• Registered: 2007-05-11
  • Posts: 47

Topic: USB, Firewire, and Fibre Optics

I'm familiar with USB...firewire is faster and can transfer data both directions...also enables peer to peer hookup, but whats the fibre optics option for recording gear?

thanks.
s

  • From: Bellevue, WA
  • Registered: 2006-06-15
  • Posts: 3,336

Re: USB, Firewire, and Fibre Optics

If you look at the medium like a water pipe, it makes more sense.  The glass is like a great big pipe feeding a whole neighborhood, rather than a little skinny pipe just feeding your house.   Fiber allow more data to be transmitted in the same amount of time than you would get with USB or some other copper solution.

Digital information is transmitted the same way no matter what the format is.  Video, audio, text, whatever, it all comes across the wire as a stream of 1s and 0s.   So the more 1s and 0s you can transmit, the more data you can record.

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  • From: A black hole in deep space
  • Registered: 2007-10-28
  • Posts: 7,865

Re: USB, Firewire, and Fibre Optics

Thanks Jerome I am not to familiar with this smile

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  • wlbaye
  • Honoured Member
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  • From: Black Hills So Dak
  • Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 1,284

Re: USB, Firewire, and Fibre Optics

I don't believe fiber optics is available in the home recording gear that I have researched . Firewire seems to be replacing USB for faster , more capabilites and less latency problems  than USB . Firewire seems to be able to handle a bigger load and seems to prevent some gliches and lockups that sometimes comes via USB.

Later, Wayne P

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  • From: Bellevue, WA
  • Registered: 2006-06-15
  • Posts: 3,336

Re: USB, Firewire, and Fibre Optics

Specific to recording (information, not music) fiber channel has been used on high end server systems for a number of years.   If you've ever worked with a PC to install a hard drive, imagine being able to replace that ribbon cable with a single piece of glass, and attach it to a massive amount of storage running somewhere else in the room.

A single strand of optical fiber can carry as much as 40 gigabytes of data per second.   That's like seven full DVDs per second.

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  • From: Bellevue, WA
  • Registered: 2006-06-15
  • Posts: 3,336

Re: USB, Firewire, and Fibre Optics

wlbaye wrote:

I don't believe fiber optics is available in the home recording gear that I have researched . Firewire seems to be replacing USB for faster , more capabilites and less latency problems  than USB . Firewire seems to be able to handle a bigger load and seems to prevent some gliches and lockups that sometimes comes via USB.

I've got optical audio available on my TV, so I know it's coming available in the commercial electronics market.  Firewire is popular because it's cheap, fast, and reliable.   Market forces will drive the cost of the optical stuff down to the point where it's palatable to the general consumer, and then we'll all be loving life.  smile

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7 Reply by geoaguiar (edited by geoaguiar 2009-12-02 18:53:57)

  • Registered: 2007-03-24
  • Posts: 1,108

Re: USB, Firewire, and Fibre Optics

Firewire seems plenty fast enough for home studio but I also thought my 20 MB hard drive from the 80's would never get filled smile  I've worked with fiber in other arenas and it can be delicate; not sure if that'll hamper it catching on.

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  • From: Bellevue, WA
  • Registered: 2006-06-15
  • Posts: 3,336

Re: USB, Firewire, and Fibre Optics

geoaguiar wrote:

Firewire seems plenty fast enough for home studio but I also thought my 20 MB hard drive from the 80's would never get filled smile  I've worked with fiber in other arenas and it can be delicate; not sure if that'll hamper it catching on.

I think that's one of the biggest problems that they'll have to overcome before it really catches on.  Well, that, and price point, but the price will drop as production increases.

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  • From: North Carolina
  • Registered: 2007-02-08
  • Posts: 1,914

Re: USB, Firewire, and Fibre Optics

Yea Fiber optics will rule the market in the coming years! Straight out of college I worked for a company called Sumitomo Electric... I built fiber optic data cables for major airlines computer systems.... When we first started the market was fairly new and was slow, but the last few years the market has really opened up and orders have poured in from other "Consumer based" markets... Audio, video, computer, etc.. are starting to turn to fiber optics. I agree with Jerome, the markets are definitely turning and the consumers will reap the rewards.  Now all we need is for graphene (pure carbon) to hit the electronics market and we'll really be set smile

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  • Registered: 2007-05-11
  • Posts: 47

Re: USB, Firewire, and Fibre Optics

thanks Guys! That's more than I imagined! I met a fellow last week who has a home studio here in St. John's NL, canada who showed me his cables as being optics...I thought it was the whole set up but perhaps it's only some of his equipment. I'll see if I can find out some more about this and let y'all know.

s.