Comment 4 for bug 20567

(I'm writing in the context of being the Linux1394 upstream maintainer)

raw1394 is a module that gives raw access to the entire firewire bus. This means
reading and writing, which includes receiving and sending ISO streams.

This means that through this device one can send any sort of packet to any
device on the bus. It's akin to giving someone access to raw packets on an
ethernet device.

Because of this, the device needs root.root ownership. I can't argue for
anything else, even if programs require use of it just for video capture. Now,
I've used lots of video capture programs, including kino and coriander. Used it
with my Fire-I device, and my JVC video camcorder. They all worked with
video1394 (Fire-I), dv1394(JVC) and raw1394(both). So if the program isn't
working with video1394 or dv1394, then you should really take that up with that
program author. It's supposed to work.

As I recall with coriander, if you switched between video1394 and raw1394, it
wasn't as simple as selecting a different device name, you had to tell it you
were using video1394 or raw1394, and then the device path.