Matrox MXO2 Mini is the Missing Link in Your Tapeless Editing Workflow!

[Randy Johnson]

Hey Gary (bettan),
I am interested in the MXO 2 mini I just recently started using Premiere 5 over Edius the question I have is I have a Black Magic intensity pro right now and I am having stability issues. I am looking for a monitoring solution that doesnt integrate itself into the software that much. Like needing a plug-in to work for me that seems to be where the instability starts. Also with this Maxx encoder will work out of Encore? or just Premiere?

[Gary Bettan]

I'm going to assume you mean Premiere CS5. We ahve found the Matrox MXO2 new drivers are very stable with CS5.

The MAX technology only accelerates H.264 encoding for blu-ray or web.

The MAX does now unlock additional realtime features in CS5. check it out here in our FAQ in the newly updated CS5 section

Videoguys Blog - Videoguys' FAQ: Matrox MXO2 Family of Products

Gary

[Randy Johnson]

yes I did mean CS5, so when you edit do you need to pick a special preset? or just like in my case DVCpro HD 1080i 29.97? Or do I need to use a "plug-in" preset like Matrox MXO DVCpro HD? or something like that?

[Gary Bettan]

you select one of the Matrox pre-sets

[Randy Johnson]

oh bummer...does it have a preset for DVCpro HD? How does Premiere's mult-cam function work with it? thats a big feature for me that doesnt seem to work with my BM card. Also not to change the topic but have you had much luck editing AVCHD native?
Sorry for all the questions but im not one of those people who buys something and then sends it back. I like to make sure its what I want first.

[Jay West]

Randy:

Your ability to muti-cam edit native AVCHD under CS5 depends on your hardware. I do multi-cam editing of AVCHD with PPro CS5 with two computer monitors while using an MXO2 mini to feed a third, external monitor. My system is basically a Videoguys DIY7 recipe set-up except that I'm using a GTX260 video card.

Right now, I'm editing an outdoor wedding that I shot with six cameras: four for the ceremony, one on the musicians and one placed inside the building to catch the preliminary and "behind the scenes" stuff. For the main ceremony views I used three AVCHD cams (NX5 & two CX550vs) and an HDV cam (FX1000). The other two cams were HDV). The ceremony timeline is roughly 30 minutes long. I use the Matrox HD 1920x1080/60i preset in Premiere. I have multi-cammed the four "ceremony cams" and use the other two tracks for cutaway shots and audio for when the musicians played. Three of the ceremony cams are native AVCHD. Does this answer your question about using the Matrox presets for external monitoring with native AVCHD?

There are some quirks. When I've got four tracks of AVCHD to mutli-cam with a timeline of any length, things can start bogging down pretty quickly. So, I do one of three things. First, I do the multi-cam edit using a PPro AVCHD preset and then, when I've got a rough-cut, drop that sequence into a new Matrox sequence to do all the externally monitored fine tuning, color corrections, extra cut-aways, etc. Or, I use Cineform to convert to intermediates, kind of like using Canopus HQ with Edius. Or, I just pull the cursor through the multi-cam timeline with the mouse making the cuts visually to make the rough cuts.

Second, when I have three or more AVCHD tracks in a multi-cam sequence and I hit the play button in the multi-cam window (as opposed to hitting the space bar or the play button for the main editing window, all four multi-cam panes get horizontally squished to about half their normal width. (This is another place where, if I want to view the four multi-cam windows playing in real time, I'll use a PPro AVCHD sequence preset.)

On my system, at least, there is no Matrox Preset specifically for DVCPro HD just as there is no specific preset for AVCHD. I think you use just use the appropriately proportioned HD preset -- 1920x1080i, 1440x1080 etc. The MXO2 Mini is supposed to handle DVCPro HD and I believe it can even capture in that format. (Gary might be able to better answer that.)

[Randy Johnson]

Thanks for the response. I have a i-7 920 and I havent had much luck editing native although I dont have a MPE video card. I dont do many effects anyway. It plays o.k. but it freezes a lot when scrubing even with one track. so I just convert, I just want a stable way to monitor the video.

[Jay West]

It is stable on my system and works pretty well (subject to the quirks noted above. I started this with CS4. I've found it much easier with CS5. Using an MPE enabled GTX260 seems to help a lot.. Monitoring Cineform conversions (I use NeoHD but NeoScene will also work) seems the easiest for longer timelines and going with four or more video tracks.

Steve Kalle has posted about using a calibrated Eizo or Dreamcolor monitor rather than feeding out via an MXO2Mini to a tv because PPro CS5. Apparently, CS5 has the capacity to feed color accurate video to a second monitor screen. Steve's set up --- monitor, Quadro card and calibration software --- is probably more accurate than an MXO2 Mini set up but it is also a lot more expensive than my budget allowed. My set-up works fine for as much critical monitoring as I and my customers need. If you have a bigger budget, you might search for Steve's posts on this.

Oh, and one other thing about your system. Are you using an ASUS motherboard in your I7/920 system? I'd suggest that you try going into the BIOS and switching on the AI tweaker program and putting it on auto. It seems to give you some automated overclocking combined with monitoring that keeps things from getting too hot.

[Jay West]

Randy

I see that you and Randall Leong have been discussing in another thread that you have only 6g of RAM. I second his recommendation to get another 6g. The hardware MPE can help with playback but more RAM will help with the software MPE.