Firewire? How long?

Wonderlick

Wonderlick

Member
I'd really like to tether my camera to my laptop. How long can the firewire cable be?

Secondarily, anyone know a good source for firewire cables?
 
THe official maximum length for Firewire is 4.5 meters (15 feet). If you go beyond that using standard shielded cable, you start moving beyond the electrical and timing parameters of the wiring and protocol.

People routinely use much longer cables than that, but that is for DV25. It won't work for DVCProHD @ 100Mbps.
 
I've used a 30' cable with DV and it worked. Tried adding a 15' extension and it wouldn't work anymore.

Don't know about maximum cable lengths for DVCPRO-HD, but I would certainly err on the side of caution.
 
I saw the right angle cables, thanks for the link. They seem as if they would be safer beacuase they wouldn't have the wire sticking straight out.
Does anyone have better ideas about securing the on camera connection other than paper-tape? Have you taped the right angle tip to the body of the HVX? If there is available surface to do so that would make a world of difference from the standard to the taped right angle.
 
I just tie the cable to the top handle so there is no load on the FireWire port. I never have had any problems with that.
USLatinContent said:
I saw the right angle cables, thanks for the link. They seem as if they would be safer beacuase they wouldn't have the wire sticking straight out.
Does anyone have better ideas about securing the on camera connection other than paper-tape? Have you taped the right angle tip to the body of the HVX? If there is available surface to do so that would make a world of difference from the standard to the taped right angle.
Click to expand...
 
This is an item I've been using since before I did video professionally. When I was a musician, and IT pro, we always had to do cable management. At the music store, I get a pack of velcro strips made for this purpose. My are Peavy brand. Their about 4 inches long, and an inch wide. The non-velcro side is rough and grips againse the rubbery coating of cables really well. You can stick ends together to make them longer. I used to use them to strap wireless stuff and mics cables and such. Now I use them for my FS-100's cable. Very nice, very inexpensive.
 
There will never be a 4-pin to 4-pin version of that Bus Extender.

The reason is that the extender requires power for the electronics that regenerate the signal and timing information, and 4-pin cables don't provide current.

If you look at the specifications on the page you linked to, you'll see that it says "Power Supply: Bus Powered, Current Draw: 500mAh maximum, 300mAh typical" -- without getting power from a 6-pin Firewire port on your computer, the extender won't work.
 
There is, in fact, a Firewire repeater on the market. Can't give you a link right off hand. But I looked into this once and did find one. Inexpensive, small, looked nice.
 
Having searched the WEB for the past two days, I can say relatively sure that there seems to be NO 4pin to 4 pin firewire repeater. If anyone find one, a link would be appreciated.

Andreas
 
A repeater has to be powered, you have to have a 6-pin FW connection to feed power, so there can't physically be a 4-pin repeater. That's the diff between the two, 4-pin simply lacks the two power pins.
 
You could always use a repeater with a separate power supply -- Laird makes one:

Laird Firewire Repeater

The repeater is designed to accept 6-pin cables, but you can always use a 4-pin to 6-pin cable to connect the camera to the repeater (and possibly your computer). Obviously the repeater can then not be bus-powered, and you have to use the included AC power supply or a 12VDC battery.
 
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