Marvel G450-eTV - no MJPEG !

[JTA]

I would like to give a warning to all Marvel users :

I've just bought a marvel G450-eTV because my old Marvel G200 has failed. To my astonishment, this card NO LONGER SUPPORTS HARDWARE MJPEG COMPRESSION.

THIS ISN'T A MARVEL ! You can't even PLAY BACK AVI-files made with MJPEG compression : Matrox doesn't support MJPEG ! If you want the software codec, they direct you to www.morgan-multimedia.com where you can BUY IT !

I am very disappointed !
This card allows video to be captured in RGB or YUY2 mode, but with the resolution I need (704x480x25frames/sec), this gives me a data stream of 20MBytes/sec, which is too fast for my disks to handle. Besides, the capture files are way too large.

And if I select any software compressor, my cpu jumps to 100%, and 4 out of every 5 frames are skipped.

BAD - BAD - BAD - BAD !

[Kruzin]

Everyone here is fully aware that Matrox switched from hardware to software compression with the G450 Marvels.
If you didn't know that, it's your own fault for not researching the product before you bought it.

[rylan]

Just wait a month or so and get the ATI Radeon 8500DV.. it has MPEG2 capture and firewire ports.. kickass. Not that I'm pimping it or anthing.. it just looked pretty cool to me.

[JTA]

Hi Rylan,

thanx for your reply - unfortunately I just bought the G450-eTV, so buying another card is not an option for the moment.

Hi moderator,

I've been out of touch a while from these forums, so no, I wasn't aware of the fact that hardware compression was dropped from the G450 series.

About researching : I DID my research - how would you interpret the following text, found on the Matrox graphic cards main page :

"The Marvel G450 eTV is ready to perform in all your entertainment and business applications for the Web, video, and TV. The most versatile all-in-one solution on the market, the Marvel G450 eTV is packed with features like timeshifting and third-generation DualHead, including eDualHead.

"Matrox has taken everything great about the G450 and combined it with the video editing and TV features of the Rainbow Runner G"

I suggest you read the last paragraph carefully !

It's only when I started to look into fine detail that I came to the conclusion that, indeed, there is no mention of no more hardware compression in the detailled product sheet. I wonder why I didn't think of that sooner !

I feel cheated by Matrox, I think their text is misleading. They should AT LEAST drop the "Marvel" word off the procuct name. It may not be such a bad card alltogether, but for video capture and editing, IT SUXXS !

[Yanee]

Dear JTA,

Three notes for you.

The First:

"Matrox has taken everything great about the G450 and combined it with the video editing and TV features of the Rainbow Runner G"

I feel this sentence is a way cheating because you forgot to note that it was an OPINION - on Matrox's web this can be read:

"Matrox has taken everything great about the G450 and combined it with the video editing and TV features of the Rainbow Runner G" (Tweak 3D)

I suggest you the same you suggested to Kruzin.

The Second:

No, you didn't get proper information on this product. If you would you probably have seen this page:

http://matrox.com/mga/products/comp_chart/g450etv_vs_g400tv.cfm

On this page you can collect all the information you need.

The Third:

I don't think that the name Marvel stands for "Using hardware MJPEG codec to minimize the video stream bandwidth". I think this is the name Matrox is using for their all-in-one home video editing solution. (Betaboys correct me if I wrong)
IMHO this card is great but not enough powerful to replace my existing Millenium G400. Maybe the nextgen video editing card from M. Maybe...

If you feel yourself offended, sorry, just wrote my thoughts. I disagree with you, and I feel that in this case you were'nt absolutely correct.
Please, don't be angry with me.

I suggest you to sell that card ASAP and get another video editing card.
And this time, you'll be more carefull, I'm sure.

Good luck, and happy new card:
Yanee

[JTA]

I agree, I WAS foolish enough to believe that if you replace a Marvel G200 with a Marvel G450, you would get a card that had the same specifications, a bit faster, and with some newer add-ons.

I got a card that is totally different, apart from the "marvel" in the product name.

I feel that Matrox does not emphasize the differences that it introduced with the G450. The text on the products page lets you believe it is the same card, with all of the marvels of the rainbow runner G series. Even if the latest sentenze is an optinion, it is given right below the product description, and this opinion is USED to underline their product views.

Hell, you CAN'T even buy a Rainbow Runner G upgrade for this card, otherwise I would allready have done so !

However,
I DID find what's wrong with the video capture : apparently, the video compressor "RRIdm-something" that was installed together with all of the card's drivers seemed to cause an interference. When I removed this codec, I suddenly COULD capture full-screen PAL footage with the Pegasus MJPEG software compression.

So it seems my system is fast enough to handle the software compression in real-time, this means that, even though I would have preferred the hardware compression, I can at least carry on with my video editing.

No thanks to Matrox. All they did was send me a FAQ-sheet on the Marvel series. When I replied with more specific questions, they send me that same FAQ AGAIN !

[xortam]

Why do we continue to see this thread paralleled here and in the DV forum?