400, but failed to gain prominence in the market. Due to a variety of errors and miscalculations in how it was marketed, it has not been a cost effective choice for consumers. It will continue to have a role of prominence for professionals, because it does work extremely well, but will be threatened by SATA and other emerging storage technologies.
Seems to be on the mark...
I suspect eSATA will supplant it in a year or so. Logical step in my view.
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