The Hosa Technology FireWire 800 cable is a pretty standard cable; there is nothing fancy in its design, but it does its job well. Hosa Technology offers a variety of FireWire cables and length options, although we think these should include longer options than are available. The company’s help and support page is limited to support for its non-FireWire items. For these reasons, Hosa’s cable lands in eighth place on our FireWire cables lineup.
This Hosa Technology FireWire 800 cable features a 9-pin-to-9-pin (male-to-male) connector, with constant signal speeds at 800Mbps (Megabits per second), making it great for connecting your computer to external FireWire hard drives and disc burners. Because the Hosa Technology FireWire 800 signal speed is consistent, these cables are also great for professional and consumer video editing with non-linear editing (NLE) software.
Apple originally included FireWire 400 (6-pin) ports on its high-end PowerMac desktop computers – and subsequently on its other Macs in the late 1990s and early 2000s – as a way to attract video editors to use Apple computers and the company’s then-new Final Cut Pro and iMovie NLE software applications.
As with similar FireWire cables, these Hosa Technology cables are well built and durable. They are made to withstand normal wear and tear, and to shield the cables from any potential sources of interference (radio frequency, electromagnetic and others) that could slow or stop the signal throughput speed.
The cables’ color is silver, which, along with black, is a pretty common color for FireWire, USB and other cables. This makes it difficult to keep your cables organized, and when you have a few of them, it can become a mess. We recommend using adhesive labels to keep track of your cables.
Hosa Technology offers a wide variety of FireWire cables and lengths, including FireWire 800 (9-pin) and FireWire 400 (both 6-pin and 4-pin). Lengths start at 1.5 feet and reach up to 15 feet. The company also has a variety of FireWire 800 to FireWire 400 cables that include both 6-pin and 4-pin models.
FireWire 800 to 400 (6-pin) cables are ideal if you’re connecting an older external drive with a 6-pin FireWire port to a computer with a FireWire 800 port. The FireWire 800 to 400 (4-pin) cable is great if you need to capture video from a digital-video or high-definition camera with a 4-pin port.
There aren’t many help and support options available for the Hosa Technology FireWire 800 Cable. Although Hosa provides a FAQs page, it has information regarding its other technologies but not its FireWire cables. However, you can contact Hosa Technology customer support by email or phone if you have any problems or questions. You can also sign up for the company’s newsletter to stay up to date on the latest Hosa Technology news. The company’s website has a news section also.
Hosa Technology FireWire 800 cables are a solid choice, and Hosa’s wide selection of FireWire 800 and 400 (both 6-pin and 4-pin) cables shows the company’s dedication to the technology. The lack of sufficient help and support options shouldn’t deter you from using its FireWire cables. In addition to improving support for its cables, we’d like to see Hosa add longer cable lengths to its selection of FireWire cables.
