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FCP X and Matrox MXO2
FAQ from Matrox with workarounds
https://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/mac/mxo2_family/fcpx_compressor4/Sounds like Matrox is leaving monitoring in Apple’s court.
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Ray -
19 Replies
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[Ray Wang] “Sounds like Matrox is leaving monitoring in Apple’s court.”
No, it’s kind of the reverse of that. According to an official from Matrox there are “no hooks” in this version of FCP X that enable I/O and “pro monitoring.” So, Matrox isn’t leaving anything to Apple, instead they’re just waiting on Apple to give them what they need just to get started on a solution.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.comDon’t miss my new tutorial: Prepare for a seamless transition to FCP X and OS X Lion
https://library.creativecow.net/weiss_roth_david/FCP-10-MAC-Lion/1POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums.
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What I meant by in Apple’s court was that without the hooks there will be no monitoring.
i.e. Apple is the decider.
If I read the FAQ from Apple site and Matrox site, both seem to point finger at each other.
If Matrox was on the beta program, Matrox would advertise on their site to say “we are working with Apple”.FCP X FAQ
Final Cut Pro X relies on third-party devices to support external video monitoring. We’ve been working with third-party developers in our beta program to create drivers for Final Cut Pro X, and AJA has already posted beta drivers for its popular Kona card:
Matrox FAQ
FCP X does not support professional video monitoring. For full-screen, preview-quality output you can use the second DisplayPort output from your computer in Full Screen Mode. The audio outputs of the MXO2 devices can be used for audio monitoring.
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Ray -
Well, that sucks. There goes my $1000 if I ever want to use FCPX.
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WOW, this whole thing just gets more unbelievable as time goes by…
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You’ve right Ray, Matrox have no apparent interest in providing non-broadcast quality monitoring for FCPX with their MXO2, at least that seems to be the message, instead they are waiting for Apple to supply the hooks required for a proper broadcast monitoring solution. Apple’s statement “We’ve been working with third-party developers in our beta program to create drivers for Final Cut Pro X, and AJA has already posted beta drivers for its popular Kona card” is just spin … the supposed solution is just a preview quality scan conversion of the graphics buffer. You might get a better quality preview by using Matrox’s original MXO if you have one.
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LOL. It is PR BS. AJA’s “Beta” drivers ONLY allow you to use the AJA i/o as a second computer monitor feed, not as an actual broadcast out. Gives you Preview quality only. And, they want you to install the drivers on separate boot drive because they will adversely effect anything else you use your AJA card for. Matrox’s advice is, to my mind, far saner. So, don’t take it out on them.
This is apparently no easy fix, and I’m guessing it will be a long time before it is taken care of. It is becoming very apparent that broadcast monitors were never supposed to be a part of FCP X.
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Greg- thanks for saying exactly what was coming out of my mouth! Haha…
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I had a conversation with a Matrox tech a few weeks ago and he gave no time table but he assured me that Matrox would have a “pro” monitoring solution for FCPX in the future.
For him or me to say X # months would just start rumors so he just said they are working with Apple on a solution.
Matrox has a Thunderbolt interface for the MX02 coming out in the next month or so. I don’t know if this will effect how FCPX will work with the MX02, but it is interesting.
I think patience is a virtue with new products. Why live on the bleeding edge when your old system still works.
If in a year FCPX does not have NTSC/PAL monitoring or some type of XML/EDL support then one can think of going somewhere else. In the mean time I am just learning as much as I can about the new FCP. FCP never was my main editor, but FCPX has me very intrigued.
Olof Ekbergh
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[Chris Harlan] “This is apparently no easy fix, and I’m guessing it will be a long time before it is taken care of. “
FCP X is based on AV Foundation. Any third-party video I/O drivers would hook into AV Foundation, not FCP X itself. AV Foundation is not a public framework in Snow Leopard, meaning that there is no public API for third-parties to hook into.
AV Foundation is a public framework in Lion. This does not necessarily mean the required hooks for broadcast video out of FCP X will be there on day one. But what it does mean is that no substantive conclusions about Apple’s long-term (or even short-term) intentions with respect to broadcast video output can be drawn from the fact that the current version of FCP X doesn’t support it under Snow Leopard.
[Chris Harlan] “It is becoming very apparent that broadcast monitors were never supposed to be a part of FCP X.”
No, it really isn’t.
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Hey Olof, uless it was someone high up in the company, the “tech” was just expressing his personal opinion. In their official statement there are no conditionals, ifs or buts in the sentence “FCP X does not support professional video monitoring”…a statement they haven’t seen reason to change on their site, on the off-hand chance that it was said in aerror.
It’s hard to believe they hadn’t seen the API or at least talked to Apple before making that statement. To me, and I could be wrong, that means that the API for FCP does not yet support 3rd party external monitoring. And that means it could be a longer wait than some here anticipate.
David
AllinOneFilms.com
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