What Firewire Cable to buy?

Hello alexander cleis,

Technically, you can use a 4.5meter cable from any reasonable quality supplier. If you exceed the 4.5 meter length, logic & science as well as Apple's Support page imply that it will not work.

As far as using another vendor cable, just unplug the iSight holder, leaving the iSight camera/tube w/a firewire receptical in the bottom, connect one end of your 6-wire 4.5 meter (15ft.) cable in, and the other end to your Mac.

Please post if you have any questions.

Respectfully,
Bill Gallagher

Hello alex,

No, I don't mean to combine the Apple and belkin cable.

The Apple white FW cable unplugs from the bottom of the iSight camera. Plug one end of the belkin cable into the iSight camera, and the other end of the belkin cable into the Mac. The Apple white FW cable is no longer used.

If you want to extend more than the 4.5 meter FW cable, you will need a hub. Let us know if that is the case and we will be glad to walk you through what you need and how to hook it all up.

EZ Jim, the regular contributor to this thread will be here in a bit and can offer other suggestions as well.

And a very belated, Welcome To Apple Discussions. Just a bunch of Mac users trying to help each other out.

Respectfully,
Bill Gallagher

Hello Alex,

Sorry, they should make such a cable but I haven't been able to find it. To the best of my knowledge, there is no "extension"-FW cable. They all have dual-end male terminations, which as you know, make it not possible to use the white FW cable that came w/iSight so to use the Apple-supplied mounts.

I personally ended up using a Belkin 6-port FW hub, which works very well to allow me to use the iSight cable/mounts.

Belkin Hubs can be found here, http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatSectionView.process?Section_Id=1964
and actually as a bonus, would allow you to exceed the 4.5 meter Apple FW length limitations.

Hope this helps.

Respectfully,
Bill Gallagher

Hello Alex,

Welcome to Apple Discussions.

the problem with most 3rd party FW cables is, that they don't fit into the isight cable holder thingy.

In addition to the suggestions others have offered here, you can get cables from your Apple VAR, Apple Store, or from the Apple web site. Several choices are available from Apple.

If you buy from an Apple retailer, he can find the correct items for you. For web ordering, as of this date:
] The 1.8m replacement for the cable that came with my iSight.
] The short (0.5m / 19 inches) version.

iSight Service: Frequently Asked Questions also lists a replacement
b FireWire Cable Adapter
- current price: $6.25 US, but I cannot locate the part number. Your Apple retailer can help you.


<hr>

so the task would be to find either a FW cable that matches the apple FW cable plug, or to find a ""connector" which would connect a 3rd party FW cable with a white apple one.

You can buy the entire iSight Accessory Kit, which includes both the cable
b AND adapter
as well as replacement mounts.

    <small>EZ Jim</small>

You're welcome alex.

Others may have different suggestions, but here are mine.

- 3rd party cable, that fits the supplied apple isight mounts to fit the magnet isight mount?

I do not know of one. I suggest you use the short one from Apple to connect to your iBook. That cable will fit the iBook Mount that came with your iSight.

- is there a wireless solution for the isight? in order to work with a apple airport express base station?

Yes. Use your iBook's Airport Card to send to the AEBS.

If you really want long cables, you can Google for them, but, with the two questions you ask here, perhaps I do not understand how you intend to USE this cable. Some more explanation of what you want to do may help others give you suggestions.

EZ Jim

Hello Once More Alex,

"so the only solution that would make sense, to have a cable longer than 1.8 meters, which would fit the supplied mount for the isight (to fit the magnet mount), is a firewire hub."

YES!! You've got it!..

"but then that's not a very stylish solution, because if you want a cable longer than 4.5 meters, you need an external power supply for the hub"

No, that's not correct. I am using a Belkin hub. It does come with a power supply brick, as you describe above. However, I don't need it, and use the 25 volt supply from the Mac FW 6-wire cable to supply the hub with power(just plug it in, the FW ports are all powered on Mac's).

So, take your iSight magnetic Apple mount and Apple FW cord that came w/your iSight, plug it into the Belkin hub (do not plug in the hub power supply), and plug up to a 10-meter FW cable into the hub. The other end of the 10meter (or any length you want up to 10 meter, 4.5 meter (14.9ft) being common at your local retailer) into your Mac FW port. And done.

As mentioned in my previous message, I don't know of any 3rd party cable that fit the apple iSight mounts in order to extend the FW cable.

I don't know of any "extension" FW cables that will allow you to extend the Apple iSight cable w/out the hub. In fact I discussed just such a cord w/Belkin Engineering and they do not have and have not considered such a cable.

Respectfully,
Bill Gallagher

Hi Alex,

No a problem at all to share my experience in setting up for my family A/V-iSight weekly family "get-togethers".

And please don't feel restricted to the components that I used to meet my needs for an extended iSight setup. Belkin makes a number of Hubs, I just can't confirm that they work. Just that in researching it, I had this one recommended to me as one that did, so I went with the flow; - and purchased the Hub from NewEgg.com, for about $ 60.00
17-111-902 HUBS|Belkin F5U526-WHT 6 Port 1394
Try here; http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/Brand.asp?Brand=1450
and click on "Hubs"

The FW cable is very important. I chose Unibrain's Firewire cable but your certainly not limited to that company as there are other suppliers of equal-quality product. I would not purchase a cable in excess of 4.5 meter length at the local retailer as the storefront quality sometimes is not the best.

10m ( 32.8ft ) 6p to 6p
http://www.unibrain.com/1394_products/cables/cables.htm

If you need anything else, let me know. Oh, FWIW, I don't use the supplied mount that iSight comes with, but rather the SightFlex from DVForge, which can be found here:
http://www.dvforge.com/sightflex.shtml

Good luck and let us know how you make out

Regards,
Bill Gallagher

oh, btw, your email (swisserland, I think) bounced back, but the Thyon region looks very beutiful!

Hello alex,

Go ahead & try that hub/repeater. I considered it because it was less bulky than the one I bought, but didn't want to take a gamble on one that was not recommended/researched. But do go ahead and let us know if it works as promised.

Respectfully,
Bill Gallagher

And your part of Switzerland looks delightful!