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HDV, DVCPro HD and the Matrox MXO
Can’t come to a decision and some recent production developments have only complicated the matter…
I shoot HDV, edit on a G5 Quad with a Cinema Display and I just bought a Dell 2407. I was planning to get the MXO.
Up till now I have worked on relatively short projects, or longer projects with little effects. Editing HDV was not much of a hassle.
Now I started working on a series of projects that include a lot of effects, filters etc and editing HDV is getting on my nerves. So I’m thinking of upconverting to DVCPro HD. I dropped the HDV into a DVCPro HD timeline, let it render and and it seemed to work fine. (although I don’t quite understand how te organize this way of working- should I export DVCProHD as a selfcontained movie and then import again? But that’s another matter.)
Can I use the MXO for DVCpro HD in the same way I would have used it for HDV? I am particularly interested in the MXO for (relatively good) affordable color correction and the ability to show full HD interlaced video on the Dell. Will it be as reliable with DVCPro HD as it is with HDV? (in case you recommend an i/o card- output has been SD DVD’s, so far.)
Or do you have other recommendations considering the situation I described?
Thanks for the help,
Wolf
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20 Replies
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Running FCP5.1 on a Dell? Never heard of it. You may want to check a non- Mac forum.
Tim
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Ohh… you’re talking about a Dell monitor. sorry. I would give Matrox a call personally.
Tim
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I am testing the Matrox and I have the Dell 2405 monitor. While it looks STUNNING, it doesn’t quite match my HD CRT. Matrox said that they are working on monitor presets for the Dell, as the one that is now is designed to match the gamma of the Apple 23″ display.
Close…and they are working on it. Not yet.
Shane
Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net -
Also, what frame rate is the video? I shoot in 24p HDV and the Matrox does not yet support this according to tech support (if anyone has a workaround, I’d love to hear it). I have been told they will for the next release, but don’t know if that will be at NAB.
Bill Doyle
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[Bill Doyle] “Also, what frame rate is the video? I shoot in 24p HDV and the Matrox does not yet support this”
Uh…yes it does. It plays back HDV and DVCPRO HD 24p (23.98) out to the monitors fine. DVCPRO HD is sent to the monitor as 59.94 (sent to my HD CRT this way as well) and 24p HDV is sent as 29.97…because those are the compressors they use. DVCPRO HD uses a 720p60 compressor, and HDV a 1080i29.97.
You wouldn’t want to see true 23.98 monitoring anyway. Flickery as hell…unwatchable.
Shane
Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net -
Interesting situation.
I do a lot of HDV on a G5 Quad as well.
Works great.How many layers or f/x are you doing?
How much system memory do you have?I’m running 4GB of memory.
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Am I right to assume that these Dell presets will be available as part of an upcoming firmware upgrade? Or would I miss the boat if I buy a current model?
thanks for the reponse,
Wolf
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I’m currently working on an item with 3-layered animation ‘bumpers’, combined with filters. (3.5 gigs memory in my system. As I understand, FCP can’t address more than 2 or 2.5 gigs anyway…)It just takes too long to render every time you move a keyframe- and I’ve moved a lot of keyframes. It’s not that it doesn’t work- it’s just not workable.
I’ve seen a demo from Rick Young from MacVideo that cuts these times down anywhere from 20 to 65% using the DVCPro HD codec.(That is, after you upconvert your HDV material, whilst sleeping preferably…)Wolf
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So you’re testing the little box, Shane. Can you give us a preliminary report? How long have you had it/used it much? Noticeable flaws? (aside from the aforementioned) I read something about annoying screens refreshing when you switch programs? Anything else?
Buying advice? (I know it’s a little much too ask, but hey…)
Thanks,
Wolf
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