Cables Unlimited IOC-5900 USB 2.0 and Firewire 1394a Cardbus Card

by Cables Unlimited

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches ; 4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000ENAJEK
• Item model number: IOC-5900
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #70 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Computer Components > I/O Port Cards > FireWire Port Cards
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Product Description

Cables Unlimited USB 2.0 and Firewire 1394a Cardbus Card IOC-5900 640

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good value for price. Very useful - gives 2 USB and 2 Firewire., December 17, 2007

By 

L. G. CHARLOT (California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cables Unlimited IOC-5900 USB 2.0 and Firewire 1394a Cardbus Card (Personal Computers)

This Cardbus adapter installed painlessly in my Acer Aspire 3500 laptop. Windows XP Pro recognized the adapter immediately and installed the drivers from it's own driver cache - I did not have to use the driver disc supplied with the adapter. In Device Manager, the adapter is indicated as a "Texas Instruments PCI-1410 Cardbus Controller", with a "VIA OHCI Complient IEEE 1394 Host Controller". I have tested the USB ports with a couple of different USB thumb drives and a Logitech IR mouse. I tested the firewire ports with my Canon HV-20 camcorder, and these also work (NOTE, the Acer Aspire turns out to have insufficient processor power and HDD access is too slow for capturing video from the camera, however, this is NOT the fault of the cardbus adapter being reviewed here). So far the adapter appears to be exactly what I wanted. It adds two USB 2.0 and two Firewire ports (1 four pin and 1 six pin) - this is a nice addition to my older laptop for only $30. It sticks out about 1.25" from the side of the laptop, so plan on having to remove it to put your laptop back in most carry bags. NOTE: This is a PCMCIA card-many new laptops are using a newer type of adapter called "Express Card". This product WILL NOT work in laptops with an Express Card slot, so make sure which kind of adapter your laptop uses before you order this or any other adapter card.

Build quality of the card appears to be at least average - time will tell if the card has good quality components and manufacturing inside.

The adapter is supplied with ULEAD Video Studio Version 5. This is a VERY old version of Video Studio, which is currently on Version 11. VS-5 has some severe limitations; there are freeware Video editing utilities you can download that offer more functionality, but VS-5 will let you capture 720x480 video from MiniDV camcorders and do some rudimentary video editing. However, I don't think VS-5 will capture from High Def (HDV) video cameras.

SUMMARY: Good value for the price, but if you are purchasing this card specifically to capture video from a MiniDV video camcorder, make sure your laptop has enough "mojo" in the CPU, databus, and hard drive. My Acer Aspire 3500 turns out to be unequal to the task of capturing HDV video, so the cardbus adapter being reviewed here will only be useful to me for the two USB ports.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars works like a charm, January 26, 2007

By 

Katherine A. Trousdale "ktspirit" (Ozark, AL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cables Unlimited IOC-5900 USB 2.0 and Firewire 1394a Cardbus Card (Personal Computers)

The installation of drivers for this card was easy, and I now have easy access to firewire and USB 2.0 on my notebook. There is an optional AC adapter available for this product, but for use on my desk, I just use a firewire/USB hub combo that is powered. I have nine hardware devices daisy-chained from this card to powered hubs with no problems at all. It is recommended to only use one USB port at a time unpowered, such as on the road. I don't expect to need more than that if I'm mobile.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to use product, December 6, 2006

By 

Justnes "Justnes" (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cables Unlimited IOC-5900 USB 2.0 and Firewire 1394a Cardbus Card (Personal Computers)

Plug and play product, no installation needed, works flawlessly with my IPOD.