Firewire card with multiple controllers

[Intaris]

Quick question....

I am looking for a firewire card for connecting 2 cameras.  Will I be able to use a standard PCI-E card or will I need to look for one with one controller per port....  Most share a single controller voer multiple ports.  I've had problems int eh past with multiple ports on one card, but this may have been a PCI card with limited system bandwidth.....

Ideas anyone?

The cameras will be most likely 1280x1024 RGB cameras with 60FPS.

Cheers for any help forthcoming.

Shane

[Intaris]

Nobody, no?

The cameras are actually monochrome, 8-bit not RGB (24-bit) and only go up to 30Hz.....

I mean theoretically a FW400 card should handle a 1024pixel x 1280pixel x 8bit x 30Hz (314 Mbit/s without overhead) picture no problem but adding a second camera will more than saturate the bus.....

Anyone know of a decent PCI-E FW card which has two ports with a seperate controller for each?  Please?

Shane

[BruceAmmons]

I don't know any firewire cards that meet your specs, but it might work to get a firewire B card, then use cables that convert from firewire B to A.  A single firewire B controller should be able to handle both cameras easily, but I am not a hardware expert so I can't guarantee it.

Bruce

[Intaris]

Thanks Bruce,

That's somethinge I can give a try.

Kudos.

Shane.

[PackersFan]

The Bandwidth Calculator here might help.

[Topper_Harley]

I strongly advise you to deploy a professional IEEE 1394a board for your imaging application.

National Instruments offers suchs interfaces for PCI, PCIe and PXI standards.

http://sine.ni.com/np/app/main/p/bot/no/ap/vision/lang/en/pg/1/sn/n17:vision,n21:11600,n28:1394/

[GuenterMueller]

Hi Shane.

I once used this (when using two cards was no option due to a missing free slot in the PC).

[Intaris]

Doe these "professional" IEEE cards have full 400MBit per port, or is the bandwidth shared over all ports....

If shared, I fail to see the huge advantage over a "nonprofessional" card.

Shane.

[GuenterMueller]

The card has 2 buses. You have 2 cameras.  Thus, you will get maximum performance for each camera as long as you connect each camera to a port that uses one bus exclusively.

[Intaris]

Thanks Guenter,

The Q was meant more for the "Official" NI response, but that's cool info too.

Any idea where I get pricing for one of those cards? The website doesn't offer any pricing info.

Shane.