Name: Matrox MXO2 Mini with Thunderbolt Adapter
Brand: Matrox
SKU: MRMINIT
Price: 495.00 USD
Availability: Discontinued

Matrox MXO2 Mini with Thunderbolt Adapter

Matrox MXO2

Matrox

Adorama

Video

Wireless & Live Streaming

Video Capture & Converters

Video Capture

Matrox Video Capture

Matrox MXO2 

Buy: Matrox MXO2 Mini with Thunderbolt Adapter Type: Breakout Box

First of all, I'm happy this product exists.  I bought an MX02 LE when I was using a PC laptop so I used the Expresscard on it.  Then the laptop was stolen by some cowards who, I suppose, needed the laptop more than I (kinda like the guy from Bicycle Thief) and I picked up a new MacbookPro.  I was delighted to learn that I just needed this box and didn't have to upgrade my whole dang MX02 LE (with MAX!).
I've never had connection issues, and since I picked up the longer Thunderbolt cable, my field setup is much more flexible than the Expresscard and (short) Matrox cable.
I haven't read the documentation enough to know the proper way to disconnect the thing so I've always powered down completely but I think there may be a safe way to disconnect it from the computer without powering down.  Seems fairly well built and it's great it doesn't need external power.  It's a simple box with 2 holes, just make sure you put the B side of the Matrox cable facing up.

It does the job that needs done.

Works well to feed the HDMI camera feed into the Mac/PC for broadcasting, if you choose drivers well. Contact Matrox support before installing the driver.

Works Well in my Workflow

This is a good mid-price option to connect HDTVs and pro monitors to your editing setup. The use of an internal card makes it a desktop-only solution (you won't be taking this on set with your laptop). Unline using some sort of adapter from your video card, this sends an unadulterated signal for viewing. You can also use it to record video via HDMI or analog. The main feature that attracted me was the calibration utility -normally you would use hardware like this to drive a professional monitor, which you would calibrate using color bars. But large flatscreen pro monitors are frightfully expensive - the ability to calibrate a 30" HDTV and use it for editing sounds dynamite. But apparently, it only works properly with the (rather rare) 1:1 pixel TVs. I hooked it up to a large Samsung. The calibration utility "believed" the monitor was fine, but I compared it to my small Marshall (calibrated via color bars) and it was way off. So for now, I use an HDMI splitter to use the little marshall AND the big TV, and I use the TV controls to get the TV as close to the Marshall as possible. This gives me accurate color (via the small marshall) and a large screen that doesn't get all quicktimed-up (for a total of four screens at my workstation - hmm, chicks dig it!) Yep, the much cheaper blackmagic card would do the same thing, but hopefully firmware upgrades will come as the calibration utility evolves. Other issues you may have are that it can take a LOT of fooling with settings to make this work (After Effects is pretty seamless, FCP can be an oddball mess of FCP prefs and Matrox panels). Sometimes it just *stops* sending a signal, and you have to play with settings to wake it back up.

Decent value - calibration not there yet

This is for the professional and requires a professional playback monitor.  Some of the fps rates can play in RGB and some in HDMI.  As of 1/2011 the driver does not work with After Effects.  You get a pretty good range of options with Premier Pro CS5.  Some of the playback options are in the pSF format, not likely that a consumer monitor will be compatible.  
For my purposes right now it is fine but may not be for everyone with this version of the Mac driver.

Read instruction book before you buy

Good...
More...option software support ,example
Show video output from Windows Mediaplayer .