Hi all,
I promised an update on our experience trying to use the HD-100 over a Firewire extender. Unfortunately, so far it hasn't worked out. In HDV mode, the HD-100 insists on using Firewire's 393 Mbps ("S400") speed no matter what, even though it only has 19.4 Mbps of data to send.
This means the HD-100 can't send HDV over Datavideo's long-distance (>15 ft) Firewire cables -- those are only rated for the S200 speed. The HD-100 also doesn't work with any of the "Firewire over CAT 5 UTP" repeaters, because those only work at the S100 speed. If the HD-100 had a more sophisticated Firewire implementation, it would know that it was connected to an S100 port and go into S100 mode, but unfortunately it doesn't.
JVC East Coast has been very responsive to our questions on this, and Ken Freed went and checked for us and came back with the reply: the HDV output only works at S400 mode, even though it only sends 19.4 Mbps of data, and JVC will not be changing this.
What _is_ possible is to use multiple 15-foot cables in sequence, joined with powered Firewire hubs or repeaters (exactly how far you can go with this is not clear to me). It's also possible to use some of the "self-powered" 15-foot cables, but probably only about 3 in a row before needing a powered hub/repeater.
For longer distances, we are probably going to buy a Mac mini (or other small computer) to receive Firewire from the camera and send it over 100 Mbps Ethernet, unless anybody here has any better ideas.
Cheers,
Keith
I promised an update on our experience trying to use the HD-100 over a Firewire extender. Unfortunately, so far it hasn't worked out. In HDV mode, the HD-100 insists on using Firewire's 393 Mbps ("S400") speed no matter what, even though it only has 19.4 Mbps of data to send.
This means the HD-100 can't send HDV over Datavideo's long-distance (>15 ft) Firewire cables -- those are only rated for the S200 speed. The HD-100 also doesn't work with any of the "Firewire over CAT 5 UTP" repeaters, because those only work at the S100 speed. If the HD-100 had a more sophisticated Firewire implementation, it would know that it was connected to an S100 port and go into S100 mode, but unfortunately it doesn't.
JVC East Coast has been very responsive to our questions on this, and Ken Freed went and checked for us and came back with the reply: the HDV output only works at S400 mode, even though it only sends 19.4 Mbps of data, and JVC will not be changing this.
What _is_ possible is to use multiple 15-foot cables in sequence, joined with powered Firewire hubs or repeaters (exactly how far you can go with this is not clear to me). It's also possible to use some of the "self-powered" 15-foot cables, but probably only about 3 in a row before needing a powered hub/repeater.
For longer distances, we are probably going to buy a Mac mini (or other small computer) to receive Firewire from the camera and send it over 100 Mbps Ethernet, unless anybody here has any better ideas.
Cheers,
Keith