Fw Hd/hub???

shagstlm

Ok so I have a powerbook and a dv cam and a lacie hard drive that i want to use to do some editing in FCE. The I noticed a problem when i was only getting about half the frames in the video. I Think the problem is that I have them all connected into one FW port. The HD is 400Mb/s and the dv cam is 100Mb/s. If i am not mistaken the whole chain is slowed to 100Mb/s. No Good eh. What is the solution. remember that Powerbooks only have one port...rather annoying. Can I get a hub or a pcmcia card? any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

cosmo

Does the PB have a FW800 port (if its one of the new 15/17" ones it does). If so, maybe u can find one of those FW800->FW400 adaptors.



Edit: come to think of it, i actually may look into something like this (14th item down) for my AlBook so i can connect both my ipod and FW400 HDD at the same time.

shagstlm

Quote:

Originally posted by Cosmo

Does the PB have a FW800 port (if its one of the new 15/17" ones it does). If so, maybe u can find one of those FW800->FW400 adaptors.



Edit: come to think of it, i actually may look into something like this (14th item down) for my AlBook so i can connect both my ipod and FW400 HDD at the same time.

nope it is a tibook...really bad planning on apple's part...in my opinion

709

iogear makes a 3-port card (GPF103), and I believe ADS does as well.



There was some mention on MacMinute a while ago about LaCie coming out with a FW800 card, but I couldn't find it on their site.

shagstlm

so is that my only option...does a hub with a slower device slow the whole thing down? Thanks for the suggestions.



chris

709

I wouldn't sweat the bus slow-down too much. Remember that 400mb/s (40MB/s) is FW400's 'theoretical' limit. It's more likely that your only getting 25-35MB/s anyway, and that's from an AC powered 7200RPM drive. If you've got one of those bus-powered 4200RPM drives, I'd guess you're topping out at ~15MB/s max.



Are you capturing DV straight to your FW drive or to your Ti's drive? You might have better luck with the latter, then transfering the data to your FW drive.

shagstlm

i have an ac powered 7200 rpm drive. I tried capturing to my pb hard drive and it worked ok. I think the problem is that once there is a 100mb/s device in the firewire chain it slows the whole chain down to 100mb/s. i didnt know if adding a hub would have the same effect...but capturing to my internal hard drive and then moving the files is an option...sucks but its an option...thnks

709

Quote:

Originally posted by shagstlm

...but capturing to my internal hard drive and then moving the files is an option...sucks but its an option...thnks

Yeah. Just spend the 50 bucks for the pcmcia card and then you'll have 2 seperate busses. If you're going to be doing a *lot* of editing on your TiBook you might wan't to consider upgrading the HD to Toshiba's 7200RPM drive. Perfect for zippy video throughput.

shagstlm

thanks a lot...i figured as much...thats good news anyway cause the damn hubs are almost as expensive...do you have a certain type you recommend?

thanks

shagstlm

just thought that i would let you know that i bought a belkin card at best buy and everything works great! thanks for everything