User Manual

FireWire
PIKE Technical Manual V5.1.2
38
In addition to common standards shared across manufacturers, a special
Format_7 mode also provided a means by which a manufacturer could offer spe-
cial features (smart features), such as:
• higher resolutions
• higher frame rates
•diverse color modes
as extensions (advanced registers) to the prescribed common set.
Capabilities of 1394b (FireWire 800)
FireWire 800 (S800) was introduced commercially by Apple in 2003 and has a 9-
pin FireWire 800 connector (see details in Hardware Installation Guide and in
Chapter IEEE 1394b port pin assignment on page 111). This newer 1394b spec-
ification allows a transfer rate of 800 MBit/s with backward compatibilities to
the slower rates and 6-pin connectors of FireWire 400.
The 1394b capabilities in detail:
• 800 Mbit/s
• All previous benefits of 1394a (see above)
• Interoperability with 1394a devices
• Longer communications distances (up to 500 m using GOF cables)
IIDC V1.31 camera control standards
Twinned with 1394b, the IIDC V1.31 standard arrived in January 2004, evolving
the industry standards for digital imaging communications to include
I/O and RS232 handling, and adding further formats. At such high bandwidths
it has become possible to transmit high-resolution images to the PC’s memory
at very high frame rates.