The Firewire interface, also known as IEEE 1394, is the world standard for digital high quality professional video transmission. While the Firewire interface is most common on computers made by Apple or Sony, which uses the name i.Link for the IEEE 1394 standard, it is also integrated into most high-end PC motherboards. Used mostly for transferring digital video data from digital cameras, audio equipment, and other A/V equipment to computers, Firewire has many different versions and types of connectors, which often leads to incompatibility issues and confusion.
Unlike Firewire, VGA is an analog video interface that has been used in virtually every imaginable industry to transfer the video signal from a computer to a monitor output. While, theoretically, it would make sense to convert the analog VGA signal to a digital Firewire signal, this is not practical for several reasons. First, compared to other standards such as Ethernet and USB, Firewire is not very common. Second, the large data transfer capacity of Firewire is rarely needed when compressed images are being transferred, even at high resolutions and frame rates. Furthermore, Firewire is available in wireless, coaxial and fiberoptic versions, meaning that standards are not uniform across different manufacturers.
Small Lcd Vga Monitor
For this reason it makes more sense to convert a VGA stream to a more common standard such as USB, as the USB interface is included in virtually every PC that is manufactured today and, by technical characteristics, is not much slower than Firewire. VGA to USB devices called frame grabbers are able to digitize and compress the analog VGA stream and send it to a computer using USB.
Another common interface is the Ethernet interface, used for connecting computers to the Internet and between each-other. Like with USB-based frame grabbers, devices that convert a VGA stream to RJ45 Ethernet also exist, and are even able to send the digitized VGA signal over long distances.
In conclusion, while there is no way to properly convert a VGA signal to Firewire, several alternatives, such as VGA to USB and VGA to Ethernet solutions exist that are extremely convenient and easy to use.
