Review and Information on FireWire 800 Hubs

Check out the following article dealing with choosing FireWire 800 hubs for new Mac Pro, iMacs, and MacBook Pro systems. The piece provides a wealth of information, and EverythingHerePlus.com is an authorized Synchrotech reseller, so you can be assured you are getting quality products backed by our warranty and support.

FireWire 800 Hubs for New iMacs and Macs as easy as 3, 4, 5!

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FAQ and solution guide takes the confusion out of FireWire 800 Transition

Apple's recent transition to all FireWire 800 ports on their computers marked a major shift in inquiries about FireWire 800 and how to interface with legacy FireWire 400 devices. The good news is, it's very simple and straight forward to connect FireWire 800 with FireWire 400 devices and vice versa.

Bridging FireWire 400 to FireWire 800 provides difference case scenarios and products for hassle free connections.

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6into9 FireWire Adapter for all the latest Apple Mac models

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008) Ready! The 6into9 (CAB-FW8-6-9-CONV) is an inexpensive alternative to using 6 to 9 Pin FireWire cables with the latest Macs featuring FireWire 800 ports. The 6into9 adapter allows the use of 6-Pin FireWire 400 devices and cables on any 9-Pin FireWire 800 port, including those found on the all new MacBook Pro 15 inch, MacBook Pro 17 inch, Mac Pro, and Mac Mini.

Featuring the best shielding and construction, the 6into9 is only $9.00!

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FireRepeater 800 Pro FireWire 800 IEEE 1394b Repeater Hub 4 Port

FireRepeater 800 Pro
Originally uploaded by Synchrotech

Unibrain's 4 Port Repeater Hub provides port expansion on FireWire® 800 IEEE 1394b device chains. Oriented towards industrial and machine vision applications, FireRepeater-800 PRO™ provides the ability to connect up to four FireWire 1394b devices and it's metallic compact case minimizes the risk of physical damage. The platform agnostic device provides four 9 pin (bilingual) IEEE 1394b ports with a maximum throughput of up to 800 Mbps each. The Hub utilizes IEEE 1394b bus power, or accepts an optional power adapter for use with devices requiring more power. Repeater hubs provide bus flexibility in that they allow for daisy chaining and/or hierarchical (tree) bus configurations. Repeater hubs also provide a means to lengthen the distance between devices when 1394's cable length of 4.5 meters (15 feet) is inadequate. Simply daisy chain repeaters between cables to extend your reach to 110m. FireRepeater 800 Pro incorporates locking 9 pin bilingual ports, multiple mounting points and an optional metal bracket to ensure an even more secure physical connection.

FireRepeater 800 Pro FireWire 800 IEEE 1394b Repeater Hub 4 Port

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Creating Fastest Portable RAW Photo Import for Pro-Photojournalists

FireRepeater 800 & CFFire800 Pros
Originally uploaded by Synchrotech

When sports photojournalists from tallahassee.com contacted Synchrotech for a specialized solution to improve their RAW DSLR photograph ingestion work-flow, we had to be creative. The photographers had the following requirements for a solution: it had to fully utilize the speeds of the latest UDMA CompactFlash memory cards, it had to ingest at least two UDMA CompactFlash cards at once, it couldn't require an external power source, it had to work with Camera Bits' Photo Mechanic software, and it had to work with Apple's MacBook Pro.

Meeting any one of those prerequisites was no problem, but meeting all those requirements was a tall order. The UDMA speed requirements were no problem; both Synchrotech's CFFire800 Pro and CFExpressPro+ CompactFlash readers work with the fastest UDMA CompactFlash memory cards. The MacBook Pro features both a FireWire 800 port and an ExpressCard slot, making either product compatible. Unfortunately, only the CFFire800 Pro works with Photo Mechanic software. This presented another problem: the MacBook Pro only provides a single FireWire 800 port; adding more FireWire 800 ports via the ExpressCard would require an external power supply to power the CFFire800 Pro readers.

Toolbox
Synchrotech CFFire800 Pro UDMA
Unibrain FireRepeater 800
Unibrain 9pin to 9pin Cable 1M
SanDisk Extreme FireWire

While our CFFire800 Pro uses FireWire bus power, we knew it draws less than 500mA, while the MacBook Pro provides just under 1A of current while running on batteries. One product we offer, Unibrain's extremely portable FireRepeater 800, splits source current between two ports. With that in mind we set out to test two CFFire800 Pro readers with FireRepeater 800 to see if it provided enough power off a single FireWire 800 port to enable both CompactFlash readers; we found it worked flawlessly.

When we informed the tallahassee.com photographers of our findings, they were elated. Since they already had an investment in SanDisk's Extreme FireWire 800 CompactFlash readers, they purchased and tested the FireRepeater 800 to dual reader configuration and had the same success. They are now deploying this solution at their location shoots.

Synchrotech is proud to offer our innovative UDMA CompactFlash ingestion solution as a bundle package to photographers requiring the fastest turnaround on their work-flows. While the Sandisk reader combination is also available, it is a UDMA Mode 4 device; the CFFire800 Pro is UDMA Mode 6 capable.

BNDL-FW8CF-01
2) CFFire800 Pro FireWire 800 to CompactFlash Drive Read-Writers
1) FireWire 800 IEEE1394b 9pin to 9pin Cable UB 1M/3.3F
1) Unibrain FireRepeater 800 FireWire 800 IEEE 1394b Repeater Hub 3 Port
All for $206, save $10 off items purchased separately. Requires a powered FireWire 800 9-pin port.

BNDL-FW8CF-02
2) SanDisk Extreme FireWire 400/800 to CompactFlash Read-Writers
1) FireWire 800 IEEE1394b 9pin to 9pin Cable UB 1M/3.3F
1) Unibrain FireRepeater 800 FireWire 800 IEEE 1394b Repeater Hub 3 Port
All for $242, save $10 off items purchased separately. Requires a powered FireWire 800 9-pin port.

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