Hello,

I have recently been looking at buying the Matrox mx02 Mini or the Blackmagic Intensity Extreme. I was thinking of buying the mx02 thunderbolt version without the MAX technology. Just wondering if anyone has this version and if they recommend it or would it be just as well to buy the Blackmagic Intensity Extreme since it is cheaper, or are there still advantages with the mx02 mini without the MAX.

Thanks

Can't comment much on the Black Magic card but I use an MXO2 Mini (w/o MAX) and it's great - no problem with it at all and excellent image quality. Don't have the thunderbolt version but my understanding is that it is no different to the Express card version and offers no performance improvement (yet). I did quite a bit of research between Black Magic and Matrox at the time of buying and despite the cost opted for the Matrox but can't remember why now though was very convinced at the time!!

The Matrox mx02 Mini is great and I use this all day and have for months. Great video out to Broadcast monitor. I use FCP7 and Avid MC 5.5 with great results.

I've got an MXO2 with Max and haven't looked back. My cousin has an MXO2 without Max at his workplace and he recently told me how he really regrets not getting the Max bit at the time of ordering.

I've seen comment on the MXO2 forum from someone who noticed that the SD to HD upscaling he was getting via the MXO2 was slightly better than what they were getting through their Snell & Wilcox hardware.

I don't know much about the Black Magic gear, but the MXO2 is very responsive and reliable. I'm not going back.

Andrew

PS. Pay the extra and get the Max thing.