Matrox MXO

[Gary Taylor]

Hi Tony,
I have question for you. Do you know if the MXO has to remain connected over USB to continue functioning? Do you think it would be possible to configure it with a Mac and then connect it to a PC.
Thanks,
Gary

[Tony Manolikakis]

Right. The whole presentation aspect of the product is cool. Don’t forget this is not a card, its a small box, so it is portable to any system that can run HDV or DVCProHD can have HD-SDI out ( as long as you have a compatible graphics card). Also, I often do Combustion or After effects on a non FCP based system so rather than dedicated a Kona card to you compositing workstation, you can just pop MXO onto it to see your comps on an HD or SD video monitor. I agree this is not for everyone, but it does address a need.

Tony

[Drizzt_g]

All we have to do is wait for the reviews from NAB because like a lot of new products, it looks good, but i’m sure theres restrictions, drivers and issues with other hardware. It looks promising though.

[Sean Oneil]

[Graeme Nattress] “incorrectly refer to YCbCr video as YUV. It’s not YUV, never will be YUV.”

Heh, terminology is whatever we as a people make it. While the true meaning of YUV is not YCbCr, YUV is a commonly used and typically accepted term to describe YCbCr. Probably because it’s easier to say and easier to type.

Sean

[Sean Oneil]

I’m not a fan of the company either, but this is actually a very interesting product. It provides two very useful things. For one, you can monitor and output HD from a Powerbook/MacBook/iMac/MacMini. That wasn’t possible before. And the other thing is that you can get a true HDTV video output over DVI, allowing you to use an LCD monitor as a true broadcast monitor with proper colors (albeit you should always use CRTs for this). Before, this was only possible buying either the Blackmagic MultiBridge Extreme ($3k), or a Decklink/Kona HD card plus an HD-SDI to DVI converter (>$2k).

So they definately tapped into unsanwered needs.

Sean

[Graeme Nattress]

But editing is a technical based art. You can’t just go around calling things what they’re not because it’s easier, or commonly (incorrectly)used. Incorrect terminology leads to confusion, and when printed in a technical, engineering product spec sheet, makes it look like whoever wrote it didn’t know what on earth they are talking about. We use special words in video for a reason, so that we can communicate and share complex ideas without ambiguity. Even Apple are coming around to this, now putting a note in the FCP render dialogue box, correctly referring to YCbCr, but noting, for those who’ve been using the incorrect terminology, people refer to it ast YUV.

Graeme

– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP

[Chris Poisson]

Hey Arnie,

Jeff’s diatribe cracked me up, I had the same hate/hate relationship with Matrox over the RTmac as he did. But, as to the price, if Matrox is true to their woeful ways, they’ll cut the price on the MXO in half in 6 months like they did on the RTmac, and leave early purchasers in the lurch just like they did then. Grrrr! Still burns my butt.

Have a wonderful day.