KRAMER: SIMPLE CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY
Overview
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3.1 Understanding FireWire
FireWire is a serial bus standard that enables quick universal interfacing
between video and computer hardware items. FireWire is simple to use and
operates independently of the host system. In addition, FireWire supports
Plug and Play
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and hot swapping
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.
Many computers today come with one or more FireWire ports on the rear
panel. These ports let you attach many devices to your computer quickly and
easily. The operating system also supports FireWire, so the installation of the
device drivers is also quick and easy. Compared to other ways of connecting
devices to your computer (including parallel ports, serial ports and special
cards that you install inside the computer's case), FireWire devices are
simple. Many peripheral devices (including: DV Camcorders, Digital still
cameras, Storage devices such as External Hard Drives and Arrays, and
Network connections) now come in a FireWire version.
3.2 FireWire Compliance
The VS-66FW:
 Fully supports the provisions of the IEEE 1394-1995 Standard for High
Performance Serial Bus and the P1394a Supplement
 Is fully interoperable with FireWire™ and i.LINK™ implementation of
IEEE Std 1394
 Is fully compliant with OpenHCI requirements
 Provides P1394a Fully Compliant Cable Ports at 100/200/400 Megabits
per Second (Mbits/s)
 Includes full P1394a support, that is, Connection Debounce, Arbitrated
Short Reset, Multispeed Concatenation, Arbitration Acceleration, Fly-By
Concatenation, Port Disable/Suspend/Resume
 Includes Extended Resume Signaling for Compatibility with Legacy DV
Devices
 Includes built-in protection from electrostatic discharge (ESD)
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, by suppressing
all transient high voltages down to the allowed level. In particular, ESD protection
for high-speed data lines to IEC 61000-4-2 (ESD) 15kV (air), 8kV (contact), IEC
61000-4-5 (Lightning) 12A (8/20us), and IEC 61000-4-4 (EFT) 40A (5/50ns)
1 Configures automatically without any driver. Whenever a device is added or removed the 1394 bus re-enumerates.
2 You can connect and disconnect inputs and outputs dynamically, without having to restart the PC or cycle power
3 When connecting a "live" DV source to a receptor, an electrical potential difference or any other element creating a high
voltage (such as ESD or a live chassis) may permanently damage one or both of the connected devices. This high voltage may
be seen as a spark occurring at the instant of connection, or may not be seen at all, but nevertheless can result in costly
damage