OT FireWire800 to become FW3200 next year

TGS wrote on 12/18/2007, 11:06 AM
if anybody cares.......
FireWire 800 speed set to quadruple next year:


The speed of FireWire is set to quadruple next year after the group behind it announced a new specification for the networking interface.

FireWire is the best-known brand name for the 1394 standard, which is also known as i.Link. The technology is used as a high-speed data interface for linking devices such as external hard drives and camcorders to PCs.

On Thursday, the 1394 Trade Association announced the S3200 electrical specification for FireWire. The specification builds upon the existing IEEE 1394b standard by boosting the maximum speed from 800 megabits per second to 3.2Gbps. Importantly, S3200 can use the cables and connectors already in use for FireWire 800 products, the association claimed.

"The S3200 standard will sustain the position of IEEE 1394 as the absolute performance leader in multipurpose I/O ports for consumer applications in computer and CE devices," the 1394 Trade Association's executive director, James Snider, said in a statement. "There is a very clear migration path from 800Mbps to 3.2Gbps, with no need for modifications to the standard and no requirement for new cables or connectors."

The association hopes to have the S3200 specification ratified by early February, and has used the speed boost to position FireWire as an alternative to other recent interfacing technologies.

The association's statement claimed the development of S3200 meant users would see no advantage from eSATA, a competing connectivity standard that is starting to appear on hard drives and PCs alike. The association said that eSATA is not faster, nor can it provide electrical power to devices as FireWire can. S3200 is also much faster than USB 2.0 and can provide more power to devices than USB 2.0.

The association also said that FireWire would soon be able to operate over cable television coaxial cables, and said S3200 would make the standard fast enough to move uncompressed high-definition television signals over long distances at a lower cost than HDMI, the current standard for HD connections.

FireWire is, according to the association, "the only separable interface today that can record HD programs in their full digital quality while also meeting the content protection requirements of copyright holders."

David Meyer of ZDNet UK reported from London.

©2007 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. CNET , CNET.com , and the CNET logo are registered trademarks of CNET Networks, Inc. Used by permission.

Comments

jrazz wrote on 12/18/2007, 11:10 AM
Sounds interesting but I wonder if this will cause one to have to upgrade their 800 pci-x/pci/pci-express cards or will it be a simple driver update that makes the difference on the PC side of it?

j razz
Chienworks wrote on 12/18/2007, 11:18 AM
If it was just a driver update then we would have had 3200 about 5 minutes after 800 was introduced.

Just curious, but how many folks use FW800 now? Most everyone i know still uses FW400 as it's way faster than they need already.
rmack350 wrote on 12/18/2007, 11:28 AM
Sounds like they're proposing it as an alternative to HDMI (among other things).

Great! Now I can have the opportunity to smoke and discard much more expensive hardware.

Rob
john-beale wrote on 12/18/2007, 11:48 AM
For single external disk drives, USB2 and Firewire 400 limit the performance somewhat vs. SATA or IDE. I don't have Firewire 800 but I'd think that would be plenty. For an external RAID I suppose you'd want ESATA or the new Firewire. ESATA is kind of inferior because SATA was never designed for external devices. But I'd agree, I think the real driver for this (if there is one) is ever-higher-definition video.
jrazz wrote on 12/18/2007, 12:04 PM
I use firewire 800 with my Lacie drives. They have connections for it and my MOBO has connections for it and that frees up space for more firewire 400 devices. I think though you were asking for if anyone found a need for firewire 800 and I would have to answer that with: I don't have a need for its speed but I did find a use for the ports. :)

j razz
farss wrote on 12/18/2007, 12:58 PM
I've used firewire 800 a bit and I love it. Pity there just isn't more of it around really. The connectors are way better if nothing else so anyone worried about frying anything needn't, with the 800 connectors I don't see how it'd be possible. The new spec uses the same connectors as 1394b (firewire 800).

Bob.
apit34356 wrote on 12/18/2007, 1:24 PM
The current "800" permits 3.2Gbps for fibre cables vs. 800Mbps for copper, which is now the S3200 electrical specification for FireWire. The S3200 permits chaining and peer-to-peer as in the past. But MS has been slow to maintained 400/800, I doubt S3200 will be welcome by MS.
farss wrote on 12/18/2007, 2:02 PM
"But MS has been slow to maintained 400/800"

Not been an issue that I've heard of, I just plugged in a LaCie 1GB drive and it worked. I believe under WinXP you could even make a pretty fast network connection via 1394b.

Bob.