Can FireWire decks (VTRs) be used with Io?
You can use the Io with these decks if you connect the VTR’s analog video, analog audio and RS422 to the Io. You have the choice of capturing to one of four codecs as follows: – Uncompressed 10-bits – Uncompressed 8-bits – DVC Pro 50 – DV If you want to capture native FireWire, you can; then use the Io to view the DV timeline. The one caveat of capturing through FireWire is that only the device you are using—Io or VTR, can be connected to the FireWire bus at one time (PCI FW cards included). The workaround is to use a FireWire port selector. Here is a link to a 5 to 1 FireWire selector: http://www.nnovia.com/prodsmart_hub.html The nice thing about this device is that it’s active, so it allows another 15′ of cable between the Mac and any other device. A simple A/B switch ($60) can also be found at: http://www.signvideo.com/firewire-switch-ieee-1394.htm This is not an active device, so the total cable length between the Mac and any other device is limited to 15′. Note: select the FireWir
