Why do almost all macs now have one firewire port?

Especially in the circumstances of video editing and digitizing. What is the process that people would do now?

Would they put the camera in the firewire nd then capture via USB of the external hard drive and then put the firewire for the hard drive after capturing and on to editing?

Why is it that it seems only the Mac Pro is the only Mac that now has more than one fire wire port?

 

If you're referring to having only one FireWire 800 port as opposed to two, I would guess it's probably because the vast majority of users don't use FireWire at all, and an even smaller fraction of those that do would have the need for more than one port.

Also, I'm not sure if they exist, but I would suspect they make FireWire hubs, same as USB, no?

 

I'm taking a look at it. You're right. I see some firewire hubs on amazon and people use it as a solution.

Fair enough. I guess I should be happy its an 800 port and not a simple 4 pin.

 

Firewire is not as big in the consumer world as it once was. It used to be the standard for consumers who bought DV cameras, as it was the only way to get footage onto computers.

Now most camcorders are moving to hdd/flash based, so they produce files instead of recording onto tape. And with usb, you can easily transfer the files, since you dont need firewire speed.

In the industry though, firewire is still around. You need it to capture tape from cameras, usually through a tape deck instead of the camera itself.
Also firewire 800 is the fastest self contained protocol right now(one that includes power, esata originally did not, and USB 3.0 is not really useful atm). So you can transfer files to an external drive a lot quicker, and without the hassle of finding a power source for the drive.
Though even within the TV industry, firewire is kind of dieing. It's very useful for when you need to dump a lot of footage, as it is highspeed, but firewire drives are usually more expensive then usb, so for storage you can use usb and get away with slower speeds.

So yea, there are a large number of people who dont use firewire, and have a mac, so one port is enough.
And its backwards compatable with 400, so its 2 in 1.
So yea, for highspeed applications, firewire is a must. For majority of people who just need cheap storage, usb will suffice. hope that helps.

 

You can daisy chain FW devices. So if you have an external FW HDD you would connect it directly to the computer then connect the camera to the HDD. Some drives don't have two FW ports so you would need a hub.

 

Don't ask us. Ask Steve Jobs.



http://www.appleinsider.com/article...o_outrage_over_macbooks_missing_firewire.html

 

USB devices also support daisy chains.

But ya. Most devices now USB all day. Plus USB is cheaper to build.

 

nope USB uses star topography with hubs not daisy chains, OK you can daisy chain 5 HUBS but not external devices. SOME external devices have output ports but those are still an intigrated hub. but hey after 127 device limit ... who really cares

 

Bah, you gotta make it all difficult don't ya?

I am exercising my poetic license.

 

LOL, ok Ill go back to playing with the kids

 

He must be speaking about AVCHD or some tapeless format like that. Because I know usb 2.0 drops frames like hell when it comes to digitizing capture from a HDV tape.

Anyway I think I'll be going with the new Imac, they are now reasonable and no longer in the friggin' $3000 US range for basic stuff.