StarTech.com 3 Port CardBus 1394a FireWire Adapter Card - Digital Video Editing Kit (CB1394)

by StarTech

Product Details

Product Manual [336kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 1.4 x 5.7 inches ; 8.2 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000512GH
• Item model number: CB1394
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #9 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Computer Components > I/O Port Cards > FireWire Port Cards
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 13, 2001

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Need FireWire capability on your notebook computer? Connect FireWire and i.link devices such as portable drives, digital camcorders, scanners and printers to your notebook computer with StarTech.com's 3 port IEEE-1394 FireWire card. This product includes video editing software and a 6 foot cable, making it easy to begin capturing and editing video from your digital video camcorder.

The CB1394 DV Editing kit comes complete with a 6ft 4 to 6 pin FireWire cable and Ulead Video Studio editing software. This card is guaranteed to work with any notebook PC running Windows XP, 2000, ME or 98SE and is easy to install thanks to a step-by-step instruction manual and its Plug-and-Play connectivity. This card transfers data at super-fast speeds of up to 400 Mbps, ensuring that connected hardware runs at peak performance. Unlike other notebook FireWire cards, the CB1394 is dongleless, meaning you won't accidentally interrupt the connection to your FireWire Peripherals. On top of this, all StarTech.com FireWire cards feature a lifetime warranty that ensures its continued operation as long as you need it.

The StarTech.com Advantage

• Complete kit includes 3 port CardBus card, DV editing software and camera connection cable.
• A fun and easy way to make and edit your own home movies.
• Compatible with most DV camcorders including Sony, Canon, Panasonic, JVC, Samsung and many others.
• Also supports hard disk drives, DVD drives, CD-R/RW drives, printers, etc.

Product Description

This 3 Port PCMCIA IEEE 1394 FireWire 400 Laptop Adapter Card allows you to connect FireWire/i.LINK devices such as iPods or DV (digital video) camcorders to your laptop computer through a CardBus slot. Compatible with both PC and Mac laptop computers, the adapter card supports hot-swapping FireWire device connections, allowing you to unplug and swap peripherals with ease. The adapter card includes a 5ft FireWire cable as well as a copy of ULEAD's Video Studio SE Basic video editing software (Windows only), making it easy to capture and edit video on your notebook computer, directly from your digital video camcorder.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Powered Firewire is possible, November 30, 2003

By 

David Ross (Mountain View, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: StarTech.com 3 Port CardBus 1394a FireWire Adapter Card - Digital Video Editing Kit (CB1394) (Personal Computers)

One of the reviews above states that this adapter won't provide power to devices such as the Apple iPod. You actually can power these devices by plugging an external power adapter into the card. This feature appears to be undocumented, but the plug is clearly visible to the left of the 1394 ports.

I phoned the Startech customer support, and they said that you can use any generic DC adapter, with the following settings: 12 volt DC, 3 amp, and a plug with positive (+) in the centre.

Hope it helps.

47 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PCMCIA cards WILL NOT POWER IPODS!, February 27, 2004

By 

James (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: StarTech.com 3 Port CardBus 1394a FireWire Adapter Card - Digital Video Editing Kit (CB1394) (Personal Computers)

Some people are rating this card down incorrecty. To set the matter straight:

The PCMCIA bus specification does not provide enough power to allow the PCMCIA cards to power external devices. Therefore, the PCMCIA Firewire cards do not provide enough power to the Firewire bus.

NO PCMCIA firewire cards can charge an ipod by itself (using the laptop's battery). PCI firewire cards (the kind for you desktop) CAN, but PCMCIA cards (the ones for you laptop) CANNOT. It is not a "feature" that this card lacks.

HOWEVER: Some PCMCIA cards come with an input for an external power adaptor, including this Startech card (as another reviewer mentioned). So basically, you plug an external adapter into the port (which you can see in the picture) and the external adapter will then power the firewire card, letting it charge your ipod. As far as I can tell, this feature isn't available on a lot of cheaper models. But you WILL have to have an external power adapter to use this feature.

So again, NO PCMCIA cards can self power an ipod while charging. Don't rate a product down for something that's not possible.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Works great with my iPod!, January 25, 2003

By 

Mary McCanta (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: StarTech.com 3 Port CardBus 1394a FireWire Adapter Card - Digital Video Editing Kit (CB1394) (Personal Computers)

I bought this to transfer music to my new 10gig iPod. Installation was very easy on my laptop (running Windows 2000 Pro, SP 3.) Windows installed the drivers as soon as I plugged the card into the laptop and the iPod synced up just as easily. I didn't need the video editing software that came with this card (Ulead's Video Studio SE) so I can't comment on its usefulness.

I haven't used Firewire before since I work with PCs mostly so I was amazed at how fast the transfer is with Firewire. I transferred 9gigs of music (2750 files) to the iPod in 40 minutes. I have an old mp3 player that works with USB 1.1 and it takes 40 minutes to transfer 30 songs!

You should be careful to always use Windows' "Unplug or Eject Hardware" utility to disable the iPod and/or Startech card before diconnecting them from the laptop; I forgot once and had to reboot the laptop but I didn't have problems with the iPod (thank goodness!) Good product for a reasonable price. Not as cheap as the PCI cards at Compusa, but the best price I could find for a PCMCIA version. And it works great!