Cable Firewire

• Twisted pair construction and triple shielding, to reduce crosstalk and maximize speed
• Rated up to 400 Mbps (limited by device/port speed)
• Molded construction
• Connectors: one 6-pin IEEE-1394 male, one 4-pin IEEE-1394 male
• Plug-and-Play
• Hot swap compatible

Do you remember that Handycam or other mini DV camcorder you used religiously for years until you started taking most of your videos on your phone or tablet? You still have it around, we’re sure; in fact, you may still use it when you want to film the kids (or grandkids) playing in the backyard or singing at a school play. When you want to export the video from the camcorder to your computer for editing, storage or posting on YouTube, how do you do it? Chances are, you use “that cable” that came with the video camera. But what kind of cable is it, and how can you replace it if it ever breaks or gets lost?

First of all, we’ll answer the “what kind of cable is it?” question. Most likely, it’s a FireWire cable; more specifically, a FireWire 400 (also known as IEEE-1394a or iLink) cable. It probably has one small connector with four pins at one end, and a slightly-larger connector with six pins at the other. The four-pin connector plugs into the port on your camera and the six-pin connector plugs into the FireWire port on your computer, and you’ve got a perfect link between the camcorder and computer. (If you have a newer computer with a 9-pin serial connector, you’ll need a FireWire 400 to FireWire 800 bilingual cable found elsewhere on our site; if you only have a USB port on your computer, you’ll need a separate FireWire to USB adapter.) There are other devices which also have four-pin IEEE-1394 ports – we’re just using video cameras as an example because they commonly featured these ports.