Hdmi To Firewire

ASRock A75 Pro4

When you're building a desktop PC, you may think your most likely choices for the motherboard's form factor are limited to ATX and microATX. But that's not necessarily so. We were reminded of this when testing the ASRock A75 Pro4 ($109.99 street), which is designed for use with AMD's new Llano Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) and new FM1 socket. Sized nearly an inch narrower than a typical ATX motherboard, it will open up some new room for you in space-starved PC cases. Those wanting maximum flexibility from their builds, however, may be disappointed by what the A75 Pro4 doesn't offer.

At first glance, the A75 Pro4 seems respectably equipped. The rear panel offers a port selection, including one PS/2 port; four USB 3.0 ports and two USB 2.0 ports; VGA, DVI, and HDMI for video output; FireWire; eSATA; and both analog (using the Realtek ALC892 chipset) and S/PDIF audio out. Memory bays are likewise fairly standard, supporting up to 32GB of dual-channel DDR3 RAM running up to speeds of 2,400MHz when overclocked. There are five SATA connectors, each supporting the newer and speedier 6Gbps SATA III standard. And, as there are two PCI Express (PCIe) x16 slots, you'll have the option of setting up two video cards in a CrossFireX configuration.

But look a little further, and some oddities begin to crop up. First, the expansion slots: The second PCIe x16 slot is wired x4 rather than x8, which means reduced performance on a setup using multiple video cards; also, these are joined by two PCIe x1 slots and three traditional PCI slots—an odd formation given how few PCI cards show up these days. And though the A75 Pro4 contains headers for one more header for FireWire and three for USB 2.0, it sports none for USB 3.0, something with which most other new motherboards are regularly coming equipped. (By contrast, the Gigabyte A75-UD4H motherboard has two USB 3.0 headers, swaps the A75 Pro4's PCI and PCIe x1 numbers, and wires its second PCIe x16 slot at x8.) The A75 Pro4's CMOS battery is also located immediately next to the topmost PCIe x16 slot, where it will be covered if you're using a video card with an extra-large heat sink.

ASRock has made a couple of smart design choices, mostly aimed at power users. In the lower-right corner of the motherboard you'll find power and reset buttons installed right on the PCB—always a nice touch. And next to them is an LED display that shows debug codes so you can track exactly where your system may be getting stuck in its boot sequence. And, in perhaps the best example of how the A75 Pro4 excels compared with the Gigabyte A75-UD4H, it utilizes a full graphical UEFI that has completely thrown off the shackles of the old-school BIOS in favor of enhanced options, a more sophisticated look, and user-friendlier mouse support. Other ASRock technologies, such as On/Off Play (which lets you play audio from portable devices even when the system is off), XFast USB (which promises enhanced USB 3.0 transfer speeds), and App Charger (for charging your devices even when your PC is in Standby or Hibernate modes, or even turned off), are included as well, as is the Extreme Tuning Utility for direct overclocking control within Windows.

HV20 HDMI instead of Firewire

It is, better specs, more versatile in terms of connectivity/portability, but the chipset is the dealbreaker. I could use the Pro in multiple computers, the Shuttle won't work with any I've got. If only the Shuttle had the specs of the Pro. But could anybody tell whether the Pro could actually do the same, with the most recent driver or so? I'm wondering whether the Pro is just the old version with a specsheet which is not updated. I'm considering to send the manufacturer an email if nobody has an answer. Just studied the HDMI versus Firewire data on the thread and it does look like HDMI has the edge. Whether it really matters for non professional use is debatable but the important thing is that HDMI sockets are more robust than the tiny firewire socket, and failures of HDMI are rare compared to firewire socket fails on the HV20, 30 & 40. Any actual or perceived improvement of picture quality/signal transmission is a bonus in anyone's book. There is a big difference when your camera's firewire doesn't work... Seriously though, HDMI was brought in for HD devices. Firewire was conceived long before HD cameras tv's etc were in use. Read on Wikipedia that aircraft manufacturers use firewire to connect their computer systems/avionics together... Just hope their sockets are better quality than the ones used on Canon cameras...

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