Growth in the PC notebook, storage, peripherals, and industrial market sectors continues to propel the IEEE 1394 (FireWire) standard to another strong year of growth, according to The 1394 Trade Association.
New notebook PCs from global leaders such as Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard, Toshiba, Sony and others incorporate FireWire — and the 800 Megabit/second version (S800) is now a virtual standard in storage systems from leading manufacturers, according to The 1394 Trade Association. The number of 1394-equipped notebook PCs has increased by approximately 20 percent in 2008. Among the PCs recommended to users by Consumer Reports in its December 2008 edition, 75 percent featured FireWire, including brands from Sony, Acer, Dell, Lenovo, and Hewlett Packard. In addition, Microsoft will support the new 800 Megabit/second version of FireWire in upcoming Windows Version 7 releases next year.
The popularity of FireWire has been registered enthusiastically in the weeks following the decision to remove it from a couple members of the new Apple MacBook introduced in October. A petition requesting its reinstatement has drawn signatures from users worldwide. Comments from users about the decision have been collected and appear in a list of weblogs and postings with links to articles and quotes. The comments are on the 1394 Trade Association website here.
“The overwhelming support for FireWire is proof of the strength of the technology and the value users place on it,” said James Snider, executive director of the 1394 Trade Association, in the press release. “The feedback also points to the value that applications realize as users and designers continue to adopt the more powerful FireWire800 standard.” Snider added, “There is every indication that Apple executives are paying attention to the FireWire discussion and want to address users’ concerns.”
Virtually all HDV cameras continue to rely on FireWire for transfers, including some models that have become very popular with independent producers. The installed base of FireWire camcorders is still enormous, including many high-definition applications, according to The 1394 Trade Association. Also, most pro and semi-pro cameras continue to use FireWire, because HDV remains preferred over AVCHD. And many professionals also select MacBook Pros and use them for on-the-road capture. FireWire also remains the preferred interface for multichannel audio.
Among other key market sectors, the number of 1394-equipped set top boxes shipped worldwide is up more than 25 percent in 2008. PC peripherals that incorporate FireWire are growing between 17 to 20 percent.
According to The 1394 Trade Association, new markets for 1394 also are now emerging. The 1394-Automotive standard has been developed as a major specification for vehicle entertainment, navigation and other automotive applications, and the first 1394-equipped vehicle networks will begin contributing to applications growth in 2009. Also, the completion of the new UWB over Coax specification has added a powerful and efficient new standard for whole home networking.
“1394 has continued its strong growth across a broad range of applications and market sectors in 2008,” said Snider. “FireWire delivers the best speed and performance of any standard for a wide range of applications, as evidenced by stable and steady increases in 1394’s adoption globally in the hard disk storage, industrial camera and automation markets. And the 1394-Automotive standard, which was developed in conjunction with major automakers worldwide, is gaining significant traction now, bringing the comprehensive in-vehicle network to cars beginning next year.”
For many users, as indicated by the comments from Apple users, the high speed, reliability and guaranteed quality of service provided by IEEE 1394 are vital. 1394a delivers true throughput of 400 Megabits/second, compared with USB 2.0, which in practice delivers far lower throughput due to significant network overhead and the burden it places on the processor, despite claims of 480 Megabit/second speeds. The 1394b specification, now widely implemented in new products, delivers bandwidth close to 800 Megabits/second, in real-time, providing the highest quality of service and reliability.
For more information about the 1394/FireWire standard, visit www.1394ta.org.
Source: 1394 Trade Association
I think dropping firewire 400 was premature. Apple should have kept it until it was replaced by USB 3.0… If indeed it is better than firewire. Makes sense to have one type of input/output standard. If USB 3.0 could meet the criteria for Camcorders, music devices, printers, and any other peripheral.
I was going to buy a new MacBook. I don’t have the money for a MacBook Pro. I refuse to buy a Mac without FireWire. So I will wait. Since there is fear of recession, this may just be the right thing for the economy, right? Anyhow, Steve Jobs’ decision to get rid of FireWire in MacBooks and only offer glossy displays in MacBooks incl. Pros was incredibly poor.
Ottawa Mark:
That claim is worded in a crafty way so as to appear that Jobs is wrong and FW association is right, but it is deceptive. Majority of HDV camcorders do indeed have FW, although even many new ones no longer do. You see, HDV is the encoding used on tape-based devices.
If FW association had disclosed the current facts about High Definition camcorders, they would have said that VAST MAJORITY of current camcorders are tapeless, and therefore without FireWire. You see, while those tape-based devices are HDV, most of tapeless devices aren’t; they are AVCHD camcorders, and not a single AVCHD camcorder has FW.
AVCHD is the future of consumer HD video. HDV will still have its place, even though it uses (20-year) old MPEG-2, but AVCHD (MPEG-4) seems to be rapidly gaining traction. With it, USB2 will remain the only thing consumers will know, and FW will continue to be pushed into the pro corner.
@dave
FW1600 & FW3200 were both ratified many years ago, but only over fiber. It never went main stream.
FW1600 & FW3200 over copper (using the same physical interface as FW800) were only recently ratified. It is unlikely these will go main stream either.
@Stuart
The 1394 group went to a different connector (physical interface) for FW800 because they had to. There were just too many limitations with the FW400 interface (which actually grew out of the original FW50 [yes, 50 Mbps] interface that started back in 1989). The good part is that the FW800 interface/connector can be used for FW1600 and FW3200 over copper — assuming anyone actually builds that!
While my heart will always be with FW, the changes being made to USB in USB 3.0 will eliminate many of its limitations while dramatically upping the data rate. However, I do not expect to see USB 3.0 on even mid range laptops until at least 2010.
The question Apple hasn’t answered, to my knowledge, is what’s the plan if Firewire goes? USB 2 only, USB 3, or something else? We know the advantages of Firewire, especially for musicians- what’s next? Or will these petitions have an effect? Same with the glossy screens- is there another thing coming?
For me, too- the lack of Firewire on the new Macbook was a deal-breaker. I’ll continue to wait it out and use my hated Windows XP laptop for now.
Avchd is 1920×1080, and dv is only 1440×1080. Why whould anyone want dv since that is the case? Now for some Apple bashing. Apple get your shit together. On Apple’s own website, poeple have said using FCE, or FCP will change your 1920×1080 res stuff from avchd to 1440×1080!!! I may buy a avchd camera LATER because of that. I won’t buy another new Mac untill they fix that.