[Chris Yigit]

Hello Ken,

I just though you should know that Matrox has developed some new HD closed captioning technology that really helps in just these situations. Basically, using Final Cut pro, you can ingest, edit, (small edits like you mentioned or big edits like cc or cutting), and print back out to tape and not have to worry about losing your CC info. Just like in the good old days of SD cc, only now you can expect the same convenience with HD cc.

You can find out more about it here, see question 14.
https://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/mxo2/faqs/

Best Regards,
Chris

[Chris Yigit]

Hi Michael,

“Ah, ok! That would answer why they didn’t answer my inquiry.”

Sorry about the lack of response, not sure which inquiry you are referring to, if it is the one in this thread, I would simply chalk it up to timing, NAB has sucked up a lot of resources, so forum posting has slowed down :[

Let us be clear, yes we use FCP’s CODECs and we make no qualms about it! We see no reason to develop our own flavour to imitate what Apple has already perfected. There is no reason to believe that AJA’a version of ProRes is better the Apple’s original version. One could argue that CPU cycles used for this process are not being used for editing. Yes, it does take CPU resources, but we believe that during ingest/capture, there is typically not much editing going on. As an added benefit, unlike some similar products, the MXO2 does not lock you to one codec, like ProRes for example. There is nothing wrong with ProRes, however, some creative professionals have bought into other CODECs for their workflows like DVCProHD and XDCAM HD/EX. MXO2 works with all of them as well. I guess my point here is that using host CODECs is not a disadvantage; we see it as a PRO. Most editor’s paid good money for their systems, why not use them, and save money on equipment options at the same time? This is exactly what the MXO2 does; complete I/O at an aggressive price.

In regards to the CC feature, it may be better if we elaborate a little. The MXO2 feature is more than just CC pass-through. Sure we can capture and playback. What we can also do is allow the editor to cut, trim for time, and modify the video clip in ANY way, and still maintain the CC data. This patent pending technology really changes the way editors work with CC data.

Matrox is committed to leading the way for quality I/O solutions, constantly thinking different. AJA is also a quality product, so I think it makes sense that they would also try and match this Matrox feature. It will be interesting to see how and when.

I hope this helps clarify the MXO2 feature set a little. Again, sorry for the delay, NAB is always a rough period 😉

Best Regards,
Chris

[Chris Yigit]

Hello All,

I realise this is quite late to be chiming in on this thread, but technology seems to have caught up to this problem. The Matrox MXO2 will provide the ability to capture footage withh cc, edit without destroying it, and then you can print to tape all the while maintaining the cc data in the VANC. The solution works in HD.

Also, for this parrticular case, you can create/edit captions with Maccaption, and use the MXO2 to send them out.

For more info see here;
https://www.cpcweb.com/mxo2/

Regards,
Chris

Best Regards,
Chris

[Chris Yigit]

Hi Edward,

OK, so I now understand why you would want the Spyder hub, your workflow makes sense. I was concerned that you were expecting eSata numbers through the hub, but obviously you understand the limitations. I think your setup makes sense. The fact that you plan to work with so many formats plays well with your choice of MXO2.

You mention downscaling on capture. If you are referring to HD->SD on capture, this will definitely help your cause. ProRes SD is less that 10MB/s. That should give you plenty of room to manoeuvre. Even is you work in the HD space you just need to make sure you get the right storage. There are several manufacturers out there. If you look at the following link, you can see some performance numbers that you should expect on a FW800 connection in terms of compressed streams.
https://www.g-technology.com/products/g-raid2.cfm

Again, I hope this helps.

Best Regards,
Chris

[Chris Yigit]

Hello Edward,

Might I ask what formats you are planning to work with, SD/HD, DVCPro, XDCAM, etc…? I think this will influence you choice.
Also, will you be going back and forth from MBP to your MacPro?

The reason I ask is that although I do not have a SeriTek/SpyderHUB, it seems like a very handy device for solvinmg connectivity problems, however i do not think it will give you eSata throughput or bandwidth that you would expect to see when using an ESata device. If you connect the an eSata device to your SeriTek/SpyderHUB to USB, I suspect your performance will only be as good as a USB drive connected to the same USB port. Same for FW. However, if you are working with compressed video (that’s why I asked the questions prior), you should expect to be able to edit multiple layers of video easily on a quality FW storage.

I hope this helps.

Best Regards,
Chris