New Products In addition to the exciting new low priced white MacBook, the innovative Dark Fire guitar, and lots of new professional audio systems, there is an impressive new group of 1394-equipped products coming to market. A sample list is below: Storage Features of the new 2TB Caviar Green drive include "StableTrac," which secures the motor shaft to reduce vibration, helping to provide more accurate read/write head tracking; "IntellPower," which fine-tunes the performance and power consumption of the drive; "IntelliSeek," to optimize seek speeds; and "NoTouch" ramp load technology, designed to help ensure that the recording head never touches the disk media. Pricing: $299.00. Data Robotics released the second iteration of the company’s FireWire-equipped, 4-bay expandable storage solution, Drobo. The initial Drobo storage products did not include FireWire, but many potential buyers asked for it, so the company added two FireWire 800 ports to the new version. They are compatible with FireWire 400. Transfer speeds with FireWire 800 are about double those of any other connection.
LaCie has doubled the speed at which its high-performance, large-capacity LaCie d2 Blu-ray drive – with 1394 -- burns discs to eight times (8x) standard data writing rates. The increased speed to burn files applies to both single and dual-layer discs. LaCie also has upgraded the Computers and Consumer Electronics The new FireWire-equipped Sony VAIO VGN-TT11WN/B is small and light, with a sleek design. It measures 27.9cm by 20cm by 2.35cm, and weighs just 1.3kg, with an 11.1-inch screen. The VAIO TT11 uses Intel's 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo U9300 processor, supported by the system's maximum complement of 4GB of RAM. The GMA 4500MHD module integrated in Intel’s Mobile GS45 Express chipset handles graphics processing. Pricing: under $900. Lenovo introduced the Idea Centre at CES 2009. It’s a 1394-equipped all-in one PC with a design that has most of the components in the bottom of the computer. The keyboard features a touchpad; it comes with Lenovo’s Motion Drive Remote that can also be used as a VOIP handset, an “air mouse”, game controller and a Media Center remote. Other features: 21.5″display with 1920×1080 pixels and a 16:9 ratio, Digital TV Tuner (Media Center compatible), Motion Drive Remote with an accelerometer, Intel Core Duo, up to 4GB DDR3, up to 1TB of storage, and up to 2MP cam. Prices start at $999. The Vivadi MediaMaster series has been carefully designed to integrate DVD, CD, MP3 and hard disc recording, plus photo and video viewer, into a single slim-line
Industrial Vision Point Grey Research’s new FirePRO long-distance repeater is designed for applications that require multiple IEEE 1394 devices to be extended beyond the standard 4.5-m cable length. Using a GigE physical layer to transport FireWire data using GigE signaling, the LDR can transmit and receive IEEE 1394b 800-Mbit/s data in real-time over 100 m of standard Cat5e cable. This is intended to support dependable, high-speed FireWire-based networks of multiple cameras that are physically separated by up to 100 m from the host system. The two-repeater system features one repeater at the camera side and the other at the host system side, joined by Cat5e cable. Each repeater is equipped with two bilingual 9-pin 1394b ports with screw locks, one RJ-45 connector, and a standard barrel connector for external power, and is housed in a 69 x 57 x 20-mm metal case. The LDR requires no special software or drivers. Pricing on request. Allied Vision Technologies is offering a new 1394 bus driver for its FireWire line of cameras. The driver has been designed to close gaps in Microsoft’s standard driver and enable more efficient image data transfer for Windows Vista and XP. The Windows’ standard FireWire driver is suited for the 1394a standard. The AVT 1394 bus driver eliminates the speed limits of the original Windows driver so AVT cameras with the 1394b interface, such as the Pike and Stingray, can transfer image data at the maximum 800-Mbps data rate, even when using Windows Vista and XP. The driver package conforms to the Microsoft Windows OHCI 1394 bus driver standard, allowing other FireWire devices connected to the PC, such as hard drives, to operate without difficulty. Audio Also, check out our special report from NAMM for all the latest products and technologies in the Audio industry. |
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: Report from the Executive Director New Dark Fire from Gibson, State-of-the-Art Electronic Guitar, Features 1394 for PC Connectivity New Low Priced MacBook White from Apple Includes FireWire, Upgraded Hard Drive 1394 TA Sets Technical Seminar on 1394 Automotive Standard New Pro Audio Products at NAMM 2009 Feature Plenty of FireWire 1394 Embedded in New Kontron Platform Serving Transportation in Belgium Updated, Upgraded Mac Minis Move to 1394b Visit the 1394 Trade Association Website
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(TB) hard disk drive, a new addition to its 
The new Drobo also has improved software. The old model would see a drop in performance after the array reached about 50 percent of capacity. With the new software, performance remains steady. Data Robotics says Mac users can expect a performance increase of 10 to 200 percent. Pricing starts under $500.00.
authoring and backup software. The 
unit that fits beneath a TV television and can also form the heart of a multi-room system. The MM100 includes a comprehensive range of features, all controlled from a very simple menu structure on a single stylish handset, including DVD/CD player/recorder; 500GB hard disc server for multi-room CD, MP3 and DVD music & movies using Wi-Fi and Ethernet; Photo and Video viewer; a full range of legacy connections; and card readers for Smart Media, Compact Flash/ Micro Drive, Memory stick, SD/ Multimedia card. Pricing $1,399. 
JVC has introduced sample models of its FireWire-equipped 
The cameras feature dual FireWire ports for multi-camera connectivity and a compact and lightweight housing. The small form factor provides more versatility in space and weight considerations. Using the fast IEEE-1394b digital bus protocol and an external trigger to streamline the capture, digitization and processing of color video signal, these cameras are designed to simplify real-time uncompressed color video streaming, digital still image acquisition while maintaining high resolution in various applications.