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It wasn't that short-lived. All DV cameras had FireWire. Although Sony, per its mania for undermining industry standards, created a bastardized version (called

It wasn't that short-lived. All DV cameras had FireWire. Although Sony, per its mania for undermining industry standards, created a bastardized version (called I-Link, ugh) whose connector lacked power and required a physical adapter. External FireWire drives (like LaCie's) were popular for quite a long time, since they required no extra power source.

dylan604 3y ago
Sony also gave us a professional studio DVCam deck that was SDI based that allowed you to connect to of them to get 4x dubbing speeds. Not once did it ever get used at the studio I was working. Nothing else in the shop used that format, so it was always just realtime SDI work. ahh, sony
- type0 3y ago
  Speaking of Sony video, they also have Gigabit Video Interface which uses some clever trickery to transmit clean signal in difficult environments like vehicles https://web.archive.org/web/20210513082248/https://www.sony-semicon.co.jp/e/products/lsi/gvif/technology.html https://web.archive.org/web/20210513082248/https://www.sony-...
  - dylan604 3y ago
    i closed the tab before looking for a date from when that was released. however, we've been converting video signals to use over Cat5/6 for a really long time since it supports running over much longer distances. can't believe, well, yeah, actually with Sony I can, that they went and made a whole format
- ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
  Well, if we're going to review Sony's litany of standards-undermining horseshit, we'd be remiss to omit S/PDIF, which was a bastardization of the existing AES/EBU digital standard. Apparently it differs just enough to make interconnectivity unreliable... creating a pain in the ass for studios the world over. Sony also briefly attempted to undermine Thunderbolt, by issuing a laptop that crammed Thunderbolt connections into a regular USB-A port. I'm sure I'm forgetting (or unaware of) several others. Then there was their ridiculous clinging to MemoryStick for what, a decade after the rest of the world had standardized on SD?
  - NavinF 3y ago
    > laptop that crammed Thunderbolt connections into a regular USB-A port wtf, link? I'm really curious how they did that in a backwards compatible way
throwawaymobule 3y ago
I think the 4 pin version was also standard, it's just that Sony didn't own the trademark on FireWire, Apple did. Sony was actually one of the companies that developed the spec, according to Wikipedia. I had a HP laptop with that connector, but it was labelled IEEE-<numbers>. Bought a 4 to 6 cable to connect it to an old iMac, but never bothered enough to use it.
- MBCook 3y ago
  It was a standard because Sony said “we’re doing this” and gave the FireWire group an ultimatum: standardize it or were not on board.
- ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
  I think it was more that Sony couldn't call its bullshit plug FireWire because it lacked a required FireWire feature.
  - MBCook 3y ago
    The feature was the power pin. You couldn’t power a device from that tiny plug (on either side). I do understand why they did it. Sony is the master of miniaturization and wanted things to be small as possible. So the idea of making one of their little tiny handheld camcorders noticeably bigger just for a single connector was probably a non-starter for them. So they made up their own and then used their size to force it to become a part of the standard.
    - ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
      Yes, I noted that: "whose connector lacked power and required a physical adapter."

dylan604 3y ago

Sony also gave us a professional studio DVCam deck that was SDI based that allowed you to connect to of them to get 4x dubbing speeds. Not once did it ever get used at the studio I was working. Nothing else in the shop used that format, so it was always just realtime SDI work. ahh, sony

type0 3y ago
Speaking of Sony video, they also have Gigabit Video Interface which uses some clever trickery to transmit clean signal in difficult environments like vehicles https://web.archive.org/web/20210513082248/https://www.sony-semicon.co.jp/e/products/lsi/gvif/technology.html https://web.archive.org/web/20210513082248/https://www.sony-...
- dylan604 3y ago
  i closed the tab before looking for a date from when that was released. however, we've been converting video signals to use over Cat5/6 for a really long time since it supports running over much longer distances. can't believe, well, yeah, actually with Sony I can, that they went and made a whole format
ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
Well, if we're going to review Sony's litany of standards-undermining horseshit, we'd be remiss to omit S/PDIF, which was a bastardization of the existing AES/EBU digital standard. Apparently it differs just enough to make interconnectivity unreliable... creating a pain in the ass for studios the world over. Sony also briefly attempted to undermine Thunderbolt, by issuing a laptop that crammed Thunderbolt connections into a regular USB-A port. I'm sure I'm forgetting (or unaware of) several others. Then there was their ridiculous clinging to MemoryStick for what, a decade after the rest of the world had standardized on SD?
- NavinF 3y ago
  > laptop that crammed Thunderbolt connections into a regular USB-A port wtf, link? I'm really curious how they did that in a backwards compatible way

throwawaymobule 3y ago

I think the 4 pin version was also standard, it's just that Sony didn't own the trademark on FireWire, Apple did. Sony was actually one of the companies that developed the spec, according to Wikipedia. I had a HP laptop with that connector, but it was labelled IEEE-<numbers>. Bought a 4 to 6 cable to connect it to an old iMac, but never bothered enough to use it.

MBCook 3y ago
It was a standard because Sony said “we’re doing this” and gave the FireWire group an ultimatum: standardize it or were not on board.
ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
I think it was more that Sony couldn't call its bullshit plug FireWire because it lacked a required FireWire feature.
- MBCook 3y ago
  The feature was the power pin. You couldn’t power a device from that tiny plug (on either side). I do understand why they did it. Sony is the master of miniaturization and wanted things to be small as possible. So the idea of making one of their little tiny handheld camcorders noticeably bigger just for a single connector was probably a non-starter for them. So they made up their own and then used their size to force it to become a part of the standard.
  - ShadowBanThis01 3y ago
    Yes, I noted that: "whose connector lacked power and required a physical adapter."