Gooday PCI FireWire IEEE 1394 3 + 1 Port Card + 4/6 Pin Cable

I need to note for anyone who's read other reviews here--the card I got does NOT have the Texas Instruments chip that I was hoping for. Rather, it uses the VIA chip that one commonly sees in these cards. * $9.95 shipped * 11 days (8 business days) drop-shipped from Hong Kong (Amazon Prime couldn't speed that up) * In the manila shipping envelope was a small printed cardboard box with the card in an anti-static bag. * Included was a screw, IEEE cable and mini-CD with drivers for Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP, Vista & 7. * 2 full-size IEEE ports & one mini outside, one full-size IEEE inside * PCI card, not PCI-E (this was as expected). * Cord included is 2ft 6.5in from full-size plug tip to mini plug tip. * VIA chip on cardEverybody says to go with T.I., but I'll see how this one does and pass the info along...EDIT:Installed and tried it out with a firewire digital audio interface on Windows 7 64-bit and... BLECH! Pops, static and buzz on the recording.Online suggestions for this problem included (and I tried):* "Lifting the ground"--basically un-grounding my computer (I do not like this notion, no I do not)* Turning off system sounds (how the heck is this supposed to help? It didn't)* Setting the interface as the primary input in the Sound control panel* Swapping PCI cards in their slots to change the firewire's IRQ (which Windows 7 just won't let you do manually)What worked, finally? Nothing. So I rummaged the garage to find an old firewire card I had from the early nineties (really) with a Texas Instruments chip and swapped it out for my brand new one with the VIA chipset.Perfection. The T.I.-based card works like a champ.Final review: If you are doing any sound work with a digital audio interface, then listen to "Them". Get a firewire card with a Texas Instruments chipset. If you're not sure, email the seller for details or keep looking. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.The 2-star rating is for the whiffy VIA chipset, but I hasten to add that the card still works--just not for what I bought it for.

If you have trouble with this card, try first getting a new cable. The one that comes with it is complete crap, and made me think there was something wrong with the card until I got a new cable and everything worked perfectly.I tried the included cable with my HV30 hdv camcorder to capture footage in Windows 7, Vista, and XP, all of which I couldn't get to work very well. Windows 7 would detect and undetect the camera repeatedly while I tried to record, even with the legacy driver. Vista would record without stopping with the default driver but the video would be full of artifacts. XP would only record for a few minutes and then quit, and it also had artifacts. So I decided that it MIGHT be the cable but since the card was only $7 I suspected it too, and after doing a lot of research decided to go ahead and get a new cable and a new firewire card with a TI (Texas Instruments) chip since that is supposedly the best kind. So I found a  $16 LaCie card  on Amazon with a TI chipset, and also ordered  a new cable  at the same time. If I had been more patient or had more time, I would have tried just the cable first, but I didn't want to have to wait for the cable to arrive and then have it still fail and then have to wait for a new card to arrive after that.When they arrived, I tried the new cable with this card first, and to my surprise, it worked perfectly in Windows 7 with the default driver. Since I have the better card with a TI chipset though, I'm going to use that one, but the $7 works just fine too.Lesson learned: before you blame this card, try a new cable first!!

I understand sometimes products are defective. Every manufacturer who has ever produced anything sends out a *hopefully* small percentage of defective products. Whether this happens during manufacture, or the defect occurs at some point during the shipment process, it happens.This is the least expensive firewire board I could find - by a long shot. It includes a 3' 4-pin to 6-pin firewire cable, and a disc I havn't used (I think it's video editing software or something).Anyway I bought this for a firewire hard drive - Windows detects it as a Texas Instruments 1394 device, and auto-installs. The functioning card worked perfectly - and I am very pleased.The first one I ordered was apparently defective. I simply ordered a second one and kept my fingers crossed (rather then go with a $50 alternative somewhere else.) I'm glad I did. Even at twice the price I saved money. I didn't bother with a return, it's not worth the effort at this price.I recommend giving this card a try.Also, the second card that worked came in a box and inside an anti-static bag. The first defective card came in bubble packaging (like you see hanging from pegs in stores) with no anti-static protection.*Note - it is a PCI card not a single-lane PCIe (PCI Express) card.