Final Cut User

The MXO2 has been announced and I have been waiting for this bad boy for a while now.We all knew some new toy would come after the success of the MXO and being that the MXO was just preview and everyone wanted an MXO with capture support Matrox has a new offering in the form of the MXO2 .Talk about your all in one check out the specs.

Key features

• Truly portable – fits in your laptop bag, runs off a field battery (or its AC adapter)
• HD/SD SDI, HD/SD analog component, Y/C, and composite inputs and outputs
• Genlock – SD analog black burst (bi-level) or HD tri-level sync
• HDMI input, output, and monitoring with calibration controls including blue-only
• 10-bit realtime hardware up/down/cross conversion
• Up to five user selectable simultaneous video outputs – HD and/or SD on HDMI, SDI, and analog
• Professional audio inputs and outputs with 5.1 surround sound monitoring
• RS-422 machine control for frame-accurate capture and print-to-tape
• Captures to a variety of codecs – Apple ProRes 422 HQ, 10-bit uncompressed HD, and many more
• Supports file-based workflows – XDCAM, XDCAM HD, XDCAM EX, P2
• Works with Final Cut Pro, Apple Color, Adobe Premiere Pro and all QuickTime applications that support the V-out component
• For use with Intel-based MacBook Pros and Mac Pros

Inputs

Video

• SDI - HD/SD
• Component - HD/SD
• Y/C
• Composite
• HDMI - HD/SD

Audio

• 2 XLR - stereo pair (balanced)
• 2 RCA - stereo pair (unbalanced)
• 2 AES/EBU
• SDI embedded – up to 8 channels
• HDMI embedded - up to 8 channels

Outputs

Video

• 2 SDI - HD/SD
• Component - HD/SD - 12-bit
• Y/C - 12-bit
• Composite - 12-bit
• HDMI - HD/SD

Audio

• 4 XLR - 2 stereo pairs (balanced)
• 6 RCA - for surround sound monitoring (unbalanced)
• 2 AES/EBU
• SDI embedded – up to 8 channels
• HDMI embedded - up to 8 channels

Genlock

Matrox MXO2 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. Timing offset controls can be used to align your video output relative to your external genlock source to compensate for cable delays within your facility.

Realtime hardware up/down/cross conversion

Matrox MXO2 lets you deliver in any format your clients demand. The 10-bit hardware scaling provides high-quality mastering.

HD to SD downscaling

Matrox MXO2 provides realtime HD to SD downscaling so that you can monitor or record an SD master of your HD project in real time. Proper conversion of the HD color space to the SD color space and proper aspect ratio conversion to anamorphic, letterbox, and center cut are supported.

SD to HD upscaling

Matrox MXO2 provides realtime SD to HD upscaling with proper conversion of the SD color space to the HD color space.

Cross conversion

Matrox MXO2 offers realtime cross conversions from 720 to 1080 and 1080 to 720. Realtime frame rate conversion is also supported with the following cadences – 2:3:2:3, 2:3:3:2, and 2:2:2:4. This feature is useful if, for example, your source material is recorded at a different frame rate or resolution than the delivery format your client requires. It also facilitates monitoring when, for example, you need to work with 23.98 fps footage but your monitor does not support that frame rate. You can use MXO2’s realtime frame rate conversion to view your project at 29.97 fps.

Now with all this and the price coming in at 1,599.00(US) Matrox has just thrown its hat in the ring for the all time bad ass capture and preview tool award from me.The real killer sell for me is basically this is a true capture device for your Macbook Pro over Express card slot and not over firewire. Having to work in 8 and 10 bit still makes the MX02 a no brainer for alot of people in broadcast and on set . As soon as i can get my hands on one i will have a full feature report testing with both Mac towers and portables both studio and on set. So we can see how it actually handles in real world workflow. 

Matrox MXO2