G450etv DVDMax question

[Ludd]

Hi,

I work in audio post-production for video games, and soon films. I'm looking for a way of having the AVI i'm working with to be displayed on an external tv/monitor. I'll be working on the AVI from within my sequencing software (most probably Nuendo).

Will the DVDMax function on the G450etv card output any format of AVI (Cinepak etc.) from with my audio sequencing package? If not does anyone have any ideas as to other options? I can find no mention of any restrictions on format, so am just assuming that as soon as i play any file with a .avi extention, from any software application, that the avi will be played out full-screen on my tv/external monitor. Is this the case?

Until now i've been successfully using a G400 Marvel, in Win98se, but have been forced to move up to either Win2k of XP (sticking with 98 is not an option). The leaked video tools for G400 Marvel under Win2k are very unstable, and too temperamental for professional work.


Any help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Ludd

[LvR]

Strange how the same issue has reared its head on the Pinnacle forum lately as well.

Its an overlay issue, and the best way to check what is going to happen is to follow this bit of wisdom from the Matrox support FAQs on DVDMax

9. When using DualHead DVDMax, why do some video clips output to my TV and other video clips don't?

This would be an overlay issue with the video clip. In order for DVDMax to work, the player must use overlay. However, some video formats (i.e. QuickTime) do not consistently support overlay.

To see if a video clip is using overlay use the following procedure:

- Set your desktop resolution to 1024x768, 16 bits-per-pixel.
- Make sure you are in SingleHead mode.
- Play your clip in any player.
- Open our DeskNav utility.
- Go to view > preferences and uncheck "snap to corner".
- Place the DeskNav over the video window.
- If you see video in the DeskNav, then this clip is using overlay and it should output to the TV when you use DVDMax.
- If you don't see the video window in DeskNav, then the video codec is "blitting" the information, and not using overlay, and it won't ouput to TV.

If the clip is not using overlay, you can try upscaling or downscaling the video window on your monitor. This may work in some cases

[Ludd]

Cheers for your quick reply.

Is there a list anywhere of supported codecs? I'll probably be using the G450 to capture the footage i'll be working on, so does the capture software give any indication as to what codec to use to enable output to tv, or is it generally a matter of trial and error?

Thanks again for your help,

Simon

[LvR]

Personally, I have had very good results with the more common codecs like Mpeg,Mpeg2,DVD,DV,Mjpeg (in various flavors) etc.

The one I have not been able to get to work is WMV.

My feeling is that if you can use the G450 to capture it, you should be able to get it out as well.

There is a certain amount of trial and error involved as well, as some people with exactly the same (?) hw and drivers and OS, will sometimes report not being able to get DVDMax to kick in.

[Ludd]

Cheers. Looks like it'll be worth taking the chance on the card to see if it works.