USB and Firewire vs. Network Card?

[[email protected]]

USB: 480 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb

FireWire 800: 786 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewire

Network cards: up to 1000 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_card

Would it make more sense to design high-bandwith devices such as DVD
camcorders with RJ-45 outputs and Cat 5e cables, instead of firewire or
USB?

Or is there more to the story...?

 

[Joerg]

USB: 480 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb

FireWire 800: 786 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewire

Network cards: up to 1000 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_card

Would it make more sense to design high-bandwith devices such as DVD
camcorders with RJ-45 outputs and Cat 5e cables, instead of firewire or
USB?

Or is there more to the story...?

Yes: The user. He or she doesn't care about all that. Heck they may not
even know what an Ethernet is. Something with ether in there, maybe...

They want to be able to plug it in without having to buy any additional
hardware, without needing a Ph.D. in computer science, and fast. So if
they all have PCs or laptops my guess would be USB is the ticket. If
it's an office environment like mine here, I am always glad when
something has an Ethernet port because I can create any number of those
on the LAN while USB gets clumsy with all the cabling.

 

[linnix]

USB: 480 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb

FireWire 800: 786 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewire

Network cards: up to 1000 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_card

Would it make more sense to design high-bandwith devices such as DVD
camcorders with RJ-45 outputs and Cat 5e cables, instead of firewire or
USB?

Or is there more to the story...?

Yes, latency. Bit rate means very little in real world.

Even 100M ethernet beats 480M USB for real data transfer.

 

[Didi]

Would it make more sense to design high-bandwith devices such as DVD

camcorders with RJ-45 outputs and Cat 5e cables, instead of firewire or
USB?

I think it would - a lot. The only advantage USB has over the RJ45 is
the power sourcing capability. The advantages of making a camera or
whatever being yet another IP address node are obvious.

Dimiter

 

[Deefoo]

USB: 480 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb

FireWire 800: 786 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewire

Network cards: up to 1000 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_card

Would it make more sense to design high-bandwith devices such as DVD
camcorders with RJ-45 outputs and Cat 5e cables, instead of firewire or
USB?

Or is there more to the story...?

Probably.

If you look at home studio audio interfaces there are USB ones that can do
up to two, maybe four channels while firewire ones can do 18 or so. I never
bothered to figure out why but the fact remains.

For the manufacturer USB is simpler/cheaper to implement than ethernet (read
internet). I don't know anything about firewire, but I guess it is closer to
USB than to ethernet.

There is also the plug 'n' play side of the story. As far as I know there is
not yet a pnp protocol for ethernet capable devices (not counting router
protocols and stuff) as there is for USB & firewire.

--DF

 

[Nico Coesel]

USB: 480 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb

FireWire 800: 786 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewire

Network cards: up to 1000 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_card

Would it make more sense to design high-bandwith devices such as DVD
camcorders with RJ-45 outputs and Cat 5e cables, instead of firewire or
USB?

Or is there more to the story...?

Depends on your target audience. If your device is to be used by
computer experts, then ethernet is the way to go. If not, use
something plug&play like USB or firewire. Computers are more likely to
have strict firewalls installed these days. Connecting an ethernet
device and access it from a computer is not so trivial as it used to
be.

 

[[email protected]]

Yes, latency. Bit rate means very little in real world.

Even 100M ethernet beats 480M USB for real data transfer.

Does it really? How? I would have expected overhead from the packets
would have given ethernet a disadvantage.

 

[Paul Hovnanian P.E.]

USB: 480 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb

FireWire 800: 786 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewire

Network cards: up to 1000 megabits/sec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_card

Would it make more sense to design high-bandwith devices such as DVD
camcorders with RJ-45 outputs and Cat 5e cables, instead of firewire or
USB?

Or is there more to the story...?

If you are satisfied with raw ethernet, that might be the way to go.
Otherwise, the IP protocol stack and the TCP/UDP on top of that will add
overhead to the ethernet option.

Besides, advertising a DVD player with a network output might cause the
motion picture industry to throw a fit.