Anyone using a Matrox MXO ??

Hello Joe,

We have been using an MXO for demo purposes in our store. It's tough to get it working, but when it is working, it's GREAT!

Let me know if you need any specific info.

Best regards,

Andrew Hoffman
Senior Operations Manager
Specialized Communications Corp.
20940 Twin Springs Dr.
Smithsburg, MD 21783-1510 USA
800-359-1858
301-790-0103
Fax: 301-790-0173
andrewh@spec-comm.com
www.spec-comm.com

Please visit our new online store at ( http://www.spec-comm.com/store ). New products being added daily!
 
Spec-Comm said:
We have been using an MXO for demo purposes in our store. It's tough to get it working, but when it is working, it's GREAT!

What is tough about getting it going? i read a review in DV mag that talked about how easy it was to get up to speed. What bottlenecks are you experiencing? I've been flirting with getting one. Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
Can you elaborate on hard to get going?

Im interested in hearing more about the monitor calibration and results with different caliber of monitors.

Also interested in understanding what they mean by Hardware acceleration of DVCPRO HD, HDV, and Final Cut Pro Dynamic RT segments to full output resolution to save processing power for other operations. Does the MXO actually help process the effects? Or is just upscaling he crappy dynamic res (which is not going to do much in a complex sequence where you cant get full frame rate, etc)

Thansk..

Joe
 
I just hate the pricetag. I just don't see the point when for like $250 bucks more I can get a decklink card. Now if it was like half the price at $500...then I would consider it.
 
Thanks for the questions.

What I meant was getting everything configured took some time. I'm not in the "MAC Guru Club" in our company either so that may have something to do with it. :)

fmaggi,

I don't know of any "bottlenecks", just getting used to how it works.

Joe,

We have been testing our MXO with a Panasonic BT-LH1700 (via HD/SD SDI) and a NEC 27" LCD (via DVI). Both look great.


David S.,

We have been hearing reports of 720p trouble, however, we have performed many tests in 720p and haven't had a problem. For those of you who do have trouble with 720p, make sure you have the latest version of FCP.


JesterJJZ,

The Decklink cards are nice too. :)

Best regards,

Andrew Hoffman
Senior Operations Manager
Specialized Communications Corp.
20940 Twin Springs Dr.
Smithsburg, MD 21783-1510 USA
800-359-1858
301-790-0103
Fax: 301-790-0173
andrewh@spec-comm.com
www.spec-comm.com

Please visit our new online store at ( http://www.spec-comm.com/store ). New products being added daily!
 
Spec-Comm said:
David S.,

We have been hearing reports of 720p trouble, however, we have performed many tests in 720p and haven't had a problem. For those of you who do have trouble with 720p, make sure you have the latest version of FCP.
Click to expand...


In my testing, I shot 720/24pn, and tried to output it to a LCD through DVI.

I repeatedly experienced image tearing in the upper third of the footage. This was tested in FCP 5.1.2 on both a DP G5 2ghz and my MacPro.
 
David S. said:
In my testing, I shot 720/24pn, and tried to output it to a LCD through DVI.

I repeatedly experienced image tearing in the upper third of the footage. This was tested in FCP 5.1.2 on both a DP G5 2ghz and my MacPro.
Click to expand...

That's interesting. We will do some tests of our own and let you know what we find. With your help, perhaps we can fix this problem once and for all. :)

I'll also drop a call to our Matrox guys and see what they have to say.

Best regards,

Andrew Hoffman
Senior Operations Manager
Specialized Communications Corp.
20940 Twin Springs Dr.
Smithsburg, MD 21783-1510 USA
800-359-1858
301-790-0103
Fax: 301-790-0173
andrewh@spec-comm.com
www.spec-comm.com

Please visit our new online store at ( http://www.spec-comm.com/store ). New products being added daily!
 
Spec-Comm said:
Thanks for the questions.

Joe,

We have been testing our MXO with a Panasonic BT-LH1700 (via HD/SD SDI) and a NEC 27" LCD (via DVI). Both look great.
/quote]

Well I'm thinking using it with a LH1700 kind of defeats the purpose of getting it, unless of course your editing on a laptop... I was hoping to hear it would give accurate viewing with something like the Dell 2405, and also add some hardware assisted fx or soemthing... I'm figuring that if I was going to spend 3k on a LH1700 I'd be better served with a decklink card???

Thanks..

Joe
Click to expand...
 
I am using the MXO with a Dell 2405 but not in a shooting situation.. only in editing. I consider the combination marginally adequate and of course would prefer a Panasonic LH1700, but budget doesn't allow it at the moment. Certainly going from the MXO to even the Dell 2405 is a major step above merely viewing on the Mac screen in RGB color space.

Ned Soltz
 
No quad-core Macs in Steve's keynote ;(

But looking forward to streaming HD through the Apple TV and of course to making calls on the iPhone.

While cool is good for the gadget-freaks and for the stock, some of us lament the removal of "Computer" from the company's name... particularly those of us who need a new "computer."

Just being a grumpy old man....

Ned
 
I finally got to check out the MXO today at MacWorld which was good since I have been thinking about getting one. I believe Wayne was the gentleman who was running the demo.

after checking it out firsthand I think it's a decent solution for those of us editing on MBP's. I have to say I had a tough time seeing any difference between HDV playback on an ACD 20" and a Panasonic 1700 (both connected to the MXO) in either video quality or color reproduction. The picture on both screens looked very good to me.

Seems like maybe the best (and only) solution at this point to getting even remotely accurate color with FCP/MBP's-PB's with HD.

I'm not sure how the MXO accelerates video processing as it appeared everything in the sequence they were playing back had already been rendered but I'll ask Wayne as I'm going back tomorrow. I would think though, if nothing else, it's got to be accelerating the processing just to get more then "preview" quality video out the DVI port.
 
I agree RDykmans,

I will confirm with our Matrox guy. From our experience with the MXO, it is a solution to view broadcast quality video with the source being the DVI jack on the MAC. It's SYNC'able. It's flicker-free. And the color is accurate. And that is where it gets it's value.

Thanks,

Andrew Hoffman
 
Talked to the Matrox guys again today about the Dynamic RT acceleration the MXO provides and basically while the MXO doesn't give you anymore RT effects then your system already has, it does provide the same full quality video output to your DVI and/or analog monitor during playback whether you have rendered your video or not. Be kind of nice not to fight the urge to go ahead and render all of the RT effects out before the editing is done.
 
Let me just say that you are going to be even happier with your MXO with some upcoming software improvements. More than that I cannot say. If you get back to the Matrox booth, tell Wayne that I sent you. I find this a superb product and find that Matrox has a deep commitment to making this as perfect as solution as they can.

Ned Soltz
 
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