4 VS-30FW - Overview
Connecting a FireWire device to a computer is easy – you just plug it into the port. If
it is an uninstalled FireWire device, the operating system auto-detects it and installs
software support for it automatically. If the device has already been installed, the
computer activates it and starts talking to it.
With so many FireWire devices on the market today, you easily run out of ports very
quickly. The simple solution to the problem is an inexpensive FireWire hub. The
FireWire standard supports up to 63 devices and FireWire hubs are a part of the
standard. You plug the hub into your computer, and then plug your devices (or other
hubs) into the hub. By chaining hubs together, you can build up dozens of available
FireWire ports on a single computer.
A FireWire hub is like a network, with bidirectional signals. The standard defines
FireWire as Peer-to-Peer connection; that is why two devices, or a device and a
computer can talk to each other.
It is important to note that everything depends on your computer’s software, and the
firmware of the devices. Sometimes, it is possible that a computer can work with
many FireWire devices simultaneously (like a distributor), sometimes it can work
with many devices in time-sharing mode (like a switcher). But most often it is
possible to work one-to-one. In this case, you have to disconnect all the devices
that are unnecessary at this time and leave only two of them. Since the FireWire is
hot-plug standard, you can connect/disconnect devices at any time.
Hubs can be powered or unpowered. The FireWire standard lets devices draw their
power from their FireWire connection. Obviously, a high-power device, like a
professional DV camcorder, will have its own power supply, but low-power devices
like a Webcam derive their power from the bus in order to simplify them. The power
for this (up to 1 amp at 12 volts) comes from the computer.
If you have several self-powered devices, then your hub does not need to be
powered, as none of the devices connecting to the hub needs additional power, and
the hub itself can derive power from the computer. If you have many unpowered
devices, you probably need a powered hub. The hub has to be powered from an AC
adapter, which supplies power to the bus. The VS-30FW can supply up to 2.1A to
the bus (each port can provide up to 1A).