XDCAM, HDV, SD Oh My!

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Jeremy,

AJA makes a great product for ingest/playback at highest quality, but as an editor I am partial to Matrox, been using it for years in my own business for weddings, events and corporate. With Matrox, it eliminates almost all rendering – effects are all in realtime, no red bars, and I also get full-quality live output to a monitor while editing.

I use the RT.X2 currently, which will handle XDCAM EX footage in realtime, and will allow you to mix in HDV and DV footage without render in the same timeline, whether SD or HD, scaling is realtime.

Note that RT.X2 does not have HDMI or SDI/HD-SDI. You’d have to move to the Matrox Axio LE for HD-SDI and full 1920×1080 support, as RT.X2 is limited to 1440×1080 resolution (it can accept XDCAM EX HQ clips, but they are worked with as 1440×1080 internally). Your choice of systems would depend on needs, such as broadcast or corporate-level production.

Any questions, fire away

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor

[Jeremy Peplow]

Thanks so much for your reply, Jeff. We’re neighbors! I’m in Clearwater.

I had a feeling the Matrox would be the best solution. And thanks for shedding some light on the RT.X2 using XDCAM in 1440 X 1080. Now my question for external monitoring. I understand the RT.X2 gives you a full 1920×1080 output for live monitoring via a DVI out. If it down res the XDCAM content to 1440 X 1080 what is it spitting out at 1920 X 1080?

Also, the Matrox sites recommend using an inexpensive LCD display like a Dell monitor but I want to spit it out to my 50″ 1080P LCD display. This display has a DVI input and I’m wondering if I’ll get the full HD res I’m looking for out of this card.

One more question…working with the native MPEG HDV files, SD AVI files, and XDCAM MP4 files on the same time line, is the Matrox wrapping these files in it’s own codec? I don’t understand how it can read all these different formats and play them back in real time. There has to be a catch.

My end product ranges. I normally make material that goes out for broadcast in SD or straight to the web or to DVD. However, I often have to turn over HD files of commercials to some national broadcast entities.

Thanks for your time…

Jeremy

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Jeremy,

Actually I work for Safe Harbor Computers, I’m not based in “Safe Harbor”, in fact it is COLD here today, I’m freezing! I also have my own studio in Wisconsin and use the RT.X2 personally.

As you may know, even though HDV uses 1440×1080 pixels, playback is still 1920×1080. This happens because the HDV pixel aspect ratio is 1.333, and 1440×1.333 = 1920! The playback device interprets the aspect ratio and displays properly to fill the screen.

XDCAM EX SP also uses the same 1440×1080 resolution as HDV. So, anytime you are playing an HDV timeline with RT.X2, the video output from the RT.X2 breakout box via analog component is a full 1920×1080 that will work with any HD display that has component inputs.

The RT.X2 LE only has the analog breakout box, while the “full” RT.X2 also has a dedicated DVI-D connector onboard which is specifically for computer LCD displays, such as Apple 23″ or any 24″ LCD with DVI input. Since this output is intended for computer displays and NOT home-theater models, the DVI output uses the native 1920×1200 LCD resolution, so this DVI out will NOT work with an LCD that has 1920×1080 specs (note that DVI output is letterboxed for true pixel-for-pixel HD display).

If using P2 or MP4 files in Matrox, they are not transcoded or anything, they are used natively. DV and HDV captures via 1394 are in a Matrox .avi wrapper, but not re-encoded. You can also capture analog video using the Matrox MPEG-2 I-Frame codec for SD or HD that uses 4:2:2 color and variable bitrates (50-100Mbps for HD).

In any case, you CAN mix formats on the timeline as long as they use the same timebase. This means 29.97i files that are DV, HDV and MP4 can all be used in the same timeline, whether SD or HD, with no render, no catch! What you can’t do is mix for instance 1080i and 720p, without rendering.

As mentioned earlier, you CAN use XDCAM EX HQ (1920×1080) clips in RT.X2, they are worked on internally as 1440×1080 though, but output as 1920×1080. Not sure how you deliver to broadcast clients.

The Axio LE would give you full-raster support and the professional i/o options.

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeremy Peplow]

Jeff,

I can’t thank you enough for all your expertise with the Matrox. One last question…So the breakout box component out is the full 1920 X 1080 HD Signal? I read something about watching an HD project on an SD monitor so I assumed that component out was SD. Thanks again! I’m going to shoot for the Axio but with these challenging economic time I may have to settle for the RT.X2

Jeremy

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Jeremy,

The RT.X2 breakout box can capture SD or 1080i (no progressive analog in). Analog playback is SD, 720p or 1080i/p.

You CAN playback HD timelines to SD output in realtime with RT.X2, just go to Premiere playback settings and change master output to NTSC and choose Letterbox or Anamorphic, nice feature for preview/proofing to DVD recorder or tape deck.

If I can help you with anything else, look me up

Thanks

Jeff Pulera

[Jeremy Peplow]

Thanks again, Jeff! You have helped immensely!