FireWire really shines when it comes to digital video applications. Most digital video cameras or camcorders now have a FireWire plug. When you attach a camcorder to a computer using FireWire, the connection is amazing.
IEEE 1394 is an interface standard for a serial bus for high-speed communications and isochronous real-time data transfer. It was developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s by Apple in cooperation with a number of companies, primarily Sony and Panasonic.Apple called the interface FireWire.It is also known by the brands i.LINK (Sony), and Lynx (Texas Instruments). FireWire 800 is available on the non-Retina MacBook Pro, Mac mini and Mac Pro. It was originally developed by Apple and released in 1999,as FireWire 400, when the very first PowerMac G3 was launched. Since then, it's been updated to FireWire 800.
An important element of FireWire is the support of isochronous devices. In isochronous mode, data streams between the device and the host in real-time with guaranteed bandwidth and no error correction. Essentially, this means that a device like a digital camcorder can request that the host computer allocate enough bandwidth for the camcorder to send uncompressed video in real-time to the computer. When the computer-to-camera FireWire connection enters isochronous mode, the camera can send the video in a steady flow to the computer without anything disrupting the process.
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You can easily edit and create custom video projects using fast hard drives, a digital camcorder and a computer. With the right software, the computer and the camera communicate, and the computer can download all of the video automatically and with perfect digital clarity. Since the content is digital from start to finish, there is no loss of quality as you work on successive generations.
For more information on FireWire and related topics, check out the links below.
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Firewire Cable Mac To Mac
Sources
- 'More wires, more fire: FireWire 800.' CNET.com. http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3185_7-6215130-1.html?tag=more
- '1394 Technology - About.' 1394 Trade Association. http://www.1394ta.org/Technology/About/TechTalk.htm
- 'Do you need FireWire 800?' CNET.com. http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10166_7-6258635.html
For more information on FireWire and related topics, check out the links below.
Related Articles
More Great Links
Firewire Cable Mac To Mac
Sources
- 'More wires, more fire: FireWire 800.' CNET.com. http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3185_7-6215130-1.html?tag=more
- '1394 Technology - About.' 1394 Trade Association. http://www.1394ta.org/Technology/About/TechTalk.htm
- 'Do you need FireWire 800?' CNET.com. http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10166_7-6258635.html
FireWire is a method of transferring information between digital devices, especially audio and video equipment. Also known as IEEE 1394, FireWire is fast -- the latest version achieves speeds up to 800 Mbps. At some time in the future, that number is expected to jump to an unbelievable 3.2 Gbps when manufacturers overhaul the current FireWire cables.
You can connect up to 63 devices to a FireWire bus. Windows operating systems (98 and later) and Mac OS (8.6 and later) both support it.
Firewire To Usb Cable
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Let's say you have your digital camcorder connected to your home computer. When your computer powers up, it queries all of the devices connected to the bus and assigns each one an address, a process called enumeration. FireWire is plug-and-play, so if you connect a new FireWire device to your computer, the operating system auto-detects it and asks for the driver disc. If you've already installed the device, the computer activates it and starts talking to it. FireWire devices are hot pluggable, which means they can be connected and disconnected at any time, even with the power on.
Mac Firewire Cable Types
Now let's take a look at FireWire's specifications.
