Shane, MXO advice pleez

[Paul Burgess]

Whilst on this subject may I ask another question.
Is the MXO only of use with the 23 inch Apple Monitor.
I have a pair of HP 30 inch monitors for use with FCP and would like to know if I could expect to use one of them as a colour monitor with the MXO?

Paul

[Gary Alan]

I will let others say for sure, but I thought I heard before that a 30″ will not work with the MXO and the Apple 23″ was the best way to go.

Gary

Mac Pro 3Ghz Intel Dual Duo, 6GB RAM, 30″ ACD
MacBook Pro 17″
Sony XDCAM EX with a Sachtler Carbon Tripod System

[Steven Gonzales]

Since the Apple 30 inch display is not supported, I doubt the Dell 30 inch is.

Here’s the page with supported monitors:

https://www.matrox.com/video/support/mxo/rec/dvi_monitor.cfm

[Paul Escandon]

I am an MXO user. I can tell you that the MXO will not accelerate playback in any way – so if your final cut can play in real time the footage you’re working with, then the MXO can display that footage. If you need to render, the MXO isn’t going to speed anything up.

It’s a great product though.

* * *
Paul Escandon – Lead Editor @ Outdoor Channel
Producer | Director – Oremus Productions
oremusproductions.com | blog
Apple Certified Trainer – Final Cut Pro
Adjunct Professor of Media – JPCU
—
MacPro Quad-core XEON
8Gb ram, ATI Radeon X1900 XT, 2TB internal RAID
2 20″ Dell UltraSharps + Matrox MXO & 23″ ACD

[Lu Nelson]

I’m an MXO user too.

Indeed it does not seem to accelerate, at least with my workflow, although Matrox says it offers some kind of acceleratio for HDV and DVCProHD Timelines, which is not you I guess, nor me.

The output is good, but I often switch my external monitor back to Digital Cinema mode because it is more responsive when I am shuttling around a lot. In other words, I use MXO mastering mode to check how the images and cuts really look, but I mostly edit in Digital Cinema because otherwise you have a 4-5 frame delay in responsiveness. 5 actually, says Matrox.

Also, the MXO preferes that you have your playback settings on “Dynamic” or “High”. It does not like “Medium” quality mode in my experience, which might be a turnoff for some ProRes users as this was one of the ways suggested to alleviate CPU load when cutting.

But yes: the output is correct color and in the 23″ monitor range I think you are best to stick with Apple’s 23″ in all cases because it refreshes at 59.97Hz (which is MXO’s maximum refresh rate at that resolution). Higher resolution monitors do not work at all but lower resolutions do, and sometimes at higher refreshes like 60Hz or even 75Hz i think

Lu Nelson
Berlin, Germany

[Paul Burgess]

Thanks for the info.
So it would mean buying a 23 inch ACD.
A DVI-I splitter (if they exist) and then route the signal to the 30 inch or 23 inch as required – would that work?

Paul

[Paul Burgess]

I have the ATI Radeon X1900 XT card fitted – this is not in the list of tested cards.
Gas anyone used the MXO with this card?

Paul

[Paul Escandon]

The X1900XT card works fine with the MXO. I don’t know why Matrox hasn’t put that on their site yet – all the ATI’s work fine with the MXO. I’m using this card and the MXO.

* * *
Paul Escandon – Lead Editor @ Outdoor Channel
Producer | Director – Oremus Productions
oremusproductions.com | blog
Apple Certified Trainer – Final Cut Pro
Adjunct Professor of Media – JPCU
—
MacPro Quad-core XEON
8Gb ram, ATI Radeon X1900 XT, 2TB internal RAID
2 20″ Dell UltraSharps + Matrox MXO & 23″ ACD

[Chris Borjis]

count me in as a satisfied user as well, though I use it a bit differently:

component analogue out to a sony pvm HD/SD crt.

[David Smith]

My MXO looks great on a Dell 2405 as well. I prefer that monitor to the Apple 23″ Cinema Dispay (I think the current model is the 2407).

I’ve also used the MXO’s HD-SDI output to feed a Black Magic HDLink, feeding a Panny 42″ plasma, and a Sony 42″(I think) LCD. That doesn’t give you the monitor setup options that DVI out of the MXO does, but for viewing they looked great.

Regards,
David