Matrox Axio and XDCAM users? at DVinfo.net

Paul Gale · February 13th, 2007, 04:22 AM

Anyone using XDCAM HD (or SD) on a Matrox Axio (LE, HD or SD) system?

I'm considering going the LE route (long time Matrox user of Digisuite, RTx100 etc).

Does it work OK - do you get use of proxies etc - any down sides to it? Would you recommend it?

I'm a PC user (unlikely to go mac route) and know Premiere really well although I do have Vegas (free with a z1) but not used it since the early days.

Paul.

Paul Gale · February 15th, 2007, 05:22 PM

no-one use Axio?

Greg Boston · February 15th, 2007, 07:28 PM

I don't. But, you mentioned having Vegas. If you update to the latest version (7.0d at this writing), you'll have full XDCAM HD support. Possibly the best integration of all the NLE's out there at the moment.

Sorry I can't advise you on the Matrox solution.

-gb-

Paul Gale · February 16th, 2007, 02:45 AM

Thanks Greg - I'll give Vegas a go - but really didn't want to go this route as I have so many PP projects and know the app really well.

Do you use Vegas? How does it compare to the others out there?

Cheers,

Paul.

Ron Exalto · February 28th, 2007, 05:07 AM

Hi Paul,

I use and F350 with AxioSD system. The system can ingest the MXF files thru firewire connection in FAM (File Acces Mode) which is a little faster then real time (when using 35mbp/s) or more then twice as fast as realtime when using the 18mbp/s. But you normally wouldn't use that one.
I don't use proxies, I copy all the files to my editor. Most bad takes have been deleted on location anyway (delete last take).
Editing HD is more demanding on your hardware then SD obviously. Where I get 10 tracks realtime in SD, I end up with 1-2 in HD. I use an HP 9300 dual opteron, dual core, but not the worlds fastest harddrives so there perhaps could be something to gain.

The only problem you will run into is not being able to archive your edited material back to XDCAM disc. This is only supported for XDCAM SD, not HD. I guess Matrox is working on this and will be there in axioutils3.0.

Of course you can render it out to any HDfile format like WMVHD of MPEG2 TS

Also the downconversion of HD to SD for the final SD DVD mpeg2 stream is, imho, not as good as it should be. One expects a HD editing downcoverted to DVD to be better then an original SD stream to DVD, but it isn't. Especially when very fine detail is in the picture (brands from trees for instance) there are a lot of artifacts and interpolation problems. In medium and close shots it is less apparent. Guess the media encoder should be looked in too also.
I use CBR setting 8mbp/s which gives the best DVD quality.

Hope this was helpfull,

Ron

Paul Gale · February 28th, 2007, 01:04 PM

Thanks Ron, That's useful.

So you can't export out an MXF file to HDD and then copy that back to the XDCAM disk???

Cheers,

Paul.

Ron Exalto · February 28th, 2007, 04:29 PM

You can export from the camera to the axio HDD, just not back. For the time being I store projects removable harddiscs. You can store a lot on a sub 200 Euro 500 Gig USB drive! It's even cheaper than XDCAM discs, but perhaps not as trustworthy in the (very) long run.

Ron

Paul Gale · March 1st, 2007, 01:38 AM

Thanks.

I archive everything to Ultrium 2 tapes anyway. Shame you can't export to XDCAM, would seem to be a fairly major ommision.

February 13th, 2007, 04:22 AM	#1
Paul Gale Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Oxfordshire, UK Posts: 425	Matrox Axio and XDCAM users? Anyone using XDCAM HD (or SD) on a Matrox Axio (LE, HD or SD) system? I'm considering going the LE route (long time Matrox user of Digisuite, RTx100 etc). Does it work OK - do you get use of proxies etc - any down sides to it? Would you recommend it? I'm a PC user (unlikely to go mac route) and know Premiere really well although I do have Vegas (free with a z1) but not used it since the early days. Paul.

February 15th, 2007, 05:22 PM	#2
Paul Gale Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Oxfordshire, UK Posts: 425	no-one use Axio?

February 15th, 2007, 07:28 PM	#3
Greg Boston Wrangler Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: DFW area, TX Posts: 6,117 Images: 1	I don't. But, you mentioned having Vegas. If you update to the latest version (7.0d at this writing), you'll have full XDCAM HD support. Possibly the best integration of all the NLE's out there at the moment. Sorry I can't advise you on the Matrox solution. -gb-

February 16th, 2007, 02:45 AM	#4
Paul Gale Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Oxfordshire, UK Posts: 425	Thanks Greg - I'll give Vegas a go - but really didn't want to go this route as I have so many PP projects and know the app really well. Do you use Vegas? How does it compare to the others out there? Cheers, Paul.

February 28th, 2007, 05:07 AM	#5
Ron Exalto New Boot Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Huizen, Netherlands Posts: 5	Hi Paul, I use and F350 with AxioSD system. The system can ingest the MXF files thru firewire connection in FAM (File Acces Mode) which is a little faster then real time (when using 35mbp/s) or more then twice as fast as realtime when using the 18mbp/s. But you normally wouldn't use that one. I don't use proxies, I copy all the files to my editor. Most bad takes have been deleted on location anyway (delete last take). Editing HD is more demanding on your hardware then SD obviously. Where I get 10 tracks realtime in SD, I end up with 1-2 in HD. I use an HP 9300 dual opteron, dual core, but not the worlds fastest harddrives so there perhaps could be something to gain. The only problem you will run into is not being able to archive your edited material back to XDCAM disc. This is only supported for XDCAM SD, not HD. I guess Matrox is working on this and will be there in axioutils3.0. Of course you can render it out to any HDfile format like WMVHD of MPEG2 TS Also the downconversion of HD to SD for the final SD DVD mpeg2 stream is, imho, not as good as it should be. One expects a HD editing downcoverted to DVD to be better then an original SD stream to DVD, but it isn't. Especially when very fine detail is in the picture (brands from trees for instance) there are a lot of artifacts and interpolation problems. In medium and close shots it is less apparent. Guess the media encoder should be looked in too also. I use CBR setting 8mbp/s which gives the best DVD quality. Hope this was helpfull, Ron

February 28th, 2007, 01:04 PM	#6
Paul Gale Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Oxfordshire, UK Posts: 425	Thanks Ron, That's useful. So you can't export out an MXF file to HDD and then copy that back to the XDCAM disk??? Cheers, Paul.

February 28th, 2007, 04:29 PM	#7
Ron Exalto New Boot Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Huizen, Netherlands Posts: 5	You can export from the camera to the axio HDD, just not back. For the time being I store projects removable harddiscs. You can store a lot on a sub 200 Euro 500 Gig USB drive! It's even cheaper than XDCAM discs, but perhaps not as trustworthy in the (very) long run. Ron

March 1st, 2007, 01:38 AM	#8
Paul Gale Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Oxfordshire, UK Posts: 425	Thanks. I archive everything to Ultrium 2 tapes anyway. Shame you can't export to XDCAM, would seem to be a fairly major ommision.