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South Korea, Seoul
1 Level
750 Review
42 Karma

Review on Enhance Your Connectivity with the Vantec πŸ”Œ 2+1 FireWire 800/400 PCIe Combo Host Card (UGT-FW210) by Juan Grayson

Revainrating 2 out of 5

Vantec makes good stuff I think I had a loser

I have used Vantec products from external enclosures to USB 2.0 and 3.0 to IDE/SATA peripherals and I usually choose them for peripherals. I bought this particular card for 2x Firewire 800 ports (in case I need them in the future) and 1x Firewire 400 port (which I now need for a DV cam to upload old videos to my Linux computer with dvgrab). Chip - Texas Instrument chip for 1394/Firewire. The box was in good condition, undamaged, the card was packaged in an anti-static bag, and a molex to sata power supply was included (if you didn't have a molex). The instructions were easy (I didn't need them) and no drivers (because Windows XP and Linux operating systems don't need drivers anyway). PCIe x1 card, thin and small, full-size PCI bar, so it can be easily installed on the motherboard with a free PCIe x1 slot. I ended up using a Molex SATA connector on a system I installed it on with Ubuntu 20.04 Linux desktop. The card was recognized immediately, dvgrab was installed and off we went. I was working on a fourth DV tape (1 hour per tape, about 75% of the run) when Linux gave a dmesg error basically saying device 1394 was gone - I wasn't sure if it was a card or a camera was. but dvgrab was still able to stop/start the camera when I ran dvgrab or dvgrab -rewind but it just stopped capturing video. I transferred the card from an ASUS Z87 Deluxe motherboard to a Lenovo i7 4th Generation desktop computer .Generation switched with Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop Live and Manjaro installed - same result - could control the camera but no longer record video Motherboard with a Xeon W3690 processor which I put together.It also has a chip from Texas Instrument 1394. I have Installed unbuntu 20.04 desktop, installed dvgrab and used the same cable I used Vantec, I was immediately c video capture. Sorry, the problem seems to be in the card. I gave 3 stars because it's broken - so why give stars when it's broken or defective? Because I STILL TRUST Vantec products and WILL STILL BUY Vantec products and if I hadn't bothered a 13 year old motherboard the 10th not sure yet). I would still say feel free to try this card - Revain/vendor return policy is good so you guarantee the product will work or be returned. I think I just have a looser card, that's all. I am sorry

Pros
  • Delivery was very fast
Cons
  • Clarity