Matrox MXO2 LE Max with Thunderbolt Adapter

SKU: VDMRLEMAXNT

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Review Summary

2013-11-11T19:00:00

Rated 4 out of 5

It does the job that needs done.

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.

AK

2013-01-21T19:00:00

Rated 4 out of 5

Works Well in my Workflow

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.

MM

2011-12-04T19:00:00

Rated 4 out of 5

Decent value - calibration not there yet

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.

MICHAEL C.

2011-01-11T19:00:00

Rated 3 out of 5

Read instruction book before you buy

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.

STEVE N.

2011-01-11T19:00:00

Rated 4 out of 5

Good...

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

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Matrox MXO2 Specifications

About Matrox MXO2

The MXO2 LE with MAX (Thunderbolt) from Matrox is a device designed to provide all the features of an I/O card in a sturdy, portable breakout box. It's got connections for both professional audio and video, including an input and output each for HD HDMI, component video, composite video and Y/C (S-Video); for audio, there's dual XLR ins and outs as well as stereo analog audio I/O. In addition, you've got an HD/SD-SDI input and two such outputs. Your options for high-quality monitoring couldn't be more versatile.

And of course, this MXO2 LE box includes a Thunderbolt adapter, which supplies the blazing-fast connection to a computer for a data transfer rate of up to 10 Gb/s. Designed for Mac laptop and desktop systems with a Thunderbolt port, this model features Matrox MAX, a technology that implements faster than real-time H.264 encoding for resolutions ranging from iPod to HD. It uses a dedicated hardware processor to accelerate the creation of H.264 files for Blu-ray, the web and mobile devices.

By using specialized hardware acceleration, jobs are finished more quickly and system resources are freed up for other tasks. This technology allows direct export to higher-quality H.264 Blu-ray compliant files from Compressor. Along with broadcast-quality audio & HD video input and output, the MXO2 LE provides calibration controls that include blue-only. You also benefit from a wide variety of HD and SD workflows with Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro thanks to Matrox MXO2 LE's 10-bit hardware up/down/cross-conversion scaling engine and support for a wide variety of file-based formats and industry-standard codecs.

Matrox MXO2 Features

  • Portable: Matrox MXO2 LE is a portable I/O device for the Mac. It fits into a travel bag and connects directly to standard field batteries or the included AC power adapter
  • HD and SD Inputs & Outputs: Matrox MXO2 LE features professional inputs and outputs. RS-422 machine control is provided for frame-accurate capture and print-to tape with Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro. A 4-pin XLR power connection is provided for AC or field battery operation
  • Genlock: Matrox MXO2 LE provides SD analog black burst (bi-level) or HD tri-level sync genlock. It can genlock to any type of video input or to house sync
  • Capture to a Variety of Codecs: Matrox MXO2 LE lets you capture to HD and SD codecs supported by Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro. On a Quad-Core Mac Pro, you can capture HD to ProRes 422 HQ, DVCPRO HD, DV, DVCPRO and DVCPRO50
  • File-Based Formats: Matrox MXO2 LE lets you work with file-based formats such as XDCAM, XDCAM HD, XDCAM EX, P2 and P2HD. You can play out these formats directly from Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro
  • RED Workflow: RED users can benefit from Matrox MXO2 LE to capture, monitor and play back on set. Back in the post suite, they can use Matrox MXO2 LE to work with 1K and 2K RED timelines and output to SD, 720, or 1080 via MXO2 LE's real-time 10-bit hardware scaling feature
  • HD-SDI Closed-Captioning Support: You will no longer need to spend time and money recreating HD captioning data that is typically lost when editing projects in Final Cut Pro. Matrox MXO2 LE offers a unique workflow to capture, play back and preserve closed-captioning data while editing
  • HD & SD Video Monitoring: Matrox MXO2 LE turns your HDMI monitor into a true-color video display you can trust, even for color grading
  • HDMI Monitoring with 10-bit 4:2:2 Color Precision: Matrox MXO2 LE lets you adjust and control your HDMI monitor exactly like you would a broadcast HD/SD monitor. Controls for hue, chroma, contrast, brightness and blue-only are provided
  • Pixel-to-Pixel Mapping on HDMI Displays: Matrox MXO2 LE provides 1:1 pixel mapping on HDMI monitors that support this feature
  • Real-Time Conversion, Capture & Output: Matrox MXO2 LE lets you deliver in any format your clients demand. The 10-bit hardware scaling provides high-quality mastering
  • Hardware Acceleration: Matrox MXO2 LE offers hardware acceleration of Final Cut Pro Dynamic RT segments, HDV and DVCPRO HD
  • HD to SD Downscaling: Matrox MXO2 LE provides real-time HD to SD downscaling with proper conversion of the HD color space to the SD color space and proper aspect ratio conversion to anamorphic, letterbox and center cut. You can monitor or record an SD master of your HD project in real time
  • SD to HD Upscaling: Matrox MXO2 LE provides real-time SD to HD upscaling with proper conversion of the SD color space to the HD color space. MXO2 LE will "pillarbox" 4:3 footage and scale 16:9 SD footage to full screen
  • Cross-Conversion: Matrox MXO2 LE offers real-time cross-conversion from 720 to 1080 and 1080 to 720 lines. Real-time frame rate conversion is also supported with 2:3:2:3 and 2:3:3:2 cadences
  • H.264 & .MOV Playback Application: The Matrox Vetura standalone application conveniently plays back your H.264 and .mov files

What's in the box:

  • Matrox MXO2 LE Max
  • MXO2 Thunderbolt Adapter
  • Multi-Pin Cable to Connect Thunderbolt Adapter to MXO2 LE
  • Matrox MXO2 LE External Power Supply
  • IEC-C13 Power Cord
  • Matrox Warranty