Matrox MX02 LE

Okay, we just upgraded our main editing machine. Doubled the RAM, got the Nvidia graphics card with 2 gig of RAM and on the Adobe list of accelerated render with Mercury Engine, got another 2Tb internal drive, and far more importantly we upgraded the Matrox RTx2 to the new MX02 LE box.

At our studio, we do a lot of TV commercials and in standard definition video, we have to output to Beta SP broadcast tapes. We were going out before analog Component video and audio via RCA cables and now we're using nice BNC for the rYrBYy channels and XLR for audio. We had a DVI to HDMI cable for HD and now we're HDMI to HDMI. Already I can see an incredibly difference in the quality of the BetaSP. It's as close to lossless as we can get. I set SD to 50 megs per second and I dub directly from the timeline to tape and to be honest the quality of the image BNC versus RCA's is noticeably better. Substantially better.

I can monitor SD to 720P to 1080 24P timelines on a 42" TV that has test patterns making it essentially a broadcast monitor. I can output SD and HD simultaneously. I use the Matrox AVI codec the way a Mac and Final Cut Pro use PRORES422 and can make files from DSLR and RED far more manageable.

Adobe CS5.5 screams in this new setup. Everything from color correction to titles to multiple FX including PiP and 3D effects all in REAL TIME, no rendering. I am in love with this setup and cannot sing the praises of Matrox enough for keeping up with Adobe and the trends. It has made our little post studio hop and pop.
 
The MX02 LE is a card and breakout box that allows analog and HD connections for video editing/photoshop/FX work, as well as accelerated editing, transitions, FX, etc. They have a cheaper model, the Mini and a more expensive model, the RACK. We got the one in the middle.

Once we get the edit suite finished (painted the office and redecorated as well), I'll upload some pics. Still waiting on some finishing touches.
 
Sonnyboo, Im doing a few commercials here in Houston and they are fine w/ an upload to their server. I guess the Beta SP will still be around for a while.

I encode mine using FFMPEG and get decent results. Im a Linux freak. Im shooting 1280x720 & they want 1280x720 to be 59.94.

ffmpeg -y -i INPUT.mov -b 45M -bt 4M -r 59.94 -vcodec libx264 -acodec libfaac -ac 2 -ar 48000 -ab 192k OUTPUT.mov






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Sonnyboo, Im doing a few commercials here in Houston and they are fine w/ an upload to their server. I guess the Beta SP will still be around for a while.

Yes, but the MPEG2 for standard definition is atrociously compressed. The BetaSP's have a vastly superior color reproduction and sound fidelity.

Strangely, a lot of local market stations and cable companies do not even accept HD spots from local origination. For my experience, it's been over 90% still in 2011. Locals in most of the U.S. do not have a way of universally accepting HD content onto their servers, although that will change over time when the old timers get weeded out and people with more computer skills enter the jobs.
 
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Here's the breakdown of the new edit suite. We're using Adobe Creative Suite CS5.5 with the Matrox MX02 LE analog/HD/SD hardware/software so we can monitor and record to and from Beta SP, S-VHS, DVCAM, HDV, as well as HDMI. We have two BETA SP decks, one for playback into the computer, the other for SD output via Component BNC and XLR audio. There is also a mic and mixer for voice over recording, and the edit station is NOT connected directly to the internet in any way, so we use the laptop to send and receive files to prevent the editor from getting a virus. We monitor on both a 42" LCD TV and on a 27" CRT because video interlaced looks very different than digital progressive images so I like to see the video both ways.
 
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