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Product Spotlight » Matrox a Safe Harbor blog

Matrox MXO2 – To MAX or not to MAX, that is the question

Posted by Jeff Pulera
September 13, 2011

We’ve had a lot of inquiries lately from customers interested in Matrox MXO2 hardware who are unsure if they need to get the "MAX" option or not. I’d like to share some information here to help you make an informed decision on this for yourself.

Quite simply, MAX is for H.264 export and capture. It provides hardware-accelerated H.264 output of your finished edit sequences to formats for Blu-ray, web, and mobile devices using a dedicated compression chip in the MXO2 box. Using the new Matrox MAX H.264 Capture application with MXO2 with MAX hardware, video can also be captured direct to H.264, skipping the two-step "capture and export" process.

MAX does not accelerate the rendering of any effects – it only kicks in for the final export to H.264 and assumes any "red bar" areas of your sequence have been pre-rendered. Therefore, the export performance of Matrox MAX has remained constant since its introduction. Whether using a laptop or desktop, PC or Mac, MAX converts video to H.264 at, or a little faster than, realtime. All users should expect to see the same performance with MAX, and this compression technology can also be had without the MXO2 by ordering the Matrox CompressHD card.

When MXO2 with MAX was introduced a couple of years ago, H.264 encoding was taking several times longer than realtime in most instances, and MAX brought that encode time down to realtime or faster – a HUGE time-savings! With the introduction of Adobe CS5 and the Adobe Mercury Playback Engine, exports suddenly became a lot faster natively when using a high-performance workstation.

This means if you have a Core i7-2600 PC workstation with NVIDIA graphics, such as a Safe Harbor Tsunami Riptide, you’re likely already getting very fast encodes from Adobe Media Encoder 5.5. I’ve found that while web formats may be close to realtime, export to Blu-ray still takes maybe 1.5x realtime, so MAX would definitely help if doing a lot of Blu-ray encoding on long projects.

While the H.264 encoding may be fast in Adobe CS5.5 natively with the latest PC workstation configuration, this will not be the case with laptops, older computers, or Apple Compressor, so the MAX option is still very viable in those situations to decrease encoding time.

As for the MXO2 hardware itself without MAX, PC users will benefit from Matrox RT technology which provides acceleration for Matrox effects, as well as many Adobe effects. Hardware up/down/cross conversion is also provided, along with the video monitoring and HDMI calibration features. Recent drivers now allow the MXO2 hardware to be used as an input device for live video streaming software such as Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder.

With all the benefits the MXO2 hardware brings to Premiere editors on the PC, I think most users would see the value of having an MXO2 device, and many of those users would benefit from having the MAX technology available for super-fast H.264 encoding.

If you should have any questions about Matrox products, Tsunami workstations, or any of the hardware and software solutions that Safe Harbor offers for video editors, please feel free to give us a call at (800) 544-6599, send us an email at sales@sharbor.com, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube.

If you're interested in learning some tips and tricks to utilize all the features and benefits that the MXO2 hardware has to offer with CS5, be sure to check out our exclusive tutorial, "Mastering Matrox MXO2 with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5," or watch the short preview below.

Matrox MXO2 Mini with MAX Essential to Video Journalist's Kit at UNICEF

Posted by Marc Leitner
March 21, 2011

Bob Coen is a video producer and global correspondent at UNICEF, the United Nations agency dedicated to upholding the rights of children around the globe. He's responsible for shooting video and producing stories for UNICEF's global website about the organization's work supporting education, health, and sanitation initiatives in developing countries and providing emergency relief in natural and man-made disasters.

"I work as a 'one-man-band' - shooting, writing, editing, and transmitting my stories on the road via FTP to UNICEF headquarters. The videos are also made available to international broadcasters and news organizations through UNIFEED, the daily satellite news feed from United Nations Headquarters in New York, "Bob commented. "So, the quick turnaround of broadcast quality video from remote and difficult locations is an essential part of what I do."

"I shoot primarily to AVCHD files with a Panasonic Lumix HDSLR camera and edit on a MacBook Pro running Final Cut Pro and Compressor. Most of the time I need to turn around stories quickly, in challenging conditions further complicated by a multi-step post-production workflow and very slow Internet connections in the places I work. Using the Matrox MXO2 Mini with MAX technology helps me save precious time producing my broadcast-quality H.264 encodes."

"In 2010 I made several trips to cover humanitarian disasters, including the famine in Niger as well as the post-earthquake recovery and the cholera epidemic in Haiti. The unit was especially useful during my most recent trip to Haiti in late 2010. I was typically working 18 to 20 hour days - shooting all day, then spending long hours at night, editing, encoding, and transmitting. Using MXO2 Mini with MAX cut my H.264 encode times by up to 90% compared to when I previously used either Compressor or QuickTime to do it. I was assured of quick, high-quality encodes that also allowed me several extra hours of precious sleep!"

"I have also used MXO2 Mini for Apple TV and YouTube encodes and have been equally impressed with the speed and quality of the results. I plan to explore the unit's HD monitoring capabilities in the future."

"In my opinion Matrox MXO2 Mini with MAX is an indispensable piece of equipment that should be an essential part of any travelling video journalist's kit."

View some of Bob's work:

For children and families in Haiti, the long road from relief to recovery
UNICEF - Executive Director brings a message of hope to Haiti's most vulnerable
UNICEF - Supported campaign raises awareness about cholera prevention in Haiti

Videomaker's Test Bench of the Safe Harbor TSUNAMI RT.X100 Workstation

Posted by Safe Harbor Staff
September 15, 2004

Read the review at Videomaker!

Matrox Interview

Posted by Safe Harbor Staff
January 29, 2004

I had an opportunity to sit down with our Matrox representative recently. I wanted to ask some questions about the video industry in general, Matrox in particular, and also to get some ideas about his views of the video industry and how Matrox, as a viable and well-respected manufacturer, plans to succeed in 2004.

Safe Harbor: Overall, was 2003 a successful year for Matrox?

Matrox: Yes, definitely. We launched the RT.X100 Xtreme Pro Suite and Pro Collection into the reseller channel. Real value was added to the Adobe software bundle with the addition of our video card. It put real-time encoding and real-time editing into the hands of pro-sumers and professional editors, alike. It’s a REAL solution with a ton of added value.

Safe Harbor: What do your plans include for 2004?

Matrox: MORE SALES! Our successful trade-in (and trade-UP) promotion is still in effect (until the end of March). Resellers who offer this promotion are reporting some good activity. It’s a great opportunity for anyone with one of our older cards, and also those with certain competitors’ cards, to trade them in for the Matrox solution. For users of competing products, it offers a great chance to give the Matrox/Adobe solution a try OR to upgrade to the newest technology (for those who already own a Matrox card). I suspect there will be more promotions for 2004. In addition, we plan to exhibit at the major trade shows this year, including NAB, DV Expo, Videomaker Expo, and WEVA. We have a large presence at these shows, and we will continue to exhibit. It’s always fun to meet the people face-to-face and show them the RT.X100 in person.

Safe Harbor: How does Matrox position itself in relation to its competitors?

Matrox: In an advantageous way! I think our biggest advantage over our competitors is that we have the BEST set of real-time tools: real-time encoding, real-time effects, and really advanced capture tools. Just see our card in action, and you’ll know what I mean.

Safe Harbor: Why does Matrox continue to stay with Adobe-based systems?

Matrox: Adobe offers a complete set of content-creating tools. You get video editing, audio editing, and DVD authoring in one package. Also, Adobe is popular. There’s a huge community of users out there. Adobe has a big name, an excellent reputation, presence and momentum.Pinnacle has a system in which you do everything in one application. That’s good in some ways, and there are editors who will choose that solution. But Matrox offers a whole suite of products, complete and compatible. It’s easy to jump back and forth within the interface.

Safe Harbor: What surprises are in store for us at NAB, coming up in April?

Matrox: If I tell you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?

Safe Harbor: In what direction does Matrox see this industry moving?

Matrox: HD. Period. As we see more television programs offered in HD, that’s going to be the driving factor. Add to that is the availability of low-cost (under $4000) HD camcorders: the Panasonic AG-DVX100 shoots in 24P and the JVC model JY-HD10U that shoots in DV OR HD format – these are NICE camcorders, and there will be more. These will drive the HD editing business in that anyone who shoots in HD will certainly want to EDIT in HD, as well. The demand for HD content will also be a driving factor. As more and more consumers purchase HD-quality TV’s, they’ll want to maximize that investment with more content! So I predict that a year from now, we’ll have a $2000 consumer-level HD camera. Then there will be more choices for HD editing. This is all really exciting! I think 2004 will see BIG CHANGES in our industry.

The only-downside — and this is what our engineering staff will have to sort through - is that if four or five different HD formats emerge, which one will Matrox support? Time will give us that answer.

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Safe Harbor's Product Spotlight focuses on the products and manufacturers we carry. Our experts write product reviews, interview manufacturers and post important guides to the latest in 3D, video and post production.

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