Trouble with Matrox Mini

[Tim Palmer-Benson]

Is anyone having trouble with their Matrox Mini, or is it just me? I have the MX01 mini...this is the one that doesn't do anything except provide progressive HD video via an HDMI plug. For almost six months I have had this thing stopped constantly stop working without warning in the middle of editing jobs. I have reinstalled FCP 7.02 several times and reinstalled the Matrox software, which is now up to version 9.01. The software sits in the System Preferences folder and half the time doesn't even recognize the card and the little box. If I disconnect everything and reboot, it will work for a while, then crash with loud crack in my speakers. I have been on to tech support at Matrox in Montreal but they seem unable to diagnose the problem...so it is just me or are lot of others having trouble with this box. I bought it so I could view edited footage from a Canon 5DMk11. Perhaps there is an alternative?

[Steve Kalle]

I have one but used it with CS4 on a PC; however, I stopped using it after 2 days due to several problems it caused. But I don't think my Mini unit is defective, I just don't like what it did to Premiere and After Effects.

For your unit, why hasn't Matrox replaced it yet? It totally sounds like a defective unit. The only other possible issue I can think of is the expresscard or PCI Express slot that its connected to. If you are using a Mac Pro, try moving the Matrox card to another slot.

[Andy Mees]

Hey Tim

I assume you're talking about the MXO2 Mini? There's no such thing as an MXO1 mini ... the MXO2 Mini is an I/O box that provides HDMI, Component, S-Video and Composite Inputs and Outputs to your workstation, and connects to your Mac via PCIe over cable; the original MXO is a Output Only box that provides SDI, Component, S-Video, Composite and DVI outputs to your system (no HDMI), and connects to your Mac via DVI. Both provide interlaced output.

Which one are we talking about here? Either way, your unit sounds defective and if so should be covered by the 3 year warranty it came with, so Matrox should replace it for you. Who have you spoken to at Matrox? Maybe I can try to help nudge them in the right direction.

Cheers
Andy

[Tim Palmer-Benson]

Yes, you are correct about the identity of the unit and Matrox is replacing it. But, I am not sure if it is not really a software thing...we will see and I will post again

Tim

[Andy Mees]

I have a Mini thats rock solid Tim, doesn't display any of the wackiness you seem to be dealing with over there. Hopefully you'll be as happy with the new one when it comes in :-)

[Jonathan Levin]

Tim,

Have you tried to contact Matrox about this? They returned my call pretty quickly (and an email), butthen this was on pre-sales.

Just curious.

Jonathan

[Tim Palmer-Benson]

How is yours at updating its screen. When you quit FCP, does the last frame stay up on the screen? Mine does and it is slow to update during the editing process. It does always change frames when I change frames on the sequence.

[Steve Kalle]

Tim, your experience with the screen slowly updating is what I experienced with Premiere Pro. This lag is what caused me to stop using the Mini. Going from the Source window to the Timeline or Program window would take 3-5 seconds for the Mini to update, and during those 3-5s, I could not click or do anything. There is another thread in either the PC or Adobe forum discussing other issues using the Mini such as issues caused by using 2 monitors connected to the computer's video card in addition to the monitor connected to the Mini. Some users reported that they only experienced certain problems when using 2 monitors and these problems would go away when they only used a single monitor.

The other problem I ran into was trying to use the Premiere Pro project files on a computer without the Mini installed. Because I must use a Matrox preset, Premiere Pro on a non-Matrox computer would crash upon opening a project file created on a Matrox computer.

[Tim Palmer-Benson]

Well, I am not pleased about the purchase...a very sour taste indeed. I think I will look elsewhere after this experience when I need something like this again.Tech support tried to be helpful but the level of knowledge seemed lacking. They want so much money for the thing and the H.264 version is outrageously expensive. And now I am wondering if Apple's new Mac mini does this same thing...what's the alternative if my problems persist?

[Perrone Ford]

Are you guys using MX01 mini's or MX02s? I have to say, I've been using my MX02 for a few weeks now and I couldn't be more pleased. I've used it for capture, for monitoring, and for pushing my client monitor while in Avid. It's been absolutely flawless.

[Andy Mees]

> They want so much money for the thing and the H.264 version is outrageously expensive.

I guess I'm getting long in the tooth ... seems to me that the MXO2 Mini is already at a bargain basement price. I can't identify with your position on this at all, Tim.

>And now I am wondering if Apple's new Mac mini does this same thing...

Massively accelerated H264 encoding? No, I'm afraid not.


Wish you luck with your quest.
Andy

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Tim Palmer-Benson

Well, I am not pleased about the purchase...a very sour taste indeed. I think I will look elsewhere after this experience when I need something like this again.Tech support tried to be helpful but the level of knowledge seemed lacking. They want so much money for the thing and the H.264 version is outrageously expensive. And now I am wondering if Apple's new Mac mini does this same thing...what's the alternative if my problems persist?

What task are you trying to achieve with the Matrox MX02 Mini? I really don't see what relevance the new Mac Mini has other than it has an HDMI connector instead of a mini-DVI socket. If all you want is to connect an HDMI screen then a $10 adaptor may suffice alternatively for more sophisticated requirements the Blackmagic Intensity card may be a better choice if you are using a Mac Pro. The Elgato Turbo.264 USB dongle is a good low cost alternative to the MX02 Max H.264 hardware encoding device if you just encoding for the web.