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Capture card/devices
I am looking for advice on a capture card/device
Essentially what i need is a device/capture card to do the following:
1) Capture and lay back to Beta SP.
2) RS422 control
3) The ability to output to a HDTV/HDMI monitor for color grading
4) The ability to do real time H264 Up/Down/Cross conversions.
5) Accelerated encodingI mainly shoot on P2 now, but do have stock footage and occasional uses for Beta SP. My older Mac Pro died thus my PCI Black Magic SD/HD card is rendered useless. I have another (less old) Mac Pro G5 with PCIe slots. I plan to purchase a new Intel Mac Pro in 3 months and would love to be able to purchase a device/card that works on both the new Intel Mac Pros and my G5 with PCIe. I also produce videos in the field that need to be shot, edited and turned around quickly so I think the MXO2 Mini would be great for these jobs for quick H264 conversions (I hope I am right that the mini does this)
Thanks!
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3 Replies
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[carlton hathcoat] “Essentially what i need is a device/capture card to do the following:
1) Capture and lay back to Beta SP.
2) RS422 control
3) The ability to output to a HDTV/HDMI monitor for color grading
4) The ability to do real time H264 Up/Down/Cross conversions.
5) Accelerated encoding “The Matrox MXO2 and the Kona LHi fit the bill for most of this. But no capture card does #4. Up/cross/down conversions of footage going IN and OUT via a video signal, yes. But not of H.264. That isn’t an editing codec anyway, you need to convert that. And since it is file based, the capture card won’t come into play. But the MXO2 with MAX will accelerate H.264 encoding…by a lot.
The mini will do this, but it lacks RS-422. But the MXO2 LE is $995 and does all of this (with MAX it is a tad more). The LHi does most of this…just doesn’t aid in H.264 encoding. And the MAX ONLY aids in H.264 encoding.
Shane
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Matrox mxo2 mini with max is your most economical bet. If you don’t need SDI, then the mini works for your betacam because it has compponent. It has the ability to setup the hdmi output calibrated or your lcd monitor for color grading (instead of trying to tweak a consumer lcd, they have a control panel to tweak the hdmi output). The rs422 can be handled by a rs422 cable and a usb to serial port adapter. The matrox maxx add on gives you accelerated h264 encoding. It doesn’t have xlr audio connectors. You’d have to get some adapters for that. The component connections are rca jack, not bnc. More adapters.
Ok, maybe spend another $500 and get the LE which has better connectors and rs422 built in. Can’t remember if it has maxx built in.
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Thanks so much for the info.
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