[opendtv] Re: Letter to EE Times on Firewire
- From: ShLampen@xxxxxxx
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 20 May 2006 20:40:45 EDT
Norair's asserts below:
You'd have to wonder why anyone would be eager to switch to a new technology
(Ethernet) that, so far, has never been used for AV and exists on no AV
products that I'm aware of.
First of all, the first Ethernet packet sent by Bob Metcalf on May 23, 1973,
so it's not exactly "new technology".
I have a table of people doing Ethernet multichannel audio that had gotten
so large I can no longer fit it on a PowerPoint slide. The video list is a
bit shorter, sure. If you want to only go a few feet, sure FireWire is fine,
but that does not describe a broadcast installation, with stuff spread all
over the building. That's a classic Ethernet installation (maximum distance
328
ft. - farther if you use Belden cable and don't mind the analyzer
continually telling you "failed : distance".) There's no limit to NIC cards on
an
Ethernet network. Well, if there is, it's a lot more than the 63 devices
allowed
on FireWire.
I'm not worried. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Those small edit suites
will continue to work isolated from the rooms around them. When they have to
ship files to a server or Master Control, then they'll understand!
Steve Lampen
Belden Cable
Here's one Firewire proponent.
His main argument seems to be that you can't daisy chain Ethernets. Ever
since 10BASE2, true enough. In a home net that's bigger than just a
single entertainment system, I'm not sure that consideration is valid,
however.
Bert
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http://www.eet.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=3D187201629
Digital artists have stuck with FireWire because it works
Loring Wirbel's Opinion piece "Mac artistes, get with the times" (May 1,
page 4) takes a needless jab at the digital art community. This
community is often an early adopter, but with FireWire the situation is
different. Almost every piece of high-end AV hardware works with
FireWire, and so does Apple's Final Cut Pro. You'd have to wonder why
anyone would be eager to switch to a new technology (Ethernet) that, so
far, has never been used for AV and exists on no AV products that I'm
aware of.=20
FireWire's multipoint-to-multipoint capabilities suit it for on-location
work or for any device network that frequently changes. Ethernet
requires infrastructure, adding cost and complexity. I need only point
to another article in the same issue ["1394 primed for home net
revival," page 1] to show that FireWire still has merit and might yet
deliver on its promise as a pervasive network for AV components.
John P. Norair
Design Engineer
Proximities Inc.
Melbourne, Fla.
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