Matrox MX02 Mini is here

As reported in the last newsletter the Matrox MX02 Mini is a new capture device with HDMI, component, composite and s-video in and out. It works on PC and Mac and works on both desktops and laptops. This means it is the only device you can connect to a laptop to get a proper HD output. The Mini works in Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple Final Cut Pro. It also comes with its own application for playback and capture.

What are the special features of the Mini?

 
1. Nearly every type of input and output for HD - all that is missing is HD-SDI. This means you can connect a monitor via HDMI and view the picture with up to 8 channels of audio out of Premiere. 
 
2. Simultaneous HD and SD output - an HD picture through HDMI, and an SD picture through s-video/composite or component. You decide whether the analogue picture is letterbox or anamorphic. 
 
3. Any size up to 1920 x 1080 - this includes standard definition, 720P, 1080i and 1080P. 
 
4. Capture to Matrox I-frame, a special Matrox easy-to-edit format. If filming on AVCHD, which is a horrible format to edit, capture the HDMI output from your camera straight into Matrox I-frame to get footage which looks the same but is much easier to edit. Alternatively use the Adobe Media Encoder to convert footage quickly to Matrox I-frame and preserve the individual files. 
 
5. Capture to uncompressed 8-bit or 10-bit. You will need a decent drive array to manage uncompressed HD (which takes about 400GB per hour footage). 
 
6. Works on a laptop or a desktop. You could just have one Mini and two interface cards - one in the laptop, one in the desktop - and plug the Mini into whichever system you are using. 
 
7. Includes a proper calibration utility to set up your HDMI screens to show the image correctly. 
 
8. Separate capture and playback program so you can capture footage without opening Premiere, or make footage from your favourite editing program into Matrox format and play it out of the Mini.  
 
9. MXO2 Mini Max version will be available in July which does all the above, plus much faster rendering into H264 for Blu-ray creation. 

Why buy a Matrox RT.X2 or Axio when the Mini is so much cheaper?

The MXO2 Mini is not a replacement for the Matrox RT.X2 or Axio LE. The MXO2 Mini simply adds inputs and outputs to Premiere Pro. The  Matrox Axio or RT.X2 do this and they  add a large range of Matrox effects and improve the  performance of Premiere as a whole.  Without a Matrox RT.X2/Axio  card you are unlikely to see more than one layer of HDV video playing back in  realtime on any Premiere Pro based system - with the Matrox RT.X2/Axio we get 4  or even more layers on a modern system. The Matrox RT.X2/Axio also increase the speed of encoding to various formats, so assist in getting your projects finished  faster.   (Of course, if you have a Mini with the special h.264 chips  for faster-than-realtime h.264 encoding, the Mini will be faster than the RT.X2  for this particular format.)

Why buy the Mini?

Apart from the obvious point that the Mini is cheaper it does a couple of things the RT.X2 and Axio do not.

 
1. Works on a laptop and desktop. 
 
2. Plays native AVCHD back better than RT.X2 and Axio. Premiere is the only program where we think editing native AVCHD footage is possible and if you buy a new i7 or Nehalem Xeon system it will play back properly, with a decent level of realtime playback - for example it will probably manage a cross dissolve or colour correction effect, or one layer of PiP. Native AVCHD does not play back this well on the Axio or RT.X2. If you convert the footage to Matrox MPEG I-frame then it will play back a lot better and the RT.X2 and Axio will beat the Mini for realtime performance. 
 
3. Plays back any format Premiere Pro can cope with properly. The Axio can play back XDCam and DVCPro formats properly and better than Premiere on its own. However, the RT.X2 only plays 720P DVCProHD (not 1080i) and although it will play 1920 XDCam-EX footage it does not process effects at this size. The RT.X2 was designed for mainly editing HDV. As these new formats have been added to Premiere they have not been added to the RT.X2. The Mini would play them all back just like Premiere would without any capture card. 

What is a MXO2 Mini Max?

There will be a special version of the Mini with an extra chip for fast H264 encoding. H264 is the standard format for Blu-ray authoring and can produce excellent quality - but being a very complicated format it can take a long time to make. Grass Valley had already introduced an H264 encoding card for Edius called the FireCoder Blu. The Max option is the same kind of thing for Adobe Premiere and the Adobe Media Encoder- faster than realtime encoding into H264 for Blu-ray. In addition to a version of the Mini with the Max chip installed, there is also a stand-alone card called Compress HD which will work in software only Premiere Pro systems or alongside Matrox RT.X2 and Axio as well as Black Magic and AJA cards.

The Matrox MXO2 Mini Max will be available during July. Compress HD is available now for use with Apple Mac systems, Final Cut Pro and Compressor. The PC drivers will be available in July with support for use with the Axio and RT.X2 scheduled for August.

Matrox MXO2 Mini compared to Black Magic

Black Magic have been making i/o cards like the Matrox MXO2 Mini for ages and have some nice low cost cards. The obvious comparison to a Mini is the Black Magic Intensity Pro, which has recently dropped to £149 +VAT. How do they compare?

 
1. he Matrox Mini works on laptop or desktop. 
 
2. Both work with Premiere Pro 4 on a PC and Final Cut Pro on a Mac. Intensity will work with Premiere Pro CS3 as well. 
 
3. Both give output from other programs like After Effects and Photoshop. 
 
4. Both capture to uncompressed HD and SD as well as their own format. Matrox I-frame format is better than Black Magic's MJPEG format. Matrox I-frame data rate can be varied, whereas Black Magic's MJPEG is fixed and you are more likely to see artifacts with Black Magic's formats. Black Magic's format is not useless, but Matrox is a bit better. 
 
5. The biggest advantage for us is when editing in Premiere Pro. With the Matrox card, if Premiere cannot keep up with the combination of effects on the timeline it will drop frames and play at the correct speed, just like Premiere when used on its own. With Black Magic if it cannot play back the timeline if will play it slower. This is a particular nuisance if playing back a Multi-camera edit. 
 
6. On a Mac with Final Cut Pro both will capture into Apple Pro Res format. 
 
7. Matrox Mini can have 8 channels of audio through HDMI - Black Magic Intensity can only do 2. 

Matrox have also written a comparison of the two cards which you can read here: http://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/mxo2_mini/intensity_pro

FAQ

Can I use a Matrox Mini on a laptop and an RT.X2 on my desktop?

Yes but there will be differences between the two systems. The RT.X2 has filters that are not available on the Mini so if you transfer a project from RT.X2 to Mini these will disappear. Also the way the RT.X2 handles HDV is specific to that card and any HDV footage capture on RT.X2 will not play back on a Mini system. If you capture footage on a Mini this will play back on RT.X2 as long as it is not captured at 1920 x 1080. The most compatible system would be to have a Mini on the laptop and a Mini on the desktop.

Can I use the same Mini on a Mac and a PC? Does it work with Boot camp?

Yes the Mini will work with Boot camp and you can use the same model on both PC and Mac.

Should I get a Mini or an RT.X2?

The reason to buy either are detailed above but as we get asked this a lot we thought we would also put a quick summary here. The RT.X2 will do a lot more in realtime and has a better range of effects than the Mini, as long as the slight limitations (on picture size and types of file it can edit) do not cause you problems.

Where can I see the Mini?

Come to our offices in Portslade for a demo of the Matrox Mini, RT.X2 or any of the other systems we supply. Just give us a ring and arrange a convenient time.

Typical Matrox systems

At DVC we specialise in complete, customised, working and properly supported editing systems, and have been doing so since 1995. The following is a sample of some Matrox MXO2 Mini systems:

	i7 Processor system - Intel's best single processor system The i7s were introduced in late 2008 and are Intel's latest single processor. They are considerably faster that the old Quad core and dual core processors.     A typical system would be: 2.66Ghz Quad Core i7 processor,   6GB RAM, 500GB drive for windows, 2 x 1TB drive for video, nVidia 9800-GT 512MB  graphics card, Matrox MX02 Mini (desktop version),   Adobe Premiere Pro CS4  - includes Encore and OnLocation CS4, LG Blu-ray writer, speakers,   2x 19'' LCD Monitors, quiet case and power supply.   Windows Vista Business 64, mouse, keyboard, and DVC tutorial        £2,605 +VAT £2,995 inc.
	Nehalem Xeon The latest Intel dual processor based systems. These chips were only released at the start of May 2009! These are the fastest systems available. We have been running tests on these processors compared to single processor and quad core systems, see later for some of the results.   A typical system would be  2 x 2.4Ghz Nehalem Xeon processors,6GB DDR3 RAM, for i7 Xeon,  500GB drive for windows, 2 x 1TB drive for video, nVidia 9800-GT 512MB graphics card, Matrox MX02 Mini (desktop version),   Adobe Premiere Pro CS4  - includes Encore and OnLocation CS4, LG Blu-ray writer, speakers,   2x 19'' LCD Monitors, quiet case and power supply.   Windows Vista Business 64, mouse, keyboard, and DVC tutorial. £3,760 +VAT,  £4,325 inc.
	Matrox Mini Mini system The above systems come in desktop quiet cases with lots of expansion potential - what it you want something smaller? The DVC mini system is not made using a typical Shuttle mini PC but using a proper Micro ATX motherboard, a decent wattage power supply and a small, compact, quiet case. DVC Mini system: 2.66Ghz Quad Core processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB drive for Windows, 1TB video drive, 512MB 94800 graphic card, speakers, 1 x 22" LCD monitor, Windows Vista Business 64, Matrox MX02 Mini (desktop version),   Adobe Premiere Pro CS4  - includes Encore and OnLocation CS4, DVD writer (Blu-ray write is optional). £1,961 +VAT,  £2,255 inc.   If you really like the idea of the Mini system we can also supply one with an i7 motherboard and processor - ring for an up-to-date quote.
	Laptop with Mini We have properly tested the Mini with both our main laptops - one a special configuration of an HP laptop, tailored for editing, the other our fully customisable laptop. Here is a sample spec for the lower-cost HP option:     HP8730W laptop - 2.93Ghz Processor, 17" 1680x1050 Display, 4GBRAM, 320GB 7200RPM Hard Drive, ATI 256MB Graphics Card, DVD writer, carry case, Matrox MX02 Mini (laptop version),   Adobe Premiere Pro CS4  - includes Encore and OnLocation CS4, Windows Vista 32 or 64 (Vista 64 recommend).   £2,645 +VAT,  £3,043 inc.

All  the above systems can be configure with Matrox RT.X2/Axio,Grass Valley EDIUS software and hardware or Sony VEGAS.  They include full copies of Adobe Premiere Pro, if you have any existing copy from which to upgrade it would save approx £400.

Call for more details or for a custom quote.