Texas Instruments Firewire chipset

[Hell Atlantic]

what's all this hubbub i keep hearing about needing a specific firewire card made by TI in order to use practically every FW interface?

i can't honestly believe these audio interface makers would limit their market to what's probably a niche FW chipset. i'm in the market for a USB 2.0 interface since my old one (cheapo M-Audio fast track) worked well and i don't want to have to worry about this Texas Instruments FW card nonsense. thanks for the feedback.

[jagcmos]

I think it has more to do with the fact that TI designed their firewire chipset to correctly handle the 1394a data transfer protocol.
Other manufacturers did not and when software developers follow the protocol the TI chipset functions correctly and the others fail.

That's my take on it.

[Hell Atlantic]

i know i don't have the TI chipset so am i correct that i should just stay away from FW interface's? just seems so limiting to basically make products for people with this one FW chipset.

[jagcmos]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

i know i don't have the TI chipset so am i correct that i should just stay away from FW interface's? just seems so limiting to basically make products for people with this one FW chipset.

I don't know if I would stay away from a FW interface. If you can identify your chipset, a lot of interface manufacturers list compatible chipsets on their website.

I picked up a TI pci firewire card for $20.00 dollars at a local pc shop. If you have a laptop that may be more difficult depending on its setup.

How many channels are you looking to record ? If you stay under 8 channels, usb 2.0 should work fine.

[Hell Atlantic]

yeah, i only need 2 channels so i'm not sweating it. just looking to upgrade from the M-Audio Fast Track. had no probs with USB before and USB is universal - no FW chipsets to worry about. thanks for your answers in this thread and the other i started, you've been spot-on with your help.

[vashuba]

Please list laptops with TI firewire chipset. - Notebook Forums and Laptop Discussion

heres a little info for which laptops have the TI. Just grabbed a macbook myself

[Husky Band]

I have a HP laptop at school that with built in firewire. It doesn't work with the schools Firestudio. I added a "Cool Gear" firewire bus card and the Firestudio now works fine. The bus card has the TI chip set. I know that Rain makes these cards both bus and express. They are around $89 but would be well worth it if it makes your laptop compatible.