IEEE 1394: overview, specifications and reviews

IEEE-1394 (also called FireWire) is a high-speed digital serial interface designed to transmit any digital data. To date, it is actively used in a variety of devices, including not only the PC, but also a lot of mobile gadgets.

Where is it used?

IEEE-1394 was developed in order to provide users with high-speed access to various storage devices, including hard drives, as well as CD and DVD drives. At the same time, the plans were to make such an interface, which would be truly universal, after which it would be used in various input devices, including scanners, photo- or video cameras, as well as other audiovisual equipment. But at the same time, its excellent parameters, such as flexibility and ultimate ease of use, together with the ability to transfer, when necessary, the priority of information for which time synchronization is a critical factor, were ultimately found to be optimal for ensuring normal transmission of digital video, As a result of which, to date, there is no alternative for them. The first hardware solution, which used the IEEE-1394 interface, was all sorts of boards designed to work with digital video.

What does it give?

This standard allows you to combine software and hardware to transfer information in a 100, 200 or 400 Mbit / s stream, with the latest implementations providing an even faster transfer rate. The connection between several devices with the IEEE-1394 interface is activated and switched off directly during operation (which is called "hot-plugging"). In other words, they do not need to turn off the power or reboot.

Sony and its development

For the first time, IEEE-1394 began to use the advantages of IEEE-1394 in its development by Sony, which paid attention to scalability, data transfer speed, the ability to process data in real time, ease of connection, and at the same low cost. As a result, the development of specialized integrated circuits, sharpened to this standard, has begun actively.

After the release of their digital video cameras, Sony specialists began developing a variety of solutions for personal computers, digital satellite TV receivers, digital video recorders, as well as various hard drives and CD or DVD drives. All these devices significantly expand the general possibilities of connecting various video or audio equipment to computers, which makes it possible to create a full home audio-visual network.

How can this be used?

Already today, it is possible to freely integrate various equipment with a computer, thus ensuring the effective management of any devices directly from your PC. From this equipment, whole systems can be formed, united by a standard connection of several devices with each other using a cable. Then, using a personal computer, acting in this case as a controller, you can record from a CD player to small mini discs, record digital radio programs, and enter any video files into a PC in order to then edit and edit them. Of course, this will save the possibility of direct exchange between video and audio equipment without the need to use a computer or, conversely, the exchange of information between several computers in the same way as in local networks based on standard Ethernet technologies.

NEC and its chip

NEC Corporation announced right after the release of the IEEE-1394 standard that it is developing a chip that will be used to support hardware routing between several networks based on this standard, as well as ensuring their normal interaction in broadband home networks of this standard. Such a two-port chip was equipped with specialized firmware, which automatically configures the network, and also provides the ability to establish connections between various network devices, including mobile devices as well. In this regard, there is the possibility of expanding the home network beyond the boundaries of a particular house for a range of up to one kilometer.

Answer from Sony

At this time, Sony continues to develop the concept of a home network based on FireWire IEEE-1394, while in the near future the company also continues to support developments that are practical in nature, and is also going to manufacture more high-speed, capacious, and compact components that have Low energy consumption. Such devices will have to be distinguished by a sufficiently wide range of applications, as well as further integration into system chipsets, and the company has long been providing its customers with a wide variety of home appliances that connect to the home network. This architecture is called HAVi, creating a kind of digital home based on FireWire IEEE-1394.

Standard in computers

The standard IEEE-1394, a photo of the cable with which you can see below, attracted attention not only from manufacturers of various media equipment, but also developers involved in the manufacture of devices for personal computers. Over time, it has become a major network standard, which significantly brought the digital age closer.

After the Windows Millennium operating system came out, the developers initially approved the support for local networks based on IEEE-1394 controllers, the characteristics of which at that time were more than adequate. This network is characterized by a high enough data transfer speed, which was four times higher than that used at that time in comparison with Fast Ethernet, and is extremely convenient for a small office or home. The only convenience in the process of building this network is that there is a small maximum length of each segment. In order to eliminate this drawback of IEEE-1394, the review and the characteristics of the device have shown that the most optimal will be using specialized signal amplifiers, as well as all possible multiplier-concentrators working on several ports. Such devices are called "repeaters".

USB 2.0 vs IEEE-1394

Almost immediately released interface USB 2.0 began to compete with IEEE-1394. The review of devices showed that the data transfer of the first interface showed 480 Mbit / s at that time, which was much more than the first version of USB.

The USB bus immediately became quite popular, due to the fact that it was quite a cheap option with support for the controller, which can be built directly into the chipsets for various motherboards. At the same time, it was almost immediately announced that the high-speed format could be implemented as a controller integrated in the chipset. Despite all this, Microsoft said that IEEE-1394 (port) is more priority for it, while USB has an asynchronous transmission, so it can not compete with the FireWire format in terms of digital video transmission.

In other words, any devices that use this interface can perfectly interact with various personal computers that have such an interface, as well as with each other. Thus, users were given the opportunity of high-speed transmission, processing and storage of information, without causing any deterioration in quality.

Controllers

The mass of controllers produced by the most different manufacturers appeared on sale. Initially, the controllers supporting the OHCI standard were widely used, as it was necessary to provide normal support for the Windows 2000 operating system, which is the main one at the time.

Prices for various adapters supporting the IEEE-1394 interface were low enough and were available to almost everyone. In particular, there were devices, the cost of which is below 35. $

Is it difficult to install it?

The installation of this controller was extremely simple, because, as mentioned above, Microsoft originally provided support for this interface, and therefore all the necessary components were present in the operating system. It was enough just to insert a disk with the distribution system written on it, and then, if necessary, to install all the necessary components.

In most cases, the FireWire controller shared an interrupt with a USB controller, but no conflicts arose even if they worked simultaneously.

It should be noted several boards, which in some computers are present even to this day.

Datavision DV Capture

This board is standard for the IEEE-1394 family of cards, the field of application of which is quite wide. In most cases, it is a PCI-card having two or even three additional external ports, as well as one internal one. In the initial delivery, there is provided a faceless software designed for editing video files. Such boards were used by many manufacturers, but they were all the same. Their prices are different, and the bundle may contain or lack a cable designed to connect various FireWire devices.

DVeasy

This board is almost the same as the previous one, but in this case there are no internal IEEE-1394 ports. What is it, understood by few, since there are a lot of reasons that necessitate the presence of at least one internal port, but the manufacturers of these cards were considered differently, while the cost of the board was set exactly the same as in standard devices.

The difference between this board and the rest is that it has enough unconventional software designed for video editing, and its interface is more similar to the actual standard in this area. In particular, it should be noted that this software provided a variety of useful elements, including background rendering, which helps to "brighten" the expectation of the final result.

Dazzle DV-Elitor

After the speed of data processing by laptops was almost equal to that of personal computers, a variety of portable solutions began to be used increasingly to provide input and further editing of video on the go, as well as to use many other FireWire peripherals. Such kits provide an opportunity for laptop users to connect absolutely any device using the IEEE-1394 standard to the PCMCIA Type II card. In the standard set of this card there is a specialized four-wire cable. Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of devices with this interface, for which you need to use a six-wire cable, so they can not work with this card.

The bundle includes a simplified version of the program Video Studio 4, which is intended to edit and enter video files. The program is fairly simple to learn, but thanks to the specialized technology SmartRender significantly reduces the total running time, which is provided by extremely detailed miscalculation of effects only during the final export of the finished file.

The card is quite affordable in terms of cost to most modern users, and is also equipped with an integrated cable. However, it should be noted that the lack of power seriously limits the functionality of this card in comparison with similar devices.

Thus, users have the opportunity to select one of several cards, compare their characteristics and determine which option is most suitable for their conditions. But in general, its use is not so relevant with the existing interfaces USB 3.0 and others.