Matrox RT.X2 unboxing

[Andrew Smith]

Well, this high tech item has been sitting on a top shelf for a while (cough - ten years - cough) and it's about time I did the official unboxing. As you can see from the product box photo, you pop this bad boy into your computer and you automagically become a sophisticated HDV video professional.

Seriously, this gave you real time editing of a bunch of codecs as well as some unbelievably powerful 2D and 3D effects, thanks to Matrox's utilisation of a good graphics card to take the processing load off the CPU. It was bona fide real time video goodness until Adobe had this great idea about using the video card processor for themselves to make Premiere Pro super amazing fast (which blocked Matrox from continuing to do so).

For a small extra fee you could purchase a training DVD by the amazing Jeff Pulera who has even been spotted on this very forum from time to time.

[Andrew Smith]

Press play on this video to be transported back in time to a place where these real time features were enough to make an editor drool.

Demo Matrox RTX feature - YouTube

[Andrew Smith]

The box also came with a copy of Premiere Pro.

[Andrew Smith]

So you take the outside layer off to reveal ... a box.

[Andrew Smith]

... which you then open up to reveal more cardboard stuff that looks like boxes.

[Andrew Smith]

Taking the top cardboard item out reveals sub-boxes on the left and right side. This is the left sub-box which contained the product manuals and a disc/s with software on it.

[Andrew Smith]

In the right side sub-box we have what was affectionately known as the squid head. It was the big I/O block (for your video and audio needs) on the end of a long cable. Previous I/O blocks such as the one with the predecessor RT.X100 (standard definition) product were more triangular shaped and looked like a squid with a long tail ... so you get the idea.

The movie The Matrix came out almost ten years earlier and it too had electro mechanical squid things with a long tail. I'm sure it's purely just a coincidence.

[Andrew Smith]

But what of that funny shaped cardboard thing we removed earlier to get to the remaining contents of the box? Short of proclaiming it to be a freestanding post-modern environmentalist sculpture worthy of an arts grant, we must investigate further.

[Andrew Smith]

Not quite as dramatic as the opening of the space ship in Close Encounters, we open it a little. Savvy viewers will note the glimpse of an anti-static plastic bag.

[Andrew Smith]

Here it is, removed from its protective cardboard casing, the processor card that is the Matrox RT.X2.

[Andrew Smith]

It's just not a proper unboxing without proof of virginity. Here you see the obligatory warning sticker that seals over the end of the anti-static bag, intact and thus proving it has never before been opened. This processor card is truly untouched by the end customer, but not for long.

[Andrew Smith]

Released from its confines, behold the mighty RT.X2 processing card which was so powerful it gave you HDV video editing and special effects, all in real time.

(There was a more expensive sister product, the Matrox Axio, which gave you the ability to edit in full HD resolution, not just the lesser HDV resolution. The electronics of both cards were effectively the same and at the end-of-life for the RT.X2 product Matrox were kind enough to release a final set of drivers which removed the HDV resolution limitation.)

You can read more about the Matrox RT.X2 product here.

This voluntary act of kindness and generosity is something you get from a privately owned company and not a shareholder driven one. It's a difference you come to notice and appreciate over the years.

[Andrew Smith]

A closeup of the processor card that is the RT.X2 product. Notice the big shiny chip with the word "PRO" on it? That's probably where the magic happens. All those other bits are just a distraction.

[Andrew Smith]

It was a serious card to add into your editing computer, needing its own dedicated power connection just to run. What was normally supplied by the motherboard wasn't enough. Forget to plug this in and it won't even show up for your software to recognise.

[Andrew Smith]

The other side of the video processor card. Because I could.