Firewire question

[deango]

Hi. I want to replace my 2.0 USB PCI card with one that has some
Firewire ports.

I find online that I can buy cards with Firewire 800 (1394b) and USB
2.0 ports that are backwards compatible with Firewire 400 for $100 or
so. Or ones with Firewire400 (1394a) and USB 2.0 ports for $20. Or a
card with two 800 ports, one 400 port and some USB 2.0 ports.......All
have at least one internal Firewire and USB 2.0 port, 4 pin to 6 in
cables and some have video editing software. I don't want to spend the
higher amount if there aren't a lot of peripherals out there that
already require the Firewire 800, but I don't want to get caught with a
lot of outdated equipment.
Are the port configurations different for 800 and 400? I don't do lot
of camcorder or video editing. Thanks. deango

 

[decoder]

Hi. I want to replace my 2.0 USB PCI card with one that has some Firewire
ports.

I find online that I can buy cards with Firewire 800 (1394b) and USB 2.0
ports that are backwards compatible with Firewire 400 for $100 or so. Or
ones with Firewire400 (1394a) and USB 2.0 ports for $20. Or a card with
two 800 ports, one 400 port and some USB 2.0 ports.......All have at
least one internal Firewire and USB 2.0 port, 4 pin to 6 in cables and
some have video editing software. I don't want to spend the higher amount
if there aren't a lot of peripherals out there that already require the
Firewire 800, but I don't want to get caught with a lot of outdated
equipment.
Are the port configurations different for 800 and 400? I don't do lot of
camcorder or video editing. Thanks. deango

They are both compatible, it refers to data transfer speed.
800 megabits per second and 400 megabits per second.
Example: if you connect an 800 device to a 400 input, all
that will happen is the data will transfer at the lower rate.
Though this may be an important issue with Hi-Def and as
yet to be developed devices?

 

[decoder]

Hi. I want to replace my 2.0 USB PCI card with one that has some Firewire
ports.

I find online that I can buy cards with Firewire 800 (1394b) and USB 2.0
ports that are backwards compatible with Firewire 400 for $100 or so. Or
ones with Firewire400 (1394a) and USB 2.0 ports for $20. Or a card with
two 800 ports, one 400 port and some USB 2.0 ports.......All have at
least one internal Firewire and USB 2.0 port, 4 pin to 6 in cables and
some have video editing software. I don't want to spend the higher amount
if there aren't a lot of peripherals out there that already require the
Firewire 800, but I don't want to get caught with a lot of outdated
equipment.
Are the port configurations different for 800 and 400? I don't do lot of
camcorder or video editing. Thanks. deango

http://www.1394ta.org/index.html