Content area
Full Text
The adoption rate for the IEEE 1394,or FireWire, standard across the PC and Windows CE markets is increasing markedly, making any potential move to the Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 standard a topic for careful consideration.
In terms of comparative cost, speed, bandwidth, and availability, it's pretty clear that 1394 can win on all counts.
In the consumer audiovisual realm, 1394 is a sure winner. It has been strongly promoted by the Federal Communications Commission for inclusion in digital TVs, the first of which are scheduled to ship into this year's holiday market.
The 1394 interface is already available in camcorders from Canon, JVC, Panasonic, Sharp, and Sony. Approximately 6 million 1394 camcorders were sold in 1998, and 10 million are expected to ship this year
Among other innovative products slated to include 1394 this year are an AV hard-disk drive recently announced by Quantum and Sony. In fact, 1394 mass-storage devices for PCs should appear midyear (devices for iMacs are expected evensooner), with sales estimated...