What are you buying the Parhelia for?

[Greebe]

How about the ability todo Blue/Green screening with your editing setup Brian?

[rugger]

Originally posted by Brian Ellis
You should have added "Won't be buying"!

I don't play games (at least that kind ), I don't render 3-D images, I don't need 3 screens so the only thing it would offer me over a Millennium is a big hole in my bank balance!

I guess you shouldn't answer the poll then, because this poll obviously not about you , its about people who are actually buying parhelias

Perhaps you could start yourself a new poll, as to the reasons why you won't be buying a parhelia

[Brian Ellis]

Greebe

You mean it's going to convert DV 4.1.1 (NTSC) or 4.2.0 (PAL) to 4.2.2 or, better 4.4.4, video. Can't wait to see that miracle! If it can restore what ain't there, all I can say is that Matrox must have an interface all the way to heaven

Rugger

"...people who are actually buying parhelias..."

You mean that the Parhelia is available to buy? In 'Strilia? Wow, you must be privileged!

If you detect a note of scepticism in this message, maybe it's because, as a long-term Matrox user, even from pre-Millennium days, I've learnt a lot of caution about a) performance:specification ratio and b) vapourware lead times. I therefore apologise in advance for those about to pick up their pens, oops, bash their keyboards, to flame me.

OTOH, Matrox graphics cards (video abstracted) have always been excellent for the kind of work I do (essentially 2D) but we don't need loads of fancy gimmicks for that, not even for video. What I think is lacking with Matrox (at least the graphics cards division) is sound corporate psychology. There is a risk that by heavily promoting an expensive product that addresses itself essentially to one minority sector of the market and is overkill for the millions of business users, the latter may feel excluded and go elsewhere. Unfortunately, the web site is now too Parhelia oriented and one cannot avoid it.

FWIW

[rugger]

Uh, Brian, do you see Nvidias site touting the business benifets of the TNT2 cards. Of course not.

All graphics websites are exclusively focused on their latest and greatest products, with almost no mention of older, but still useful gear.

And That should have been "people who will be buying parhellias when they are released" for those who are pedantic enough to require it

And Brian, do I need to repeat my "How not to Upgrade your video card guide" for you Just because matrox is creating a new card, it doesn't automaticly mean that you have to upgrade to it.

And finally, MATROX == expensive. Always has been. If you don't like it, lump it.

[Dr Mordrid]

Brian,

The problem with DV25 (consumer DV) is that it aliases like hell, that much I agree with and it's a major PITA when doing keyed effects and other compositing techniques, but it's far from unusable.

One method is to upsample the 4:1:1 to 4:2:2 or 4:4:4:4 RGBA (RGB + an alpha channel). The latter technique works GREAT on the RT-2000/2500 for overlays in DV, which show NO aliasing at all. Unfortunately it doesn't do this in realtime, but if one is willing to render the 4:4:4:4 RGBA compositing engine also helps when doing keys.

As far as doing keyed effects goes one method that works in MSPro with DV is to capture it as analog by way of the S-Video out on most cams. This provides 4:2:2 video which is a bit softer than IEEE-1394 imported DV footage.

This softer edge helps a lot when compositing the overlay. You first set the Overlay Options Similarity then get rid of the soft edge with the Blend/Opacity, which basically acts like a matte choker. After the composite is done you just crank up the contrast a bit and most times you have a very nice result that will mix with "normal" DV footage nicely.

Another technique involves using a video matte to "choke" the aliased edge a little tighter than Blend/Opacity can, leaving the clean part of the DV frame only. This technique can be done using AE, Boris or in MSPro with a bit more complexity. The MSPro technique is illustrated here;

http://www.jushhome.com/HiddenPhantom/Tutorials/MSPComp/MSPcomp.html

Complex, but VERY effective.

There are other DV keying solutions coming, but I can't talk about those yet

PS: keying in DV works better with a green screen than with blue.

PPS: the Parhelis's antialiasing engine should work with DV's aliasing through the analog output as much as with anything else.

Dr. Mordrid

[Chucky Cheese]

1) the improved/new architecture

2) better dvi capabilities

3) to support matrox and their efforts

since 100% of my time on this machine is 2D, why not have the BEST!!!

cc

[libredr]

Linux drivers

I shall buy a Parhelia if Matrox provides a real good support of Linux drivers. I use Linux now every day, and keep a Windows partition only for some games. I would like to buy a good 3D card for OpenGL games and also with a high 2D quality.
If Matrox provides good Linux support, then the Parhelia will be the first high-end graphic card with Linux drivers working out of the box. Nvidia makes good Linux drivers, but they are closed source, on the contrary to Matrox ones.

[Swing]

If all I want is quality, I will keep my G400. For the money they will want it had better provide quality AND uber-fast game frame rates.

[FormerEx-SalesSoup]

TOP - for those who haven't voted yet.

[Wienerschnitzl]

What i like most about Matrox is the dokumentaion of their drivers.
You can always see what is fixed and what is still a problem

hello everyone, first post

[DC]

welcome Wienerschnitzl.

DC