The death of FireWire?

[sidd finch]

A new study from In-Stat reveals that IEEE 1394, branded as FireWire, i.Link, or DV cables by various manufacturers, is on the decline. IEEE 1394 is expected to reach its peak in 2008 and gradually go extinct by the year 2009. Taking its place is USB 2.0, which has a 100% saturation in the PC market, versus 33%-and-dropping for 1394.

Camcorders are, in fact, at center of the IEEE 1394 ecosystem, according to In-Stat. However, 1394 is used primarily in tape-based camcorders, which are also slowly declining in popularity amongst consumers. In addition, camcorder growth overall is also falling, while digital camera use is on the rise, placing an even larger emphasis on USB preference.

To me it seems like the FireWire performs much better.

Food for thought
Sidd

[rustysterling]

Phft! Ptui! Sputter! Spit! Yuck!

That whole idea leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[Ken Jarstad]

Reminds me of the little, ahem, "discussion" we had the other day on the Adobe forum. That prognostication and $1.25 will get you a cup of coffee most place these days! Was any consideration given in that report just how we are supposed to get hi-def video into our PCs?

Perhaps, by that time we video editors will all be running quad cores and hard drives with the RAM built-in (forgot what they call them - built for Vista) so the throughput via USB2 will no longer be bottlenecked.

This food for thought has me starving!

[Chuck Engels]

Just a couple of thoughts on what has to happen for Firewire to 'go away'.

Avid, Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro have to change gears and get away from the preferred Firewire capture.

The professionals (wedding and event videos) need to move away from DV cameras and MiniDV camcorders to another format.

The local TV and Cable stations need to move away from DV Cameras.

Hollywood needs to move away from DV Cameras.

Sounds like a process that will take a lot longer than 2 years for it to 'Go Away'. Most people don't realize how much DV and MiniDV Tape is really used worldwide. The cameras and camcorders have better lenses, attachments, and quality, than the comparable DVD or Hard Drive camcorders. There is no way you will see Hollywood or any other professional moving from its Canon or Panasonic cameras and lenses, no way, not in my lifetime

[Wheat King]

Question: Doesn't Firewire have another advantage of USB 2.0 in that you can view out to a monitor. I don't think USB 2.0 allows this bidirectional functionality but I could be wrong.

[Chuck Engels]

I don't think you can do that with USB Jamal. Which brings up another point, what about the digital converters? ADS Pyro, Canopus, they all use Firewire.

[ed]

That doesn't surprise me. At vimeo.com I would say that 90% of the videos on the site are made with digital cameras and not camcorders. The editing is done with either iMovies or Windows Movie Maker. The quality of video in digital cameras has really improved over the last couple of years, and young people usually do not have the budget for a nice camera and a camcorder, and you don't need special software or hardware to import the files from a card. Young people usually drive the electronics market, except for the big ticket items.

[Doreen L.]

I agree with Chuck. I just don't see it going away that quickly.

And I don't know if I'm really off base on this but it seems that because people are buying these hard drive camcorders, they're doing more editing on the computer. And once they start to get into editing, they see that dv is a better format for editing. At least, I've seen this with a few people I know and now they want to get tape based cams.

I do enjoy watching parents with their cams and cameras at school events. 'Tiny' is in. And there I am with my GS400 and digital SLR.

[Chuck Engels]

And there I am with my GS400 and digital SLR.

And I am sure that your stuff looks a whole lot better than their stuff does

[Bob]

Just a couple of thoughts on what has to happen for Firewire to 'go away'.

Have to agree with you Chuck! What will probably happen is that equipment will split between professional and consumer with professional sticking with firewire. Firewire has superior sustained throughput compred to USB 2.0. High volume users like studios are not going to be happy with USB. Consumer, unfortunately, will be dictated by the typical casual user who wants convenience and low cost and isn't necessarily interested in anything more than basic editing -- if that.

About 5 years ago, I worked with a TV studio with one of my projects. I provided a live feed from my custom software to the studio and they used it as a real time overlay with the broadcast video. What I noticed was that the studio was using lots of Betamax recorders. Not the home versions that went extinct, but professional rack mounted units.

Professional high-end use will dictate higher quality and performance. Whether we, as amateurs, will be able to afford and have access to the technolory is another question entirely.

[Chuck Engels]

I provided a live feed from my custom software to the studio and they used it as a real time overlay with the broadcast video

Sure would be interested in hearing more about that

[Bobby]

I think Firewire should disappear, along with USB. At least when video is concerned.

The correct answer for video storage is HARD DRIVE. There is just no getting around the convenience that direct access to video clips affords.

The issue most people have with hard drive video storage is not the storage medium itself, but rather that the current offerings either use highly compressed or strange formats (AVCHD).

But hard drives are huge these days, and getting huger by the day. So when we get to the point where humongous hard drives are available relatively cheaply, and when the manufacturers put DV-AVI or equivalent on them, then is when hard drives will shine. And, BTW, the correct interface then will be eSATA - at that point the external hard drive will look and perform just like an internal one.

Any serial interface? Not for me...

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

I don't disagree with any of the comments made so far but my view is that solid stae memory may be the long term technology winner for 'on camera' video capture. Capacities are steadily increasing and there are no moving parts so, theoretically, more resilient to shocks etc. Just my twopennyworth.

[Bobby]

John, the problem with solid state memory is that the capacity will always lag far behind current hard drive technology. Now, that may change, but it will be when BOTH change to a new technology - crystal lattice or something like that.

The issue to me is that when "they" (the product designers) perceive that they have limited storage to work with, that is when they start using overly compressed formats. We want minimal compression, therefore give us lots of storage.

[Steve Grisetti]

Crystal lattice? Does that mean instead of a tape cassette I might just be dropping a glass module into my camcorder in the future?