# Is there such a thing as a USB to Firewire converter?



## worldcreator (Apr 19, 2009)

I've been looking all over but can't seem to find anything that will let me upload camcorder videos to my laptop, which does NOT have Firewire inputs...But has plenty of USB ports..

Everyone's been telling me that a converter doesn't exist, but I find it hard to believe some company out there hasn't invented one of these.

By the way, I have Windows XP, service pack 3.


----------



## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Hi, welcome to TSF

If you were using a desktop, you could install a Firewire card into a spare PCI slot to give 1 internal Firewire connector and 3 external. Example: *SYBA IEEE 1394 4 ports Lucent FireWire PCI Card* - $12


As far as I know, there are no USB-to-Firewire adapters because the technologies are so different, but you could use a hub that supports both USB and Firewire, or a PCMCIA card.

*IOGEAR GUH420 USB 2.0 / FireWire Combo Hub* - $28

*StarTech CB1394_2 IEEE 1394 PCMCIA Card 2 x IEEE 1394* - $24

Customer review for the PCMCIA card:


> Works just fine on my Thinkpad T60 with WinXP -- installed drivers and bundled movie software and I can capture directly from FireWire Camcorders, which is what I bought the thing for, so I'm happy.


----------



## worldcreator (Apr 19, 2009)

I've seen that IOGEAR hub @ Fry's, but I assume you must already have a Firewire port in order to use it right? It doesn't actually convert the USB port to accept Firewire..?

By the way, I also found this:
http://www.usbfirewire.com/Parts/rr-527950.html
But I'm suspicious that it will actually work. I mean video quality wise.. Plus it's rather expensive at $119


----------



## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

The IOGEAR hub plugs into a USB port on your laptop, then you can plug USB and/or Firewire devices into the hub's ports.

If your laptop can use PCMCIA cards, I think that would be the best and cheapest option.

The adapter in your link looks like it will be suitable, but I've never seen one being used, so I can't say for sure. If you decide to go for this adapter, contact the vendor to confirm it's suitable for your needs before buying.


----------



## magnethead (Mar 18, 2006)

I'd agree on a PCIMIA or laptop express card port card, depending on the laptop technology.


----------



## worldcreator (Apr 19, 2009)

koala said:


> The IOGEAR hub plugs into a USB port on your laptop, then you can plug USB and/or Firewire devices into the hub's ports.
> 
> If your laptop can use PCMCIA cards, I think that would be the best and cheapest option.
> 
> The adapter in your link looks like it will be suitable, but I've never seen one being used, so I can't say for sure. If you decide to go for this adapter, contact the vendor to confirm it's suitable for your needs before buying.




WOW so that hub will work on a PC without any Firewire ports, allowing you to use Firewire.. Interesting. Are you 100% sure this is the case? I guess I can just contact the manufacturer to verify. I thought it just expanded the number of existing Firewire ports. 

The PCMCIA laptop card definately looks like a viable option. Decent price too. Thanks!


----------

