Firewire (IEEE 1394) = WTF??

Executioner213

Executioner213

Ultimate Meatbag
Sep 2, 2001
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Ok...so all these interfaces that have come out, and keep coming out, have firewire I/O on them.

None of the laptops I can seem to dig up anymore have either Firewire OR a fucking Express Card slot.

Are we, the music/recording professionals and hobbyists using an obsolete technology...or am I just too fucking stupid to find a laptop with either of those features anymore?

P.S.: is there any way to convert or adapt firewire to eSATA, since they all have those ports now!?!?! :bah:
 
Dude drivers on laptops just suck period. Especially if the hard drive writes at 5200 rpm vs. 7400 rpm, it can be difficult to even use the full capabilities of firewire if you can find it. Desktops really do tend to work out better for the purpose. That said you can still do good work on a laptop but for reliability a dedicated bare bones machine just makes things so much easier.

Cheers,
George.
 
Yeah, firewire has been on the path to extinction for a few years due to USB2 and eSATA. It really sucks asshole since we as audiotards use a ton of now 'legacy' firewire devices. I remember finding this out back when Vista was released and it didn't support firewire networking.
 
Ohmission said:
Dude drivers on laptops just suck period. Especially if the hard drive writes at 5200 rpm vs. 7400 rpm, it can be difficult to even use the full capabilities of firewire if you can find it. Desktops really do tend to work out better for the purpose. That said you can still do good work on a laptop but for reliability a dedicated bare bones machine just makes things so much easier.

Cheers,
George.
Click to expand...

That really wasn't my question though...

I need to get a new laptop. My interfaces use firewire. I've got a desktop with firewire. My current laptop is Core 2 Duo, 2gb RAM, 160gb HD, and it has the shitty firewire plug (which I don't use) and an express card slot (which I do use with a firewire card that has a TI chip). I'm looking for something bigger and better...but if they aren't coming with firewire, or at least a damn express slot, then what the hell do I have to hope for. I can currently record 16 tracks at once via 2 firepods on that current laptop, which I can only imagine has a 5200RPM hard drive (cuz I havn't ever looked), so why should I be worried about drive RPM?

Considering all the eSATA ports on stuff, how is "using the full capabilities of firewire" even relevant?
 
Sloan said:
Yeah, firewire has been on the path to extinction for a few years due to USB2 and eSATA. It really sucks asshole since we as audiotards use a ton of now 'legacy' firewire devices. I remember finding this out back when Vista was released and it didn't support firewire networking.
Click to expand...

Although this is true, it is mostly due to the license fee required to use FW. USB and esata do have license fees but once you've paid that's it. FW you have to pay for every port that you use on a device.
 
while we're on the topic, 2 questions/thoughts:

-is usb 2.0 actually worth a shit for low latency tracking with 8+ channels?

-how long can we expect to still see firewire around? will support be dropping off in the near future?

im getting a new interface in the next few months, and im curious about the whole usb2 thing.

EDIT: what im really asking, is if i put money into a nice Firewire interface today, am i going to be left high and dry in a years time?
 
abt said:
Although this is true, it is mostly due to the license fee required to use FW. USB and esata do have license fees but once you've paid that's it. FW you have to pay for every port that you use on a device.
Click to expand...

Do you mean licensing the use of the word "Firewire" from Apple or having to pay a fee for the use of IEEE 1394?
 
Sloan said:
Do you mean licensing the use of the word "Firewire" from Apple or having to pay a fee for the use of IEEE 1394?
Click to expand...

I'll admit I'm not 100% sure, even though IEEE 1394 is an open standard, the IEEE considers them to be the same thing so you still have to pay per port, at least that's what it was in the past. It's something like .80c a port.
 
All I was trying to say is that if you don't get a harddrive that writes quick enough, you may have problems with dropouts in your DAW if you are tracking more than 4 mics simultaneously. This may not be an issue, but it is just something to look out for and one that caused me issues. My laptop that I do recording on had major issues getting firewire to work right and I had an express slot, and ended up buying a firewire card, but still had issues. It was just a really big hassle for me, not trying to burst your bubble, just thought it may be something to be aware of. Maybe its not as big of an issue typically as it was for me. If you've had success in the past then I am sorry for giving you irrelevant information. Here is another option, its got the smaller port but also has an express slot: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5234559&CatId=4938

Hope this helps.


Cheers,
George.
 
greyskull said:
definitely.
can i have a blue peter badge while you're at it?:heh:
Click to expand...
Maybe...whats it worth to ya?

Ohmission said:
All I was trying to say is that if you don't get a harddrive that writes quick enough, you may have problems with dropouts in your DAW if you are tracking more than 4 mics simultaneously. This may not be an issue, but it is just something to look out for and one that caused me issues. My laptop that I do recording on had major issues getting firewire to work right and I had an express slot, and ended up buying a firewire card, but still had issues. It was just a really big hassle for me, not trying to burst your bubble, just thought it may be something to be aware of. Maybe its not as big of an issue typically as it was for me. If you've had success in the past then I am sorry for giving you irrelevant information. Here is another option, its got the smaller port but also has an express slot: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5234559&CatId=4938

Hope this helps.


Cheers,
George.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I dunno man. I havn't really had too much of an issue with dropouts. I was having a lot of issues with trying to use the integrated firewire port on my laptop once I went from 1 firepod to 2...but once I bought the appropriate FW express card (with the TI chipset), everything has been fine and dandy. Maybe that was a factor in your issues??
Hence, I didn't see what HD speed had to do with the initial question. It has to hit the RAM first, so I'm going to assume that having a laptop with more RAM is going to make a big difference in any drop-outs I may experience.

I'm also hoping that since most laptops seem to come with an eSATA port that I can run all my tracks to an external drive...something I look forward to experimenting with to see what results are to be had. I pretty much need to get another HD to replace the dead one in my external. Still grumpy about that dying after 4 months....the toss up between trying to get it replaced under warranty or employ fancy tricks to try to recover my data after buying another drive has been an impatient wait.
 
I think it's more a matter of price in terms of what laptops come with today. I've been eyeing a new laptop for a while, but still not ready to make the jump. I have an HP now, and it's been great...So, I'm looking HP again...The DV7 and DV8 stuff have FW ports built in (as does my current HP). However, for my Profire, I did have to buy an expresscard with a TI chipset...In looking at the HP's I just referenced, they also have expresscard slots. I paid 1500 for my HP in Feb. of 07, so this seems like a steal! You can generally get these direct from HP for 899 with the right coupon code. If you are interested, I could perhaps dig one up.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s.../psg/notebooks/High_performance/dv8tqe_series

However, if you are looking in the 500-700 dollar range, I think the availability of expresscard ports seems to dwindle.
 
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