Disappointed with G400 Marvel

[wizz]

As excited as i was with the RT2000 specs i'm just as disappointed with some of the specs of the G400 Marvel.
I feel as a video editing card it should have come with 32 Meg of Ram and 360 RAMDAC. It doesn't have to be a MAX, just those two would have given it the edge over its competitors. I personaly don't want a 16 Meg card, not one which also will take over as a game card. I would have liked the second monitor output as well but the output to TV works fine as that is what i do with the G200 Marvel.
Would i buy it, maybe, maybe not, the PAL version is more expensive and there is the RT2000 which is worth saving up for. Matrox is doing a very clever product positioning.

Tony

[DrMordrid]

Why worry about 32 megs on a video editing card?

That extra 16 megs has no effect whatever on capture, playback or editing. As far as editing goes it could have 8 megs and do just as well. The same goes for the 360mhz RAMDAC.

There is no VGA DH because there was no room on the card for another connector once the BOB cables socket was mounted.

As far as Matrox's product positioning they are getting MUCH better at this.

Dr. Mordrid


[This message has been edited by DrMordrid (edited 09-25-1999).]

[tcevatt]

Why didn't Matrox move the BOB interface to a connector on the board itself that can be inserted in a slot (SBLIVE does this for the digital connector)? 32 MB is for gamers I agree and the 360 Mhz RAMDAC isn't necessary for video editing. I would have liked to have the extra monitor interface and memory--a TV takes up too much room on a table.

Tom

[Elie]

Don't worry guys!
The Marvel G400 won't dissapoint you

Elie

[ScottV]

Elie, why do you say that. I also think the G400 Marvel is a big let-down. Yes it's fine for newbies but it's hardly worth upgrading from a G200 Marvel.

The TV tuner is nice but not essential, no black borders on TV-out is excellent but it's just a bug fix !!

I also would have been more tempted if it had 32Mb and a faster RAMDAC. I do spend most of my time editing video but I'm also a bit of a Half-Life fanatic and I guess I'll also be playing Q3 and Unreal Tournament real soon.

£200 for a few extra features sounds like a lot of money to me and what would I do with the redundant G200 Marvel?

[RoGuE]

Hi Scott,
I too am disappointed, no real point upgrading from a Marvel G200.

------------------
aka Chris H

[Brian Ellis]

Don't play games (at least, that type) so 32 Mb would be wasted on me. Have been reasonably happy with Marvel G-200: it does most things I need. Don't have oodles of lolly to find 200 quid to throw away. Why change?

As for the BOB, I change video sources/sinks quite often and BOB is a helluva sight more convenient than crawling round the back of the bloody computer. As I have Live! already taking 2 of the 4 PCI slots, SCSI another and the COM3 network card the last one and Marvel the AGP one, where would I put a secondary one in place of BOB? Definitely NOT, repeat NOT (did I say NOT?) a good idea. In fact, I curse the Live! slot-gobbler, at times. I must admit, BOB was the deciding factor in choosing Marvel.

In summary, G-400 is a luxury I cannot afford and would I be able to improve my videos with it?

------------------
Brian (the terrible)

[Elie]

ScottV,

The extra 16 mb ram will not have a major effect on games, and the ramdac at 300 is more than enough even if you have a 21 inch monitor.
Now unless you want to play games at 2056x1536 32 bit???

I still don't see what the fuss is all about

Cheers,
Elie

[Pleeman]

Will any of the software specifically the Mpeg2 encoder be available to us Marvel 200
Folks? How about the gl icd or any other goodies?

[wizz]

Ellie,

The point is that Matrox must be targetting people who already have a Marvel G200 as well as those new to video editing. Therefore in my eyes the new features on the Marvel G400 is not enough for me to remove my Marvel G200 and yet i so wanted to upgrade.

The extra 16 Meg will have an effect on some games especially those with large textures and it will be a significantly hamper anyone in the future to who want to play games as well as edit video.

The extra RAMDAC we all know with the right monitor can make a big difference, like my going from my TNT1 to the Marvel G200, and since i have both a 19 & 21 inch monitors i would prefere the extra power.

Tony