firewire in general...

  • Thread starter Thread starter i dont know
  • Start date Start date
I

i dont know

New member
i have a dell demension E520 and i am pretty sure it doesnt have a firewire port. i tried to figure out what one looks like exactly and still couldn't find. so if this is the case, do i need a new computer? is there a way to hook firewire to my computer with the actual port?

im pretty sure ive heard firewire cards can help me connect, but im completely lost, so if anyone can help me that would be great.
 
If you don't have the port then you will need a PCI firewire card.

Any soundcard interface you have in mind?
 
a) Always get a firewire card with TexasInstruments firewire chips. The are the gold standard for audio interfaces (many interface manufacturers REQUIRE them). Belkin and Siig usually have them and you can get a firewire card from newegg.com for $20 or so.

For example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815150074#spec

b) Stay away from combo Firewire/USB cards. Many reports of problems. Stick with a Firewire-only card.
 
TimOBrien said:
a) Always get a firewire card with TexasInstruments firewire chips. The are the gold standard for audio interfaces (many interface manufacturers REQUIRE them). Belkin and Siig usually have them and you can get a firewire card from newegg.com for $20 or so.
.
Click to expand...

Here we go again, I dont think that this is the standard I have a laptop with a firewire chip that is not recommended by Presonus and it works just fine with my second Firestudio, just look for the recomendation from the hardware MFG. but dont trust it always....... Just like everyone says that Vista sucks for recording, I say BA HUMBUG. loads of crap....If only people would learn how to operate thier computer :rolleyes:
 
no idea what soundcard interface id like, and also, how do you install or attach a pci firewire card? ive heard its like legos?
 
look on the side to be sure you dont have one already... dell marks them as 1394 (the actuall computer spec#) and if not i think you need a pcmcia type card not a pci... though you would be wise to double check me on this... it will slide into the card slots... a pci card mounts inside a table top computer IIRC...
 
If you haven't bought a sound card yet I'd try to stay away from Firewire. It is an almost dead standard. It was designed as the end all for video cameras but has been surpassed in speed by USB 2.0 Every laptop currently in production has at least a pair of USB 2.0 ports and with most devices you can expand the number and location of USB ports via a hub. Firewire is getting increasingly hard to find and will soon go the way of SCSI; remember SCSI??

On the other hand, if looking for a new laptop I would make it a point to "try" and find one with Firewire. You never know what legacy product you might want to interface to. Then again I'd also like to have parallel and serial ports on my laptop :eek: And I could sure do without an S-video and VGA output; give me a DVI or better yet HDMI output for attaching to the ubiquitous digital displays that have completely taken over the market please :cool:

Oh, if you're adding a Firewire interface make sure it's the 6-pin version that will supply power. Many of the Firewire audio interfaces require this.
 
Alden_Sloe said:
If you haven't bought a sound card yet I'd try to stay away from Firewire. It is an almost dead standard. It was designed as the end all for video cameras but has been surpassed in speed by USB 2.0 Every laptop currently in production has at least a pair of USB 2.0 ports and with most devices you can expand the number and location of USB ports via a hub. Firewire is getting increasingly hard to find and will soon go the way of SCSI; remember SCSI??

On the other hand, if looking for a new laptop I would make it a point to "try" and find one with Firewire. You never know what legacy product you might want to interface to. Then again I'd also like to have parallel and serial ports on my laptop :eek: And I could sure do without an S-video and VGA output; give me a DVI or better yet HDMI output for attaching to the ubiquitous digital displays that have completely taken over the market please :cool:

Oh, if you're adding a Firewire interface make sure it's the 6-pin version that will supply power. Many of the Firewire audio interfaces require this.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: dont know what to say about this, anyone?????:rolleyes:
 
Carter said:
:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: dont know what to say about this, anyone?????:rolleyes:
Click to expand...


hehhehehehhe.... me thinks it's well intentioned but misinformed.... most of the usb interfaces you see are still usb(1?) if you will... and the difference is speed is ona practicle level minimal... 400 VS 430 IIRC.... and then there's the way usb dynamoclly alocates bandwidth.... so.... i'm not switching from fire wire anytime soon... and wouldn't rule it out in the future.... sure would like to use the eucon protocol though and then you're into ethernet...
 
dementedchord said:
hehhehehehhe.... me thinks it's well intentioned but misinformed.... most of the usb interfaces you see are still usb(1?) if you will... and the difference is speed is ona practicle level minimal... 400 VS 430 IIRC.... and then there's the way usb dynamoclly alocates bandwidth.... so.... i'm not switching from fire wire anytime soon... and wouldn't rule it out in the future.... sure would like to use the eucon protocol though and then you're into ethernet...
Click to expand...

Find one current production desktop or laptop that's not USB 2.0. Anyone?

The point isn't that USB 2.0 is fast than Firewire, the point is that it's just as fast. Firewire was marginally supported/installed to begin with and USB 2.0 made it unnecessary. The high end audio market is miniscule, what drove Firewire to begin with was camcorders and those have all switched to USB. I'm not saying you should drop Firewire if you have it. In fact I'm shopping for a new laptop and Firewire is a definite plus. The fact is that it's getting increasingly hard to find. Got any SCSI CD burners and hard drives laying around??

As far as dynamicly allocating bandwith just watch how many USB devices you plug in when you're recording. If it's a problem, and it shouldn't be unless you're using multiple audio interfaces (try that with the single Firewire you're lucky to get on a new laptop) then stop using the USB keyboard and mouse. Again I doubt it's ever going to be an issue but the other thing to check is how many USB busses (not ports) the machine has. Most desktops run a separate bus to the front and back USB ports.
 
No.

Firewire is built for LARGE SUSTAINED transfers like video and multichannel audio.

USB (even USB2) is built for short BURST transmissions and is NOT as robust as Firewire.

You can easily go past 60 SIMULTANEOUS ins and outs with Firewire, but not USB2.

Just. Aint. Gonna. Happen.
 
Yeah, and SCSI was a fine spec. The reality is Firewire is dying and fast. Just scroll through the new models of laptops that are coming out and the writing is on the wall. Glance through the latest camcorders. ALL offer USB. iLink (aka Firewire) is still on most of the high end models but few (and fewer) TVs are supporting it. And note that on those that do there's a disclaimer like this, "The display also includes two i.LINK (also known as FireWire or IEEE1394) connectors for connecting i.LINK equipped hard disk recorders or Blue-ray disc recorders. Sharp's manual says FireWire or i.Link equipped DVD-recorders, digital video cameras, and computers cannot be used with the TV—too bad given the popularity of iLink camcorders with consumers." The DV out provided by iLink has been made obsolete by the ubiquitous HDMI connections on all new TVs.

Getting Firewire on a new computer is a plus. So is a parallel and serial port in my book because I still have perfectly functional devices that use them. I wouldn't rule out an audio interface because it was Firewire and certainly many of the top products have used it. But, all of the new development is shifting to USB.... Shall we talk about the superior video quality of BetaMax :rolleyes:
 
What is happening here? Most of the interfaces that have any sort of decent number of inputs are firewire. I don't think its going anywhere. Get a Texas Instruments based firewire PCI card from newegg, if you want a decent set of options in terms of interfaces. If you choose a USB interface, don't worry about it, but don't choose USB simply because you are intimidated by installing a firewire card - its really not difficult at all.
 
True you can add Firewire. If you're doing so for a newer desktop then you might want to get one for a PCI Express slot since standard PCI is going the way of ISA, VESA Local bus and AXP. It's a bit more expensive to upgrade a laptop and they're in the mist of changing over from PCMCIA to PCIexpres/Newcard/ExpressCard. And it bites to have to shell out and additional $50-80 bucks for yet more crap to lug around with what's supposed to be a portable computer.

Certainly it used to be the case that the better audio interfaces and those with multiple pairs of inputs were all Firewire. USB 1.0 simply could not do the job. But if you look at the new offerings; Alesis has 8, 12 and 16 input USB mixers but only offers 8 and 12 in Firewire. The Lexicon Omega is an 8 in 4 out USB interface that stacks up against well against the Firewire offerings in it's price range. When you get bigger than that then Firewire still rules. But none of these are what I'd consider portable and you've got a pretty "professional" home recording set-up when you jump up to this class of machine. And how many of these are new products?
 
Alden_Sloe said:
Find one current production desktop or laptop that's not USB 2.0. Anyone?.
Click to expand...

you misread me i meant that most of the usb AUDIO interfaces are still just usb 1... there are a few usb2's out there the tascams IIRC...
 
TimOBrien said:
No.

Firewire is built for LARGE SUSTAINED transfers like video and multichannel audio.

USB (even USB2) is built for short BURST transmissions and is NOT as robust as Firewire.

You can easily go past 60 SIMULTANEOUS ins and outs with Firewire, but not USB2.

Just. Aint. Gonna. Happen.
Click to expand...

This sums it up nicely. And you mention 50 to 80 bucks to make your laptop use firewire. Uh, try less than $20 (you don't HAVE to have TI, just avoid the crap like Richot that comes with most prebuilt FW laptop boards. Plus sometimes it's priority sharing and not the FW chipset itself.)

I don't understand why the heat when it comes to discussions on USB vs FW anyway. There is nothing wrong with having a faster more efficient interface tool like FW. USB and USB 2.0 does well enough for most people out there, so it is the standard, especially for laptop motherboards. Those of us who require more bang just adjust and get what we need.
 
Alden_Sloe said:
what drove Firewire to begin with was camcorders and those have all switched to USB.
Click to expand...

I just bought a camcorder and it was firewire. In fact, I couldn't find a camera that recorded on miniDV and transferred via USB. The main reason they are using USB for hard drive recorders is because more people have USB, and the transfer doesn't have to be in real time, it can shoot the data to your computer in bursts. When transferring the digital data from a casette, on the other hand, it's real time so firewire is the better option.

But I really haven't been able to find an affordable interface for more than 2 channels for USB, so I'm looking into buying a firewire card and getting the FP10. Can you recommend any USB type interface with 8 outputs for around the same price (399)?
 
aren't we meant to be helping IDONTKNOW with his card, not debating on 2 ports guys?
 
Alesis has 8, 12 and 16 input USB mixers but only offers 8 and 12 in Firewire.
Click to expand...

Not a major point, but I'd like to point out that this is something to be careful of - a lot of people seem to be grabbing up these trend of mixers with a little a/d section built in thinking that they'll be a suitable "interface" for them, and finding out that they only transfer a stereo channel of digital information. Perhaps not all of such things, but for anyone who's looking at these, most of them don't actually transfer anywhere near that number of tracks - just a mixer with a low-quality add-on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top