Matrox MXO and MXO2 test

[Kaku Ito]

Half-high debayer is also available in Final Cut's Log and Transfer.

So what you are saying is that Color always uses Half standard debayer when grading via the RED tab?

What Graeme said was only REDLINE includes the special process on 1/2 high to process down 4K to 2K/HD including OLPF sharpen. FCP L&T nor Color don't have the OLPF working.

 

[Luca Immesi]

Luca,

The MXO color profile is not good on Snow Leopard. sRGB IEC61966-2.1 works better.

Yes, I've noticed that, seems the sRGB IEC61966-2.1 profile is the one to go in SL.

 

[Kaku Ito]

I reported to Matrox about that so Wayne will work on fixing the profile.

 

[Kaku Ito]

Some are reporting MXO 2.1.5.2 beta driver is not working on their Snow Leopard. One reported that he's using nVidia video card. I'm using ATI and working fine. What is yours Luca?

Matrox says 2.1.5.2 beta is not for Snow Leopard. The level that is working with my test does not show much problems, only the color profile function.

 

[Luca Immesi]

Some are reporting MXO 2.1.5.2 beta driver is not working on their Snow Leopard. One reported that he's using nVidia video card. I'm using ATI and working fine. What is yours Luca?

Matrox says 2.1.5.2 beta is not for Snow Leopard. The level that is working with my test does not show much problems, only the color profile function.

I've got an ATI and I can say the MXO audio doesn't work well. In Color it works, although the playback is a bit jerky but in FCP the playback is bad and the sound really distorted.

 

[Kaku Ito]

Luca,

Thanks for the report.

 

[Kaku Ito]

Luca,

Matrox mentioned official support for Snow Leopard on MXO will be 2.5.x. Let you know more later.

 

[Helge Løken]

Kaku: how does the Matrox MXO2 Mini handle a RED 2K timeline in 2K? Does it scale down to 1080 for monitoring or does it crop? What happens with 4K projects in Color?

 

[Kaku Ito]

Helge,

I've checked it while ago and didn't notice problems but didn't check things in every mode, so I will look into it.

By the way, this might be more appealing to you.

http://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/mxo2_le/

MXO2 LE is announced. Perfect box.

 

[Sanjin Jukic]

Kaku,

Matrox MXO2 LE provides 10-bit HDMI monitoring with a unique color calibration tool that turns your HDMI screen into a professional-grade video monitor

let's say Dell U2410 12 bit budget monitor or HP LP2480 DreamColor would be still better option?

What you think???

 

[M.Paul El-Darwish]

Kaku,

Matrox MXO2 LE provides 10-bit HDMI monitoring with a unique color calibration tool that turns your HDMI screen into a professional-grade video monitor

let's say Dell U2410 12 bit budget monitor or HP LP2480 DreamColor would be still better option?

What you think???

Kinda of an old story actually. Yes. I don't own a RED but use the MX02 and my Dell 2408 just that way. It's not 'professional' grade however. The Dell simply doesn't have the LUT.

 

[C.H.Haskell]

Quick Matrox question, when importing RED into final cut apple pro res 4444, what output viewer settings do I tell Final cut 7 to view the timeline via SDI out to my panasonic monitor? I have MXO box hooked up, but when I view the seq it seams to be crashing everything or locking up playback...anyone else with this issue?

 

[Trevor Meier]

Anyone know if the MXO2_LE 10-bit HDMI output works with the Dreamcolor? (10-bit RGB)

 

[Kaku Ito]

C.H.,

MXO only support up to 8-bit Uncompressed but shouldn't hang like that. Are you on Snow Leopard?

 

[Kaku Ito]

Anyone know if the MXO2_LE 10-bit HDMI output works with the Dreamcolor? (10-bit RGB)

Trevor,

MXO2 and 2 MINI 10-bit HDMI and Dreamcolor is working fine with me. So LE should be the same as MXO2's HDMI out.

 

[Sanjin Jukic]

..the MXO2 and MXO2 Rack put out true progressive over HDMI only at 720p50, 720p59.94, and 1080p23.976."

Kaku,

btw, did you read this at the texts+links below?

Because of that I went AJA Kona 3/with breakout box + AJA Hi5-3G mini converter that can fix my HP DreamColor connection:

"The HP DreamColor LP2480zx monitor’s unique features… and its special demands
The DreamColor LP2480zx from HP has gotten excellent reviews in forums, and I have arranged to do a full a review soon.
In the meantime, let’s cover its unique features (at its US$1999 price point), along with its special demands.
HP likes to describe the LCD panel in the DreamColor as being 30-bit. However, that number may sound strange for those of us
who normally think in terms of 8-bit and 10-bit. The reason that HP calls it 30-bit is because they are counting
each channel (RGB, or Red, Green, and Blue), and they are 10-bit each. The other feature of this model is the DreamColor “engine”,
which manages different color spaces and profiles. Here come the special demands: In order to have the DreamColor engine available,
we must send a signal over HDMI that is already true progressive (no PsF) and RGB. If the signal is either interlaced,
PsF, and/or YUV component, the DreamColor engine will become inactive, since the monitor’s CPU must use all of its resources
to de-interlace and/or convert YUV into RGB. In that case, the monitor can no longer manage the color as BT.709, and will be very too saturated.
On the other hand, if we alleviate those two functions externally, then the DreamColor’s engine will be available to us.

The HP DreamColor LP2480zx has a true 30-bit (10-bit per channel) panel

Which NLE interfaces offer direct RGB over HDMI, and true progressive
According to Jon Thorn, product specialist at AJA, the IoHD fortunately offers the option of outputting either YUV or RGB over HDMI.
However, all 1080 modes output as interlaced or as PsF. Only 720p50 and 720p59.94 modes of the IoHD will output as pure progressive
for the DreamColor monitor. If you need to edit and monitor in any other modes, see the next section.
According to the tech support team leader at Blackmagic Design, through the marketing department,
all Blackmagic Design’s current products deliver only YUV component over HDMI. See the next section to solve this for any Blackmagic product,
except for the Intensity or Intensity Pro.
According to Wayne Andrews, senior product manager at Matrox, the MXO2, MXO2 Rack, and MXO2 Mini do support RGB and YUV on output over HDMI.
Fortunately, this is user-definable in the Matrox control panel.

However, the MXO2 and MXO2 Rack put out true progressive over HDMI only at 720p50, 720p59.94, and 1080p23.976.
For everything else, the output is PsF or interlaced. In the case of the new MXO Mini, the only true progressive modes
it currently puts out are 720p50 and 720p59.94. (If you are editing 720p25, the MXO2 Mini will deliver 720p50 over HDMI.)
This means that if you are editing true progressive in one of those framerates, then you are all set, since you have satisfied
both of the DreamColor’s demands. However, if you need any other framerate (or interlaced editing), see the next section.
Oh my God! What if I have to edit interlaced video… or have a Blackmagic system… or any brand with an unsupported mode…
or any other system without HDMI/RGB true progressive output?

Calm down, we have solutions! Most of my readers already know how much I have always preferred progressive
video (whether low, medium, or high framerate) for so many other reasons beyond DreamColor’s recent demand.
But I also know that in the real world, sometimes editors receive footage that was shot without their prior consultation or control…
and of those times, sometimes it makes sense to de-interlace before editing, and sometimes it doesn’t, for reasons that go beyond
the scope of this article. The reality is that even though we strongly prefer progressive video, there are some times where there’s
no choice but to edit interlaced video. Well, if you you know you’ll be editing true interlaced video often, then the solution to make
the DreamColor’s engine happy is the EXT-HDSDI-2-HDMIS from Gefen, otherwise known as the HD-SDI to HDMI Scaler Box.
It costs US$1299 and has full 10-bit processing. Now, if you are going to edit progressive or PsF, the brand-new Hi5-3G from AJA
will do the trick for only US$690. The Hi5-3G can selectively output RGB over HDMI even if the input is digital YUV. If the input is PsF,
it will convert it into pure progressive too. The vital thing the Hi5-3G cannot do for the DreamColor (that Gefen’s EXT-HDSDI-2-HDMIS can)
is to de-interlace a true interlaced signal, but it costs US$609 less. So if you are sure you won’t be editing true interlaced
video very often (i.e. you mainly or exclusively edit your own progressive footage, you can save US$609 with the Hi5-3G.
On the other hand, if you think you may be editing true interlaced footage often, then get the EXT-HDSDI-2-HDMIS from Gefen for US$609 more.
Interlacing has its costs!"

LINK>>>

How AJA’s new Hi5-3G may fix your DreamColor connection by Allan Tépper:

"The 30-bit (10-bit per channel) HP DreamColor monitor is quite attractive for the price, yet quite demanding regarding the type of input signals it accepts,
as I explained on page 2 of my article How to connect your HD evaluation monitor to your editing system properly: Let me count the ways!.
In order to have the color engine active (which is necessary to monitor in ITU-R BT.701 color space), the DreamColor demands that its
input signal over HDMI be both RGB (not component) and progressive (not interlaced or even PsF). If your system doesn’t currently
output RGB over HDMI… or if it does that, but doesn’t put out true progressive at the progressive framerate you are editing,
then the US$690 Hi5-3G from AJA can help, since it can convert a component signal over HD-SDI (or even 3G-SDI)
and deliver a real time RGB signal over HDMI. Specifically, the Hi5-3G can help if it receives a signal which is either true progressive or PsF,
since it can easily convert PsF into true progressive… but it cannot do the same from a true interlaced signal.
For that, you need a EXT-HDSDI-2-HDMIS from Gefen, which costs US$1299.
For more details, see page 2 of the article called How to connect your HD evaluation monitor to your editing system properly: Let me count the ways!

In the coming weeks, I’ll be doing a full review of the HP DreamColor 30-bit monitor (10-bit per channel) and the Hi5-3G. Stay tuned."

LINK>>>

 

[Kaku Ito]

Thanks Sanjin,

I will tell Matrox to support more format, so we don't need the converter.

 

[Sanjin Jukic]

With Kona 3 you would need Hi5-3G mini converter then with that you can have all connections available for studio work.

 

[C.H.Haskell]

C.H.,

MXO only support up to 8-bit Uncompressed but shouldn't hang like that. Are you on Snow Leopard?

Yeah my set up is just not right cause I am patching my cinema display through the dvi on the MXO...only way to have both monitors hooked up.

Whats the best cost effective way to get SDI output on a new mac pro nahalem + snow leopard these days? I just want two cinema displays and SDI output options for projector or Panasonic etc. Kona LHi?

 

[Kaku Ito]

C.H.,

If you are doing a lot of RED stuff then RED ROCKET is superb beyond anything (besides DVS) because it debayers and decode R3D in realtime, accelerate the playback on the desktop or output to HDSDI (I said "or" because one of the other right now, but it will support simultaneous later). Then after you adjust the baselight and render to QT formats, any video I/O would work as long as it supports the target video format of your choice.