Forum Archive Home -> Mac -> Does anyone make a FIREWIRE 400/800 COMBO HUB?
Does anyone make a FIREWIRE 400/800 COMBO HUB? | ||
| KeepItSimple posted 2009 Nov 04 09:23 | ||
| Hello I bought a new iMac and it has only 1 Firewire 800 port. The Firewire 400 port has been replaced by a 4th USB2 port.
I need firewire 400 for my camcorder and 800 for an external HD but I can't find a Firewire hub that has both Firewire 400 and 800 inputs then outputs to Firewire 800. I find Firewire 400 hubs and Firewire 800 hubs but I need a combo unit. Is such a device made? I can't find one searching the Internet. Thanks in advance! | ||
| rumplestiltskin posted 2009 Nov 04 09:36 | ||
| This may not be a perfect solution but it works for me:
http://www.amazon.com/Sonnet-FireWire-400-Adapter-FAD-824/dp/B0000CDJPQ Takes a FW400 cable and converts it to a FW800 plug. | ||
| 16mmJunkie posted 2009 Nov 04 09:45 | ||
Hummm....maybe you should have researched/looked at the iMac prior to purchase. :idea: Anyway, how about running a 800 splitter and then plugging in your hub for each device, hence you have several connections for both 400/800? How this helps and just had to ribbed you a little. I've done the same in the past. :oops: 16mmJunkie | ||
| KeepItSimple posted 2009 Nov 04 09:49 | ||
| Oh I knew it had only 800 when I bought it but I didn't want to buy last year's (now last last year's) model with 1/2 the RAM and 1/2 the hard drive size as the new model just to get the 400 port. I'll rig up adapters etc if I have to but it sure would be nice to find a combo hub. It's needed. | ||
| terryj posted 2009 Nov 04 10:01 | ||
| I've been searching for one for a while...so far I can find intergrated hubs
on ext devices ( like the ministacks), but so far no standalone hub that would route many ext devices off of one bus connection. So I use the adapters too now. I highly reccomend the one made by Sonnet and this one by Newer Tech. | ||
| KeepItSimple posted 2009 Nov 04 10:10 | ||
| Thanks for the info. Actually I bought a 4 pin - 9 pin FW cable to connect the camcorder to the new imac 800 port, so I can connect but not with the external HD at the same time. Know of any good Firewire 800 hubs, TerryJ? | ||
| rumplestiltskin posted 2009 Nov 04 10:28 | ||
| Here's a good FW400 hub:
http://www.amazon.com/Buslink-H-6FW-6port-External-Firewire/dp/B00006BAJK I use it with the Sonnet adapter so all my older FW devices can connect as can my MacBook Pro. | ||
| KeepItSimple posted 2009 Nov 04 10:32 | ||
| Wow that one has a lot of ports! Is there a FW800 version of it? | ||
| rumplestiltskin posted 2009 Nov 04 10:39 | ||
Not that I've seen. Frankly, I suspect we'll see less and less in the way of FireWire 800 devices once USB3 devices start appearing (and assuming Apple ever goes down that path). We all know how quickly Apple implemented eSATA, eh? Unless you have devices that really are fast enough to take advantage of the FW800 port, why bother? Even then, with a FW hub, you're splitting up the bandwidth so a FW400 hub should be sufficient. Your camcorder only needs FW400 (and should probably be the only device on the FW port to keep interference to a minimum). | ||
| KeepItSimple posted 2009 Nov 04 10:45 | ||
| Hmmmm. Yeah I would need to connect my LaCie FW800 ext HD and the 400 camcorder at the same time and save the video files to the LaCie so it would have to be a FW800 hub. Having multiples connected to 1 port doesn't slow everything down, does it? Until now i've had multiple FW ports to use. | ||
| KeepItSimple posted 2009 Nov 04 10:49 | ||
| Hey I was searching Amazon for FW800 devices and found this 4-pin to 9-pin 6foot cable for under $7 plus shipping. Sounds like a good deal to me.
http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-F019-006-Firewire-Hi-speed/dp/B0 ... amp;sr=8-1 | ||
| terryj posted 2009 Nov 05 09:10 | ||
Just found this one, don't know what it's rated: Belkin 2 port FW800 Hub I know that Belkin's USB hubs suck @$$, but they make good iPod Cables, so take that FWIW. :-) | ||
| rumplestiltskin posted 2009 Nov 05 09:52 | ||
No, it doesn't have to be a FW800 hub. Just get a FW400 hub and connect the FW800 drive with that adapter I mentioned in an earlier post (or a 400>800 cable if you want). Theoretically, more FW devices sharing one port does slow everything down (assuming there's actually enough data being moved to saturate the bandwidth of the port). However, capturing DV-Stream over FireWire and then moving it to the LaCie (like you would using iMovie or FCP, for example) should not saturate the bandwidth. FCP is a bit picky about dropped frames but, as I said, you probably won't have this issue. |
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