About FireWire 800 Technology

Learn about FireWire 800 technology.

Overview of FireWire 800

FireWire 800

The FireWire advantage can be summed up in three words: speed, speed and more speed - at 800Mbps, it has more than two times the usable bandwidth of USB 2.0, which makes it the perfect choice for high-speed storage and serious video capture. The extra speed of FireWire 800 over USB 2.0 makes FireWire much more suitable for bandwidth-intensive applications like video and graphics, which often consume hundreds or even thousands of megabytes of data per file. For instance, single hour of DV-format video consumes about 13 thousand megabytes (13 GB). Other benefits include:

• Highly efficient architecture. IEEE 1394b reduces delays in arbitration, while 8B10B encoding reduces signal distortion and increases throughput. (See technology brief for details.)
• Better user experience. No matter how you connect devices together, FireWire 800 just works. In fact, you can even loop your FireWire 800 chain back to your Mac for redundancy while performing live.
• Backwards compatibility . Manufacturers have adopted FireWire for a broad range of devices, such as DV cameras, hard drives, digital still cameras, professional audio, printers, scanners and home entertainment. Adapter cables for the FireWire 800 9-pin connector let you use these FireWire 400 products on the FireWire 800 port.

FireWire 800 Technology Brief

FireWire 800
Language	Part No.	Description	Manual
English		FireWire 800 Technology Brief Description of FireWire 800 Technology

Related Links

• Apple Computer's FireWire Web Page (http://www.apple.com/firewire/)