Term of the Moment
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Redirected from: 1394
Definition: FireWire
Officially the IEEE 1394 High Performance Serial Bus (HPSB), FireWire is a high-speed interface developed and promoted mostly by Apple for video transmission. Introduced in 2000, FireWire was added to camcorders and a variety of A/V equipment. Even early iPods could connect via FireWire. However, on modern camcorders, FireWire was replaced with USB, HDMI and other video outputs.
FireWire 400 and 800
FireWire 400 was limited to a distance of 4.5 meters. In 2003, FireWire 800 increased the range to 100 meters and doubled the transfer rate. FireWire supported 63 devices, real-time data transfer, hot swapping and simultaneous multiple speeds. The faster 1600 and 3200 versions never got into production. See PC data buses.
FireWire Sockets and Compatibility
FireWire 400 and 800 Sockets
Dual Mode FW/USB
FireWire 400 and 800
FireWire 400 was limited to a distance of 4.5 meters. In 2003, FireWire 800 increased the range to 100 meters and doubled the transfer rate. FireWire supported 63 devices, real-time data transfer, hot swapping and simultaneous multiple speeds. The faster 1600 and 3200 versions never got into production. See PC data buses.
FIREWIRE VERSION TRANSFER RATES 1394a - 4.5 METER CABLE LENGTH FW400 400 Mbps 1394b - 100 METER CABLE LENGTH FW800 800 Mbps FW1600 1600 Mbps FW3200 3200 Mbps
FW800 was backward compatible with FW400. One end of a "bilingual cable" had an FW800 plug, while the other end was FW400. Sony's i.Link was a miniaturized socket that connected to cables with i.Link, FW400 or FW800 at the other end.
The two FireWire sockets are easily identified.
This earlier external hard drive connected to the computer via FireWire or USB, whichever cable was plugged in.