DVI & Firewire: What is it!?
07-21-02, 12:41 AM
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DVI & Firewire: What is it!?
Can someone please explain to me (a HDTV “newbie”), just what is DVI and firewire? What is it for, what does it do, and why should I care about it?
I have searched and found all kinds of info, but nothing that explains in layman’s terms what DVI and firewire is and does.
I have searched and found all kinds of info, but nothing that explains in layman’s terms what DVI and firewire is and does.
07-21-02, 01:21 AM
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FireWire is really cool because it's a high speed, high bandwidth connection capable of up to 400Mbits per second. With the high bandwidth it can carry all the sound and image you want on a single cable.
Look at it this way...that mess of cables you have going to all your gear now becomes one wire. I think you can daisy chain up to 60 devices on one FireWire cable so no matter what is in the chain, it's still just one wire. So you can connect an HDTV satellite receiver to a DVD player and then to a receiver, and from the receiver to your TV.
DVI is a digital display interface (connection). It allows video to be displayed completely in the digital domain, there is no analogue conversion being done. This is great for digital displays like flat panel plasma or lcd, or digital CRTs. Since there is no need to convert to analogue the picture quality does not suffer.
What some people fail to realize is that even though it may be digital video it is still being converted to analogue to be displayed on your TV. Your computer does it for your monitor and your HDTV does it for video. It is actually compounded for digital displays becasue the signal must be converted to analogue from the source and then re-converted back to digital to be displayed, that is if you are not using a DVI. Imagine how good DVDs would look on a digital display if the signal did not have to be converted to analogue and then back to digital.
When DVDs finally go to high definition that can be displayed completely digital, the quality will be astounding.
Look at it this way...that mess of cables you have going to all your gear now becomes one wire. I think you can daisy chain up to 60 devices on one FireWire cable so no matter what is in the chain, it's still just one wire. So you can connect an HDTV satellite receiver to a DVD player and then to a receiver, and from the receiver to your TV.
DVI is a digital display interface (connection). It allows video to be displayed completely in the digital domain, there is no analogue conversion being done. This is great for digital displays like flat panel plasma or lcd, or digital CRTs. Since there is no need to convert to analogue the picture quality does not suffer.
What some people fail to realize is that even though it may be digital video it is still being converted to analogue to be displayed on your TV. Your computer does it for your monitor and your HDTV does it for video. It is actually compounded for digital displays becasue the signal must be converted to analogue from the source and then re-converted back to digital to be displayed, that is if you are not using a DVI. Imagine how good DVDs would look on a digital display if the signal did not have to be converted to analogue and then back to digital.
When DVDs finally go to high definition that can be displayed completely digital, the quality will be astounding.
07-21-02, 02:41 AM
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Look at it this way...that mess of cables you have going to all your gear now becomes one wire.
Btw, Apple Computer invented FireWire (IEEE 1394). They actually won an Emmy Engineering Award for it's impact.
Last edited by reverb; 07-21-02 at 02:48 AM.
07-21-02, 09:15 AM
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One very important factor left out of the above definitions is the fact that with Firewire, devices are able to communicate BOTH directions. Your DVD will be able to tell your Amp and visa-versa which options it supports and which options it doesn't support. This a very siginificant advantage over our existing input-output only interconnect system mentality. The ability to daisy-chain all of our equipment with all of that equipment being able to communicate, think of the realm of possibilities!
Can you tell I have been spending far too much time lurking and reading around here of late??
Can you tell I have been spending far too much time lurking and reading around here of late??
07-21-02, 09:23 AM
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O.K. Got it.
Additionally, I have heard about some controversy regarding the motion picture industry, copy protection, and DVI. Can someone explain what all the hoopla is about concerning this?
Additionally, I have heard about some controversy regarding the motion picture industry, copy protection, and DVI. Can someone explain what all the hoopla is about concerning this?
07-21-02, 10:33 AM
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The copy protection issue has been discussed heavily here and across the web. Just do a search on HDCP and you should find more than you ever wanted to know.
BTW, people have already figured out how to hack HDCP on DVI and it isn't even the standard yet.
BTW, people have already figured out how to hack HDCP on DVI and it isn't even the standard yet.
07-21-02, 07:05 PM
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Originally posted by palebluedot
FireWire is really cool because it's a high speed, high bandwidth connection capable of up to 400Mbits per second. With the high bandwidth it can carry all the sound and image you want on a single cable.
FireWire is really cool because it's a high speed, high bandwidth connection capable of up to 400Mbits per second. With the high bandwidth it can carry all the sound and image you want on a single cable.
