Preferred brand for Firewire cables?

Question

Preferred brand for Firewire cables?

Hi,

Anyone have any preferred firewire cable brands?

I've seen some from ridiculously expensive (almost $40 at Bestbuy for a 6 ft cable to about $2 on Amazon). I need 800 to 800, atleast 6 ft.

Thanks

iMac 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7, Mac OS X (10.6.6), 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR

Posted on Mar 8, 2011 4:29 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 8, 2011 4:40 PM in response to Christina Rodriguez

I don't have a preferred brand. I've used many different brands from many different vendors.

-DH

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Answer 2

Mar 8, 2011 4:44 PM in response to David Harbsmeier

Ok, so what is a fair price to expect to pay?

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Answer 3

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

Mar 8, 2011 4:45 PM in response to Christina Rodriguez

Never ever ever buy cables from best buy. Oh good lord no. They charge 10x what you should be paying.

Go to monoprice.com...buy everything there. I got a 12 foot HDMI cable for $5. Yes, $5. And it is shielded, and works VERY well.

Shane

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Answer 4

David S.

Level 7

20,636 points

Mar 8, 2011 4:48 PM in response to Christina Rodriguez

The absolute best quality firewire cables, in my view, are from granitedigital.com.

I have some that still work after 10 years.

http://www.granitedigital.com/firewire9pinto9pin-18insnapincable.aspx

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Answer 5

Mar 8, 2011 4:51 PM in response to Shane Ross

Never ever ever buy cables from best buy. Oh good lord no

I couldn't agree more but it isn't just BestBuy ... it's pretty much any retail store. While they heavily discount the big box items, they make it up by jacking up the prices on all peripheral items like cables. Also stay away from marketing hype like that of Monster Cables.

-DH

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Answer 6

Mar 8, 2011 4:55 PM in response to Shane Ross

Awesome. Thanks!

Yeah, I strolled in there today to take a look and was flabbergasted. Plus they never have what I need anyways. And the sales people are annoyingly un-knowledgeable when it comes to answering seemingly simple questions.

Unrelated, but I asked the guy if they had a media player that can surf the web too, to watch videos, so they pointed me to the Google tv. I asked "Will stuff from let say, Fox.com or Hulu play?" He was like yeah, sure it does. So I go to each website and guess what, the videos didn't work, not compatible. Glad I didn't take his word for it.

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Answer 7

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,815 points

Mar 8, 2011 5:04 PM in response to David Harbsmeier

Monster Cables look pretty but are a monstrous rip-off. I usually get stuff from Fry's when I'm on the west coast.

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Answer 8

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Mar 8, 2011 5:15 PM in response to David S.

Another vote for granite digital cables. I have a 10 meter firewire 400 cable from them - just so you know - this is about 2x the recommended run without a booster. The cable was used to bring a live feed from a DV cam back to the computer. Worked flawlessly. Quality cables.

Now if they made something that worked as well keeping the clumsy people away from the computers and cables in a live environment ...

x

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Answer 9

Doody

Level 2

279 points

Mar 8, 2011 5:18 PM in response to Shane Ross

I once heard a Best Buy guy tell an unsuspecting customer that USB 2.0 was better for editing than FW400 because it was, "dude, WAAYYYY faster for video." He was also trying to sell him a bus powered drive.

I had to take the person aside after the Best Buy person left and explain the truth.

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Answer 10

Mar 8, 2011 5:19 PM in response to Studio X

Now if they made something that worked as well keeping the clumsy people away

Do they make their own brand of gaff tape?

😉

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Answer 11

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Mar 8, 2011 5:22 PM in response to David Harbsmeier

Unfortunately it took too much tape to wrap up EVERYONE who stumbled by. (Now I know why they call it gaff tape. Never thought about it that way before!)

x

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Answer 12

Mar 8, 2011 5:28 PM in response to Studio X

Never knew what gaff really meant until now, lol.

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Answer 13

Mar 12, 2011 6:44 AM in response to Christina Rodriguez

Be careful of retail store such as Best Buy's Cable prices

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Answer 14

Mar 12, 2011 6:45 AM in response to Dannthecableman

Firewire cables from $5.99ea http://www.connectzone.com/firewire-cables.html#723

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Answer 15

Mar 20, 2012 4:46 PM in response to Studio X

Granite Digital cables ARE what Monster cables promises - including the price. What would your second choice be given the VERY high price of Granite cables is TOO high for my budget?

Gary

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