Would I stil need a Matrox (or the like) to monitor HD with this set-up?

Yes. The Matrox, Black Magic or AJA capture card connects to a video monitor. The ATI connects to a computer monitor. Big difference in how the image is presented.
 
Thanks arniepix.

On a side note, it's pretty strange that a $10k video editing system is not ready to monitor HD...
 
What you quoted is a decked out computer and monitor, not a video editing system.
You still need software, hard drives, audio/video monitoring. Likely thousands more to spend to put together a professional edit setup.
 
dariomik said:
On a side note, it's pretty strange that a $10k video editing system is not ready to monitor HD...
Click to expand...

What's strange about that? All I know about your "$10k video editing system" is that you have a 12 core computer, an ATI 5780 and 48GB of RAM.

You don't say what make, model, OS or other software you have. Or how much storage.

Why should a computer right out of the box be configured to do a highly specialized task? Unless you've bought it from a VAR who should have configured it for that task? In which case, you should be asking the VAR these questions.
 
You're right - I didn't mention it's a Mac Pro and, not being a computer anatomy engineer, I'm just surprised that at this price point a machine "for graphics and video professionals" as it is often categorized, with an "HD graphics card," it still is not ready for HD monitoring. That's all I was saying. I know I have to educate myself more..
 
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Something like the Matrox MXO2 LE would be a low cost solution which would provide multiple outputs for a variety of monitors.
I also believe B&H has it bundled with free software at the moment.

All the Best!

Dave
 
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I use a Matrox Mini MX02 with my Mac Tower to drive a 32" LCD and like it very much! There are a couple of things that you should know. First, Matrox recommends a TV with 1:1 pixel mapping and 1080p not 720p. I am using a Vizio side lit 1080 LCD and the output is stunning. To view footage, you need to set the frame rate and resolution, so if you are mixing things up (720 + 1080), it will be a hassle. If you are mixing, then it is easiest to transcode to prores. There was a thread a while back about audio sync issues. I use a separate FW device for my audio output so I don't know about this. They have just released some software updates which I haven't yet tried. When I purchased the Mini, I needed a bit of help with the plug-in software within FCP, and the Matrox customer service was superior. They even called me back in a couple of days for a followup. If you buy the Max option, it will improve your rendering times. I don't know what the compatibility is with the new FCP-X if you are planning a early adopter upgrade.

Grant
 
Thanks Grant for the many insights.

You mentioned improved render times with the Max version - my main reason for going with this set up was being constantly frustrated with the renders on my MacBook Pro (2009, 2.5 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM) so I finally decided to bite the bullet.. And I was hoping that this set up would speed things up to a breeze. Am I right?

How much more of an improvement could the Max option give me (perhaps percentage-wise)?

And do you you mean render times on export only or while editing or both?
 
I believe it is capture and render out only, but if you go to the Matrox forums, someone from the factory will answer that. Not sure what the render out improvement is, I have taken that on faith. You can capture and encode at real time to a laptop with the right express card, which I haven't done. Remember you do need a expansion slot for this product, and they make both desktop and laptop. My main purpose for the purchase was for editing, and for that I am very pleased.

Grant
 
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