Help me pick a FIREWIRE CARD 1394...

[omarBMX]

I want to buy a cheap firewire card for my PC, for connecting to my MiniDV camcorder. What should I look for? I read a while ago that either the TI or the VIA chipset was better, but I forgot what the reason was. How can I tell if the chipset is TI or VIA (keep in mind I am buying from ebay)? Can I just buy a no-name card and it will work as good as any other? Any other advise? Thanks for your help.

 

[wfbberzerker]

well, i went to newegg and just looked for the cheapest, and came up with this. haven't had any problems with it (i use it for my ipod).

 

[MisterMe]

Ditto - I got a no name for $15 and have no trouble at all. Works great with my camcorder...

 

[omarBMX]

Should I get TI or the VIA chipset?

 

[LED]

Originally posted by: omarBMX
Should I get TI or the VIA chipset?

The Oxford Chipset is the best from my experience or save your paper and wait for the Firewire800's to be released

 

[cutty]

I bought one recently and it is made by ActionTechs though I don't know which chipset it uses.
The price is OK, around $20 I remember and it works.
It also comes with the cable wire, I saw some retail cable wire is already expensive than my card plus cable.
The strange thing is it needs a power connecter! It's a PCI card sits in a PCI slot and it needs a power connecter as a harddisk. Have never seen any device like this, does this mean it's very bad, need lots of power?

 

[LordMorpheus]

don't pay shipping. I got a 3-porter at CompUSA for about 10 bucks. I love Newegg, but below a certain level its cheaper to buy at your local store and pay tax and not shipping.

 

[McCarthy]

I bought three cheapy no-name VIA chip based ones from the geeks awhile back, they work just fine. The only problem I've had is when saving DV video I get pops/snow when I use my KT133A board, but not on my LX and BX. Think the infamous 686B southbridge might have finally caused me some trouble, but I just upgraded to a nForce with built in 1394 anyway.

So cheapy is great, except with the caviat about the KT133A/686B possible problem. I swapped the cards around and it wasn't a card, always went back to motherboard.

 

[Utterman]

Originally posted by: cutty
I bought one recently and it is made by ActionTechs though I don't know which chipset it uses.
The price is OK, around $20 I remember and it works.
It also comes with the cable wire, I saw some retail cable wire is already expensive than my card plus cable.
The strange thing is it needs a power connecter! It's a PCI card sits in a PCI slot and it needs a power connecter as a harddisk. Have never seen any device like this, does this mean it's very bad, need lots of power?

It means that devices can obtain power from the firewire port. For example, an iPod uses the power to charge up the batteries while it is plugged in to the computer.