New USB to FireWire Adapter! at DVinfo.net

John McManimie · March 7th, 2009, 06:34 PM

According to the usbfirewire website, Pixela Corp of Japan has supposedly created a USB to FireWire Adapter that will be available by March 28, 2009 for $119.00. This kit is supposed to allow you to connect your camcorder to a USB port on a Laptop or Desktop PC.

NTSC version Website link: USB to FireWire DV Adapter - NTSC - US Version

Pal version website link: http://www.usbfirewire.com/Parts/rr-300008044.html

Brochure: http://www.usbfirewire.com/brochures...o.FireWire.pdf

Chris Hurd · March 7th, 2009, 06:38 PM

Sorry, not news... we discussed this back in September:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/non-linea...e-adapter.html

It's actually been available for a year or two. Thanks though,

John McManimie · March 7th, 2009, 06:40 PM

Sorry... I should have done a full search. :-)

Adam Gold · March 7th, 2009, 07:05 PM

Anyone know if it actually works? People ask about this all the time, and the conventional wisdon is, you can't.

Jack Zhang · March 7th, 2009, 07:09 PM

From what I see in the previous discussion, it converts to MPEG-1. Not what you want. Looks like a Firewire Expresscard is a little more useful if you own a laptop without a firewire port.

Chris Hurd · March 8th, 2009, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack Zhang

Firewire Expresscard is a little more useful...

Not to mention far less expensive.

Thomas Smet · March 8th, 2009, 05:14 PM

It is totally possible to run firewire through USB2. Pinnacle has done it for more then 4 years now. Pinnacl Studio and Pinnacle/Avid Liquid have had a break out box that was hooked up via USB2. This box was mainly a way to get uncompressed analog video in and out of the system. In the case of Studio this was cheaper analog connections but the Liquid Pro break out box had component connections as well. What both of these devices also had however was a firewire port that allowed any camera or deck to be hooked up to the break out box via firewire. This is effect passed a firewire signal down a USB2 connection. In fact when the break out box was connected to a PC it would act as two devices. A USB2 based device and a second firewire device. The break out box is pretty cheap but sadly there are only 32 bit windows drivers for these break out boxes.

Those that say it is impossible only look at the situation from one point of view. Just because it doesn't work in the normal way doesn't mean it is impossible. The firewire stream just has to be packed into a USB2 stream to trick the computer into seeing two hardware devices. You can send any other form of data through USB including keyboard and mouse data and there is no reason why the firewire data cannot be packed the same way. Pinnacle is solid proof that it works perfectly. All we need is to get Pinnacle to create drivers for these devices to help out the people who have the new Mac Books.

You don't have to use the Studio software with these break out boxes either. All you need is the hardware driver and then the firewire connection works exactly as any other firewire device. I have used it with Premiere CS3, CS4 and Scenalyzer live.

It makes no send to me at all as to why the device listed above would need a NTSC version and a PAL version. A firewire device to a computer is just a firewire device. It doesn't really care if it is NTSC PAL or HDV. Clearly that device is doing something funky to get this function to work.

If you are on a PC just pick up a copy of Studio with it's USB2 break out box. If you are on a Mac write to Pinnacle and beg for drivers.

John Miller · March 8th, 2009, 05:28 PM

There's a significant difference between the Pinnacle hardware and this Pixela product. The former 'merely' repacks FireWire DIF packets into a USB2.0 compliant stream. As you state, a virtual DV device driver enables software to see a FireWire DV device via the USB2.0 interface. The captured video is true DV format.

The Pixela product transcodes DV to MPEG1 (not even MPEG2!). This is why there are PAL and NTSC versions.

Samuel Ko · March 10th, 2009, 05:36 PM

Im pretty sure the NEW macbook13inch users will find this useful.
Since the new 13in Macbooks dont supply a firewire port now.

EDIT: I read its not compatible with MAC. sorry
unless they run VMWARE/Bootcamp/Parallels.

Chris Hurd · March 10th, 2009, 07:30 PM

I think an ExpressCard FireWire Adapter would be the way to go for MacBooks.

Dan Chung · March 11th, 2009, 07:08 AM

Chris,

The 13inch Macbook doesn't have an expresscard slot. For the Macbook Pro I just saw firewire 800-400 (4 pin mini) adapter cables on my recent trip to Hong Kong for about $20. For the smaller macbook the cheapest new white Macbook with firewire seems to be the way to go since they upgraded the graphics card.

Dan

Chris Hurd · March 11th, 2009, 07:10 AM

Ha, shows you what I know about MB, thanks for the correction Dan!

Thomas Smet · March 11th, 2009, 08:20 AM

The best solution for the silver Mac Books is to try to convince Pinnacle to make Mac drivers for their Studio break out box. Pinnacle already has a analog only version of that break out box for the mac so they only need to add in the firewire port and the drivers and they will be good to go.

Jack Bellford · April 7th, 2009, 06:17 AM

USB to firewire has been around for quite a number of years and not just with Pinnacle. All you have to do is look. Here's an example from creative:

USB Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Video Editor

R Geoff Baker · April 11th, 2009, 01:47 PM

The device linked is not a USB to Firewire adapter ... it is a digital video encoding device that accepts a 25Mbs (DV) input via Firewire, recompresses it to one of a few options -- none of which are DV -- and attaches to a computer by USB. Hardly an adapter, and no solution at all for someone that wants to work with a device that outputs DV, or HDV, or any such typical source format.

March 7th, 2009, 06:34 PM	#1
John McManimie Major Player Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 314	New USB to FireWire Adapter! According to the usbfirewire website, Pixela Corp of Japan has supposedly created a USB to FireWire Adapter that will be available by March 28, 2009 for $119.00. This kit is supposed to allow you to connect your camcorder to a USB port on a Laptop or Desktop PC. NTSC version Website link: USB to FireWire DV Adapter - NTSC - US Version Pal version website link: http://www.usbfirewire.com/Parts/rr-300008044.html Brochure: http://www.usbfirewire.com/brochures...o.FireWire.pdf

March 7th, 2009, 06:38 PM	#2
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Sorry, not news... we discussed this back in September: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/non-linea...e-adapter.html It's actually been available for a year or two. Thanks though, __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

March 10th, 2009, 07:30 PM	#10
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	I think an ExpressCard FireWire Adapter would be the way to go for MacBooks. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

March 11th, 2009, 07:10 AM	#12
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Ha, shows you what I know about MB, thanks for the correction Dan! __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

March 7th, 2009, 06:40 PM	#3
John McManimie Major Player Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 314	Sorry... I should have done a full search. :-)

March 7th, 2009, 07:05 PM	#4
Adam Gold Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Woodinville, WA USA Posts: 3,467	Anyone know if it actually works? People ask about this all the time, and the conventional wisdon is, you can't.

March 7th, 2009, 07:09 PM	#5
Jack Zhang Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Burnaby, BC, Canada Posts: 3,053	From what I see in the previous discussion, it converts to MPEG-1. Not what you want. Looks like a Firewire Expresscard is a little more useful if you own a laptop without a firewire port.

March 8th, 2009, 05:14 PM	#7
Thomas Smet Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 1,719	It is totally possible to run firewire through USB2. Pinnacle has done it for more then 4 years now. Pinnacl Studio and Pinnacle/Avid Liquid have had a break out box that was hooked up via USB2. This box was mainly a way to get uncompressed analog video in and out of the system. In the case of Studio this was cheaper analog connections but the Liquid Pro break out box had component connections as well. What both of these devices also had however was a firewire port that allowed any camera or deck to be hooked up to the break out box via firewire. This is effect passed a firewire signal down a USB2 connection. In fact when the break out box was connected to a PC it would act as two devices. A USB2 based device and a second firewire device. The break out box is pretty cheap but sadly there are only 32 bit windows drivers for these break out boxes. Those that say it is impossible only look at the situation from one point of view. Just because it doesn't work in the normal way doesn't mean it is impossible. The firewire stream just has to be packed into a USB2 stream to trick the computer into seeing two hardware devices. You can send any other form of data through USB including keyboard and mouse data and there is no reason why the firewire data cannot be packed the same way. Pinnacle is solid proof that it works perfectly. All we need is to get Pinnacle to create drivers for these devices to help out the people who have the new Mac Books. You don't have to use the Studio software with these break out boxes either. All you need is the hardware driver and then the firewire connection works exactly as any other firewire device. I have used it with Premiere CS3, CS4 and Scenalyzer live. It makes no send to me at all as to why the device listed above would need a NTSC version and a PAL version. A firewire device to a computer is just a firewire device. It doesn't really care if it is NTSC PAL or HDV. Clearly that device is doing something funky to get this function to work. If you are on a PC just pick up a copy of Studio with it's USB2 break out box. If you are on a Mac write to Pinnacle and beg for drivers.

March 8th, 2009, 05:28 PM	#8
John Miller Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Hillsborough, NC, USA Posts: 968	There's a significant difference between the Pinnacle hardware and this Pixela product. The former 'merely' repacks FireWire DIF packets into a USB2.0 compliant stream. As you state, a virtual DV device driver enables software to see a FireWire DV device via the USB2.0 interface. The captured video is true DV format. The Pixela product transcodes DV to MPEG1 (not even MPEG2!). This is why there are PAL and NTSC versions.

March 10th, 2009, 05:36 PM	#9
Samuel Ko Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: New York, NY Posts: 47	Im pretty sure the NEW macbook13inch users will find this useful. Since the new 13in Macbooks dont supply a firewire port now. EDIT: I read its not compatible with MAC. sorry unless they run VMWARE/Bootcamp/Parallels.

March 11th, 2009, 07:08 AM	#11
Dan Chung Major Player Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Beijing Posts: 665	Chris, The 13inch Macbook doesn't have an expresscard slot. For the Macbook Pro I just saw firewire 800-400 (4 pin mini) adapter cables on my recent trip to Hong Kong for about $20. For the smaller macbook the cheapest new white Macbook with firewire seems to be the way to go since they upgraded the graphics card. Dan

March 11th, 2009, 08:20 AM	#13
Thomas Smet Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 1,719	The best solution for the silver Mac Books is to try to convince Pinnacle to make Mac drivers for their Studio break out box. Pinnacle already has a analog only version of that break out box for the mac so they only need to add in the firewire port and the drivers and they will be good to go.

April 7th, 2009, 06:17 AM	#14
Jack Bellford Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Winnipeg Canada Posts: 68	USB to firewire has been around for quite a number of years and not just with Pinnacle. All you have to do is look. Here's an example from creative: USB Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Video Editor

April 11th, 2009, 01:47 PM	#15
R Geoff Baker Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Ottawa, ON Posts: 471	The device linked is not a USB to Firewire adapter ... it is a digital video encoding device that accepts a 25Mbs (DV) input via Firewire, recompresses it to one of a few options -- none of which are DV -- and attaches to a computer by USB. Hardly an adapter, and no solution at all for someone that wants to work with a device that outputs DV, or HDV, or any such typical source format.