Best I/O card for my setup

[Shane Ross]

Decklink Extreme 3D will work with All those apps. Has HD SDI in and out…Component and HDMI in and out. And XLR and AES EBU in and out.

Matrox MXO 2 will work with All those apps. Has HD SDI in and out…Component and HDMI in and out. And XLR and AES EBU in and out.

AJA Kona LHi will work with All those apps. Has HD SDI in and out…Component and HDMI in and out. And XLR and AES EBU in and out.

Pretty much any of the three main manufacturers will do what you want.

I have used all three. The easiest to use is the Kona line…then Matrox, then Decklink.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Adam Fischer]

Thanks Shane, I appreciate the detailed response!

[Adam Fischer]

Shane, thanks again for the response. I was looking at all three on B&H and it seems that the AJA and Matrox are getting the best reviews. I like the idea that I can use the Matrox on my laptop if necessary. Since the price isn’t much more that seems like it might be the way to go if all other things are equal. You said the AJA was eaiser to use though. Would you still recommend it over the Matrox even with the portability of the Matrox?

Do you know if any of these cards provide any performance acceleration for FCP or Adobe?

Do you have a recommendation for a video card to go along with these? I have the ATI Radeon HD 5770 that came with the machine now, but I didn’t know if there was anything out there better suited for editing.

Thanks!

[Shane Ross]

[Adam Fischer] ” You said the AJA was eaiser to use though.”

The Control Panel is more graphical based, and I can picture what is happening better. That’s about it. And it does offer a TC BURN output option too.

[Adam Fischer] “Would you still recommend it over the Matrox even with the portability of the Matrox?”

That’s tough. If you want portable, you need to look at the IOHD and the MXO2. The IOHD is twice as much, and doesn’t work with Color in HD. On the other hand, it can capture 1080i 29.97 ProRes on a laptop…because the ProRes encoder is built in. The MXO2 relies on the computer processors to do the encoding, so a laptop…anything but the latest 17″ MacBook Pro…can’t do 1080i 29.97…or 23.98. Matrox only officially supports 720p capture. And in my testing, that’s what I got. 1080i about 2 min before I get dropped frames. 720p…no issue. So there are plusses and minuses.

[Adam Fischer] “Do you know if any of these cards provide any performance acceleration for FCP or Adobe?”

NO capture card does. What they do is provide MINIMAL more RT to anamorphic formats, because they take the scaling process (unsqueezing) of the footage off the computer and onto themselves. But that is negligible. Marketting loves to tout this, but it really is meaningless.

[Adam Fischer] “Do you have a recommendation for a video card to go along with these? I have the ATI Radeon HD 5770 that came with the machine now, but I didn’t know if there was anything out there better suited for editing.”

EDITING? Graphics cards barely come in play. COLOR…MOTION…that’s where they come in play. And that is a good one. So…you’re set.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Adam Fischer]

I feel like I should be paying a consultation fee with these quick responses! By editing, I meant all things video, so compositing, etc. Good to know that this card is A-Okay.

Thanks for all the other detailed responses. I’ll consider all of that as I make my final decision.

Thanks again, this such a helpful community!

[Shane Ross]

[Adam Fischer] “I feel like I should be paying a consultation fee with these quick responses!”

If you want to… I have a paypal account.

:^)

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def