FireWire Spec to Boost Data Speeds to 3.2 Gbps

Stony Stevenson writes "A new set of data transfer specs may reach new Firewire speed records. The new transfer version is called S3200 and builds on the earlier specification approved by the IEEE.' The technology will be able to use existing FireWire 800 cables and connectors while delivering a major boost in performance. The new spec also will let users interconnect various home-networking appliances via coax cable, linking HDTVs with set-top boxes, TVs, and computers in various rooms around a home or office. The new release enables the transmission of FireWire data over distances of more than 100 meters. Home entertainment centers are likely to be an early application.'"

Comments

I think Apple....

[alta]

will be the earliest application. Remember when this was like e1394, or if you're sony i.Link. Those names never got any momentum, and they didn't push it. Heck, sony isn't too good at pushing standards anyway. Beta? Mini Disk? Memory Stick? Blueray has a chance.

Anyway, when apple calls it firewire2, then it'll get adopted.

Re:I think Apple....

[DECS]

All the hating on Sony forgets that the company co-invented the CD format (heard of that?) with Philips, and the two later got behind DVD after their own video format based on the CD was hijacked by Toshiba. That puts Sony behind every successful consumer format of the last decade, not just the turkeys it has failed with.

Betamax has also been the basis for ED Beta, the prosumer format nearly every TV crew uses and has used over the last two decades. Trying to create a black and while picture by dialing up the contrast to ridiculous levels leaves you unable to see the big picture.

Further, it is silly to think that Blu-ray is going to lose out to HD-DVD given that it has one manufacturer (Toshiba), one studio (Paramount), and one tenth the installed base of BR. Will Vista turn the tide? Tee hee. Of course, I think there is more potential in content outside of HD in the near term, and don't see Sony contributing toward that potential or benefiting from it.

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Re:I would just like a single standard...

[TheSkyIsPurple]

>For an OEM to add a firewire port costs about $1.50 more than a USB port. Not exactly a huge difference.

Yeah, but when you spread that across a million machines, you're talking real money.

Re:cheapness

[vux984]

Firewire 400 cards are like $10. which is pretty much what a USB2 card costs although you don't need a USB2 card since every PC has one built-in now, so you can call it $0.

When I said a penny saved is a penny earned I was serious.

Firewire maybe less than a dollar more expensive per port than USB, but it adds up. And the bean counters designing hardware care about the pennies.

Not too mention we couldn't cut over to pure firewire even if wanted to. Firewire versions of low bandwidth devices like keyboards, mice, etc simply don't exist...

Why not HDMI?

[__aanjtz122]

This may sound like a stupid question, but why would we see the implementation of the new Firewire spec in HDTVs when we already have HDMI using equivalent or greater bandwidth? Would it not be just as likely to see HDMI ports appearing in PCs for connections to HDTV and AV equipment? Thanks