apple cinema HD 23″ display, help me decide

[Shane Ross]

Sorry, but you are going to have to spend at least $2000. The Apple display alone won’t cut it. Digital Cinema Desktop to the monitor gives you a low res proxie image, rife with all sorts of artifacting. Only with the Matrox MXO will you see what you really have on that ACD…

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/ross_shane/MXO.php

Shane

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[Chris Gorman]

Yes, I was thinking about getting the mxo about a year ago. After all this time and Apple upgrades etc., you think this is still the best choice in the affordable range, right? Are you recommending the mxo and not the mxo2?

I wonder if I’ll hit a snag with the fact that my available connection on my G5 card is the odd adc port. If I can get an adc to dvi adapter I can make the connection, but hope it wouldn’t compromise anything by using an adapter?

Where do think is a good place to buy the mxo?

[Chris Poisson]

Shane,

I am not qualified to disagree with you, so I won’t. But, I want to point to some advice I got from Graeme Nattress a while back, which said that DVI out to a 23″ ACD is about as close to an MXO as you can get. This was here on the Cow, but I can’t find it.

He never said anything about a low res proxy image. And while I haven’t done the excellent tests and photos you did for your article, I have sent 1080 sequences to my CRT via my Kona LH and via DVI to my ACD and the images are too close to argue about.

This whole discussion I had with Graeme was an effort to save my cheap ass from springing for an MXO, which, I agree is a great product and the calibration is a huge plus, but my needs for grading have turned out fine with the CRT, so it’s all kinda moot.

But anyways, I was just curious about this proxy image thing…

Have a wonderful day.

[Shane Ross]

[chris gorman] “you think this is still the best choice in the affordable range, right?”

Yup. I don’t recommend what is the cheapest a year ago…I remain current.

[chris gorman] “Are you recommending the mxo and not the mxo2?”

The MXO 2 isn’t out yet. And it doesn’t connect to an Apple monitor, as it doesn’t have DVI out. It has Component, SDI, COmposite and HDMI out…and the only HDMI monitors are consumer HDTVs.

[chris gorman] “I wonder if I’ll hit a snag with the fact that my available connection on my G5 card is the odd adc port. If I can get an adc to dvi adapter I can make the connection, but hope it wouldn’t compromise anything by using an adapter?”

Put your regular computer monitor on that. YOu had DVI and ADC, right? If not, then adapter should work…same information, just different connector type.

Where do think is a good place to buy the mxo?

http://www.bhphoto.com. Bet place to buy everything.

Shane

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[Shane Ross]

[Chris Poisson] “DVI out to a 23″ ACD is about as close to an MXO as you can get.”

This is tough to answer, because you really have to see it to see what I am talking about. Graeme…to my knowledge…hasn’t come to see a demo of this unit, and the guys at the Matrox booths at conventions (and I) show people the difference. While it is close, once you see what the MXO can do…it seems like night and day. The red color bleeds on Digital Cinema Desktop…and interlacing “stepping” can be seen..as well as moire effect on line art and grooves in the road.

Switch to the MXO and the RED is normal, the moire is gone, and the stepping is gone as well. AND…DCP cannot show you a properly interlaced image….the MXO can.

Oh…and with the MXO you can calibrate your monitor to bars…and BLUE ONLY gun built in. Something you cannot do with Digital Cinema Preview.

THis is all very difficult to prove…it has to be seen to be believed.

Oh, and Chris…cheaper HD cards exist…Decklink Intensity and Intensity Pro…but those are for PCIe Mac Pro towers only.

Shane

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[Walter Biscardi]

[Shane Ross] “and the only HDMI monitors are consumer HDTVs.”

actually, the Panny Pro Plasmas now come with one or two HDMI inputs standard. I wouldn’t use this for color grading alone unless you had it properly calibrated. I also would not use HDMI for my pro monitoring anyway, but that’s another story.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

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[Chris Poisson]

Shane,

Interesting, I do have a Kona LH just like you, so I don’t need another card, but the info on the MXO is helpful nonetheless. If I come out of my divorce and recent illness with any cash, I’ll probably buy one!

Thanks!

Have a wonderful day.

[Chris Gorman]

This thread is very helpful, thanks.

I can’t use the adc port for my vga computer workstation monitor because the adapter for adc to vga is no longer available and I don’t have one. So the acd with have to connect to the mxo via an adapter to the adc connection. ie., a adc to dvi. Hope that extra piece of hardware doesn’t slow down or cause any problems.

I guess the Kona LH pci-x would fit my G5, but it’s more bucks and I could never figure out if the features are something I’d need.

So, I’m pretty much sold on getting the MXO.

[Alexander Kallas]

Shane, do you have a solution for a Macbook Pro?

Cheers
Alexander

[Shane Ross]

[Alexander Kallas] “Shane, do you have a solution for a Macbook Pro?”

Matrox MXO…what we have been talking about. Or the AJA I/O HD…or the MXO 2 coming out soon. Those are it.

Shane

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