Making Music
  Computer Music Software and Hardware

Let me count the ways...

The benefits of FireWire over other communications protocols are many so let's take a look at its main features.

Fast data transfer. Typically, this has been 400Mbps (Megabits per second), implemented by Apple as FireWire 400, but FireWire 800 is now available which runs at 800Mbps and FireWire can go even faster than that as we'll see in a moment.

Hot-pluggable with Plug 'n' Play connectivity. This means you can connect and disconnect FireWire devices without switching off your computer. There are no device IDs to assign or terminators to connect as with SCSI.

Combined Asynchronous and Isochronous transfer for guaranteed data delivery.

Up to 63 FireWire devices can be used at the same time. Devices can be connected in a chain or via FireWire hubs.

Peer-to-peer technology. Using a hub, this allows several computers and peripherals to be connected at the same time.

Low cost. The FireWire interface is relatively inexpensive compared to SCSI, for example.

Low-cost cables. Again, standard cables are less expensive than SCSI cables.

Long cable runs. FireWire 400 supports cable runs up to 4.5 metres. However, with special cabling distances of 50m and 100m are possible.

Power supplied. Power can be supplied to FireWire devices through the FireWire cable.

Networking. Workgroup computers can be networked via FireWire using standard networking protocols. FireWire 400 is faster than 100 BASE-T, the most common Ethernet connection, while FireWire 800 is almost as fast as 1000 BASE-T.

If you compare these features with FireWire's two main competitors - USB and SCSI - you'll see that FireWire wins out in virtually every area.

But what about USB 2?

The original USB protocol, now USB 1.1, was intended to do little more than connect mice and keyboards so speed was not really an issue. However, some enterprising developers tried pushing the envelope by developing USB hard drives which really was pushing it given its transfer rate of 12Mbps.

So USB 2 was developed which offers a massive 480Mbps throughput. However, there are differences between USB 2 and FireWire that make FireWire the preferred choice for digital audio and video applications. For example, FireWire is a true peer-to-peer technology. USB uses a master/slave relationship which means that to transfer data from one USB device to another it must be copied to a central computer and back again.

Two FireWire devices can send data directly to each other without a middle man so FireWire 400 could still prove to be faster than USB 2's 480Mbps. And that's without taking into account the faster FireWire 800 speed.

FireWire can provide power up to 45W, compared with USB 2's 2.5W, and you can run FireWire devices up to 100m away, compared to USB 2's 4.5m cable length.

But USB 2 still has a place in the computer scheme of things, primarily with less-demanding devices that don't require high bandwidth or guaranteed data delivery.

<< Previous    1  [2]  3    Next >>