Looking for Thunderbolt equipped Expresscard for Macbook Pro

Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

Looking for Thunderbolt equipped Expresscard for Macbook Pro

Posted by Jamie Pickell on January 6, 2012 at 9:01 pm

Hey all, I’m hoping I can tap into the vast Creative Cow knowledge base.

I’ve got a mid-2010 17″ Macbook Pro i7 2.66Ghz with 4GB of RAM. I’ve got FCS 3, Adobe CS 5.5 and AVID MC 5.5. I’m doing some research in advance of a possible work-from-home gig and would like to add monitoring and injesting capabilities to my setup.

Here is my dilemma: my Macbook does NOT have thunderbolt, but does have the Express card and Firewire 800 slots. I currently use an Expresscard with eSATA to connect to my drives. The various AJA and Matrox offerings available for laptop either use the Expresscard slot for their own proprietary connection or they offer a Thunderbolt connection. What I am looking for is an Expresscard that has either a single Thunderbolt connection or dual Thunderbolt connection. That way I can connect the monitoring device and have a fast connection to my media (with thunderbolt equipped drives). The AJA io XT has a thunderbolt loop through on it so a single thunderbolt equipped Expresscard would work. I’ve used the AJA io HD before and know it connects via firewire 800, but that’s almost $2000 grand more than the other options available.

So to sum it up: Does anyone know of a Thunderbolt equipped Expresscard? (This is different than Sonnet’s Thunderbolt Expresscard reader.)

Thanks in advance,
Jamie Pickell

Jamie Pickell replied 14 years, 4 months ago 4 Members · 8 Replies
8 Replies

Steve Eisen
January 6, 2012 at 9:10 pm

There is no current product out there that will do what you want. The Matrox MXO2 line (non-Thunderbolt) is perfect for you.

Connect via Express34 and get a FW800 Raid such as G-Tech RAID Mini.

When I travel, I use that configuration on My 2011 TB 17″ MBP with MXO 2 and it performs very well.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group
Shane Ross
January 6, 2012 at 9:40 pm

AND…the Matrox MXO2 Mini works with all the NLEs you have: FCP, Premiere and Avid MC 5.5. That’s what I use on my Laptop.

Shane
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Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def
Jamie Pickell
January 6, 2012 at 9:58 pm

Steve,

Thanks for the reply and the recommendation of the G-Tech Raid. I was hoping to avoid being dependent on Firewire 800 for my media connection. Do you experience dropped frames or playback problems when using ProRes HQ or multi-cam edits?

Jamie
Jamie Pickell
January 6, 2012 at 10:01 pm

Thanks Shane. I’m really leaning towards the Matrox product line for that very reason and your continued recommendation of their products in other posts has me seriously considering them.

Jamie
Steve Eisen
January 7, 2012 at 2:50 am

No playback problems. There is a limit if you push your system too far. That goes with any system.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group
Ben Holmes
January 9, 2012 at 12:58 pm

If you are using HD1080 material there is NO reason to use ProResHQ over standard ProRes – this has been covered extensively and scientifically here before. Not that anyone listens… Yes – it’s 10-bit.

Using standard ProRes will help when working with FW drives – but if you want multi cam performance, you’re asking too much of it – upgrade to a newer MBP or iMac with thunderbolt – plenty of suckers on eBay who don’t care about it…

And the MXO2? Great product.

Edit Out Ltd
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Ben Holmes
January 9, 2012 at 12:59 pm

PS – the ecpresscard interface will never support TB – it’s much slower as a PCIe interface. I seriously doubt Apple or Intel would ever licence TB for this use.

Edit Out Ltd
—————————-
FCP Editor/Trainer/System Consultant
EVS/VT Supervisor for live broadcast
RED camera transfer/post
Independent Director/Producer

https://www.blackmagic-design.com/community/communitydetails/?UserStoryId=8757
Jamie Pickell
January 9, 2012 at 9:23 pm

Ben, thanks for your reply. You’re preaching to the choir regarding ProRes HQ 🙂 The only problem is when the audience refuses to listen to said choir. I sometimes receive ProRes HQ files without any input on my part, so I just need to be able to work with what I’m given. Right now I use an Expresscard with eSATA to get the necessary throughput.

I also appreciate your comments on the Expresscard not having Thunderbolt. It saves me time from looking and hoping that option becomes available.

Cheers,
Jamie

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