Adobe OnLocation and FireWire cable length

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djtacoman

Member
I am shooting with a DVX100B and want to capture directly to my MacBook Pro using OnLocation. I have seen some very long FireWire cables, but I've also read that the longest one that will work is 15 ft. How long can I go?
 
The standard for Firewire states that it should only go to 5 meters. But that's just the standard. In reality, if you get a well made cable, you can go a lot higher than that with no problem easily. Especially for this kind of work. However, it will not be reliable for capturing; just monitoring. If you need a reliable signal for capturing a lot further than that you should consider a signal booster/repeater. But if you just plug in a huge cable it should work for other stuff. I've heard of people using 50' before. Probably depends on your camera as to the originating signal strength.
 
I've used a 30' cable many times. I wouldn't use it for connecting a hard disk, and I"d think twice before trying to send HD down it, but for a DVX we did an entire film on DV Rack (now known as OnLocation) using that 30' firewire cable.
 
On a dvx both a 30ft. and 70ft. work no problem. I got both of these from Laird. Beyond 75 ft. its recommended to use a repeater. The lower data rate for SD makes these long cables work seemlessly.
 
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