PPro2: Dealing w/ Video Latency Sound Card vs FireWire

[Dave Friend]

Kyle,

There are no settings anywhere in the computer to compensate for the lag. The DV out is slow because all the data has to be serialized, pushed through the wire and then de-serialized at the DV device. That takes a lot of time – particularly when compared to a low-latency audio card. I suppose some clever audio card company could write a driver that would add latency to the card’s output. That would probably be a hard sell to any company that has spent a lot of effort making a low-latency card.

Define affordable. If you’ve got a couple grand to invest and if you computer meets requirements then maybe the Matrox RT.x2 should be considered.

Dave

[Tim Kolb]

You would need to run a video playback monitor off your RGB display card to get close to sync’d with the audio card…not ideal for color correction, but the video would most likely catch the audio this way.

As you know, the best way to sync FireWire video out is to take the audio output at the external device along with your video…like the Canopus ADVC boxes would do. Of course, surround sound is the catch there…

TimK,
Director,
Kolb Productions,

Creative Cow Host,
Author/Trainer
http://www.focalpress.com
http://www.classondemand.net

[Kylesway]

Hi Dave

thanks a lot for the input!

Yes, it would be sorta weird for the audio companies to
actually *add* latency. But at least it would be easy ;->.
I kinda would have PPro2 expected to be able to compensate.
It could just send the audio later and the audio hardware
could be as latency free as desired.

Price wise, the RTx2 is not ideal but sounds feasible. The Axio
is definitely borderline if not too far. But very tempting
considering it can also do “real” HD if needed… And it seems
to have 6 outs fully built-in which should allow for 5.1 and
eliminate latency.

Do you happen to have experience w/ the Matrox products? Can
they “really” do what they claim? Do they have restrictions one
needs to be aware of?

Thanks again

— Kyle

[Kylesway]

Hi Tim

you are right, using a pc based display works OK; the program
monitor inside PPro2 is perfectly in sync. But this is not quite
ideal for my workflow. And I already use the 2 DVI outs of my
card for the dual monitor setup. Maybe a Parhelia (triple head)
could do the trick. But the card is kinda old by now… Can it
still compete?

As long as I’m on firewire out for both video and audio, sync is
OK. But aside from the incapability to do surround, it’s a 2nd
audio path in addition to PC based audio used when scrubbing…

Thanks a lot for your input

— Volker

[Tim Kolb]

The Parhelia APVe is an excellent card. It isn’t an Open GL card like the PNY Quadros and that sort of thing, but it drives three monitors perfectly well.

I’d probably go that way…the other benefit to the Parhelia is that the third monitor can be a video monitor with the proper color space as opposed to an RGB computer display…

(I like the Quadros too BTW, I run two in my main machine…it’s just that they are all dual-head.)

TimK,
Director,
Kolb Productions,

Creative Cow Host,
Author/Trainer
http://www.focalpress.com
http://www.classondemand.net

[Dave Friend]

[kylesway] “Do you happen to have experience w/ the Matrox products?”

Yes, but my Axio experience is limited to demos – so far. But those experiences have been good. And I have gotten reports from people I know and trust that are very complementary. I will be getting an Axio SD soon. I do have real-life experience with older Matrox video products like the Digisuite and Rtx100. Video quality is excellent. They sometimes struggle with software drivers but that seems better in recent years. And they seem to be putting lots of resources into continuing development and refinement of the Axio line. With regards to software, I have more trepidation about Adobe Premiere Pro than Matrox.

I have not seen the new RTx2 but my confidence is high because of their track record with the older RTx products. It looks like a lot (if not most) of the technology in the x2 is from the Axio product.

“Can they “really” do what they claim?”
Yes, they do deliver what the marketing department promises. Undoubtedly there are bugs. But every piece of software ever written has those.

“Do they have restrictions one needs to be aware of?”
Like software bugs, every NLE software or hardware vendor has “gotchas” that are often hard to spot until you start using in a real-world situation. You really do need a computer that meets system requirements or you will be disappointed. Again, PPro is probably more of a bottleneck than the Matrox hardware. Sorry I can’t give you more specifics – I just don’t have the experience to speak intelligently. Take these questions to the Matrox Video COW and see what response you get.

Dave