Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
The types of devices that can be connected to the PC via 1394 include mainly video cam-
eras, editing equipment, and external drives. The 1394 bus appears in many desktop and
laptop computers as a supplement to other external high-speed buses, such as USB and
eSATA.
Chipsets enablingPCCard/CardBusandExpressCard adaptersforthe1394busareavail-
able from a number of manufacturers, including some models that support both 1394 and
other port types in a single slot. Microsoft has developed drivers to support 1394 in Win-
dows 9x and later. The most popular devices that conform to the IEEE 1394 standard are
camcorders and digital video recorders. Sony was among the first to release such devices
underthei.LINKname.IntypicalSonyfashion,however,itsproductshaveauniquefour-
wireconnectorthatrequiresa6-pin-to-4-pinadaptercordtobeusedwithsomeIEEE1394
PCCards,andSonydoesn'tevencallitIEEE1394orFireWire;ithascreateditsowndes-
ignation (i.LINK) instead. Just remember that whether it is called IEEE 1394, FireWire,
or i.LINK, it is basically the same thing. Digital video (DV) products using 1394 also are
available from Panasonic, Sharp, Matsushita, and others. Noncomputer IEEE 1394 ap-
plications include DV conferencing devices, satellite audio and video data streams, audio
synthesizers, DVD, and other high-speed disc drives.
Because of the DV emphasis for IEEE 1394 peripherals, many FireWire PC Cards cur-
rently offered are bundled with DV capturing and editing software. With a DV camera or
recording equipment, these items provide substantial video-editing anddubbingcapabilit-
ies onyoursystem. Ofcourse, youneed IEEE 1394I/O connectivity,which is a relatively
common feature in modern systems, especially those that are multimedia oriented.
1394b Technical Details
IEEE 1394b is the second generation of the 1394 standard, with the first products (high-
performance external hard drives) introduced in January 2003. IEEE 1394b uses one
of two 9-pin cables and connectors, along with 8b/10b encoding to support speeds of
800Mbps-3,200Mbps with copper or fiber-optic cabling. In addition to supporting faster
transfer rates, 1394b has other new features, including the following:
• Self-healing loops. If you improperly connect 1394b devices to create a logical loop,
the interface corrects the problem instead of failing, as with 1394a.
• Continuous dual simplex. Of the two wire pairs used, each pair transmits data to the
other device so that speed remains constant.
• Support for fiber-optic and CAT5 (Category 5) network cable and standard 1394a and
1394b copper cable.
• Improved arbitration of signals to support faster performance and longer cable dis-
tances.
