Installing The V4Hd Hardware; Sd And Hd Video Over Firewire - MOTU V4HD User Manual

Installing the V4HD Hardware

CHAPTER 3
OVERVIEW
Here's an overview for installing the V4HD:
SD and HD video over FireWire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Connect the V4HD to your computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Connect video inputs and outputs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Example V4HD video connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Connect audio inputs and outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Example V4HD audio connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Video sync connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Time code connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Audio word clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
RS-422 machine control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Syncing digital audio devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

SD AND HD VIDEO OVER FIREWIRE

The V4HD connects to your computer via a single
FireWire connection. Two FireWire formats are
provided on the V4HD rear panel:
FireWire format Technical name
FireWire A IEEE 1394a
FireWire B IEEE 1394b
FireWire A operates at 400 Megabits per second
(Mb/sec) and FireWire B operates at 800 Mb/sec. If
you are working with uncompressed SD or any
form of DVCPro, you can use either FireWire A
(400) or B (800). If you are working with Apple
ProRes 422, especially in HQ (High Quality)
mode, you should use FireWire B (800) for best
results. If you are working with Apple ProRes 422
in standard mode, you can use FireWire A or B. For
further details about working with ProRes (and
other codecs), see "Choosing a workflow" on
page 59.
Daisy-chaining FireWire devices
With the exception of ProRes HQ, FireWire A
provides enough bandwidth for the V4HD to
operate by itself. FireWire A does not, however,
provide enough bandwidth for additional devices
connected to the same bus. So if you connect the
V4HD to the computer via FireWire A, do not
daisy-chain other devices to its FireWire bus.
If you are working with Apple ProRes and the
V4HD's full raster mode via FireWire B, it is best
not to daisy-chain other FireWire devices on the
same bus, as this could cause bus bandwidth
conflicts and performance issues.
If you are working with uncompressed SD or
DVCPro, FireWire B has enough bandwidth to
allow for the possibility of a second device to share
the bus with the V4HD, which at most requires
approximately half of the bus. However, caution is
Bit rate
advised. Performance will depend on how much
400 Mb/sec
maximum bandwidth the other device requires,
800 Mb/sec
either sustained bandwidth or in bursts. If you have
a very high-performance FireWire B hard drive, for
example, you will likely be better off connecting it
to a separate FireWire bus, either supplied by the
motherboard of your computer or by a 3rd-party
add-on PCI card adaptor.
Multiple FireWire ports
If your computer supplies multiple FireWire ports,
that doesn't necessarily mean they operate on
completely separate FireWire busses. In fact,
chances are good that they share the same bus,
even FireWire A and B ports. The final generation
of PowerPC G5 computers, along with all current
generation Intel-based Macs (Mac Pro, MacBook,
MacBook Pro, etc.), provide multiple FireWire
ports in both FireWire A and B formats, but in each
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