HDV External Playback with Macbook Pro via Matrox MXO?

[Thomas Torrey]

Bear with me...

I have a 17" Macbook Pro running Final Cut Studio 2. I have the machine closed and docked under my desk and work from a Samsung 19" external display on top of my desk. Next to my Samsung display I have an Audiovox LCD HD TV to use as my external playback monitor.

Right now I have a firewire connecting my laptop to a Sony M35U VTR deck, where I capture my HDV footage. I have a video cable leaving the Sony deck and connecting to the Audiovox TV, which gives me my external playback monitoring. Since the firewire leaving my laptop cannot effectively transfer the HDV information, I have to change some conversion settings on the Sony deck, basically down-converting it to regular DV. This leaves the final image on the Audiovox TV very pixelated, rendering it an ineffective external playback monitor.

After research, it seems that the Matrox MXO device would allow me to view my HDV footage in the Audiovox TV because I would bypass the firewire port and use the laptop's DVI port. However, AND THIS IS MY QUESTION (thanks for bearing with me), would I still be able to use my Samsung external display? Since my Macbook Pro has only one DVI port, I would think that the Matrox would completely possess that port. This would mean that I could only use the device using my Macbook Pro display as the main display. But I want to be able to keep the laptop closed under the desk. Can I do this?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Andy Mees]

you might want to attempt using a second Matrox product, their Dual Head 2 Go Digital Edition Matrox Graphics - Products - Graphics eXpansion Modules ... but I would check on the Matrox forum first as to whether this would be possible