Newest Marvel is up on Matrox's website

[Michel Carleer]

From what I have seen on the site, it has one VGA, one TV in and one TV out connectors.
Michka

[Brian Ellis]

Jeff

Are you trying to take the wind out of my sails? I thought I was the resident cynic here

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Brian (the terrible)

[bongo]

damn it, why the heck doesn't matrox make a Marvel with true dualhead...2 computer monitors, not 1 tv and 1 monitor...how hard could that be...I have it with my g400 dh...sheesh

[Bixler]

Emergency Broadcast:

According to the information in the last driver release, there will be SOME PCI implementation of the 450--unclear whether it will be in the eTV version...good idea though.

Bongo:

From what I read, it will have full dualhead as well as tv out. I'd sure verify before I took delivery on one, but thats the way I read it.

[Michel Carleer]

Bixler,
I hope you are right. I downloaded the manual and took a look at the pictures related to connecting the eTV, and there you only see one VGA and two TV in/out.
You are right however that in the features page, you would tend to think that it is a true DH.
Michka


[This message has been edited by Michel Carleer (edited 22 September 2000).]

[Dr Mordrid]

I can only answer a few of these owing to my NDA. Here goes;

How does this new gadget shape up compared to full resolution Mjpeg?

This should largely be answered by the below answers.

What's the max bitrate it can encode?

I'm seeing 10+ mbits/sec for 704x480, 5+ mbits for 352x480 at the top settings.

Does it work OK with MSPro 6?

Quite well in fact. I can capture and use 4 gig MPEG-2 files which play in MSPro6 and MediaPlayer.

Smartrendering works fine if you set up the project options properly. The video and audio data rates can be discovered by using the INFO button on the MSPro6 load dialog.

With a 4 gig file you get about 90 minutes with 352x480 and 45 minutes at 704x480 using the highest quality settings. Audio synch was right on target even at the end.

I can't begin to convey how big an advantage those big OpenDML files are....

Can it function with other soft codecs (DV, huffy, etc)?

So far. With the drivers I've used YUY2 is enabled by default and it can be used with HuffYUV & DivX.

The methodology for Matrox analog cards since the RRStudio has been to capture YUY2 which then gets encoded to MJPeg, RGB or now MPEG-2.

As such you get the best quality apple for encoding to other codecs or streaming formats by going straight to the tree.

Can it capture straight to mpeg?

MPEG-2 yes, MPEG-1 no. Tsunami still has a job

If you're taping a long movie from the TV, are there gaps between files or would you still need AVI_IO?

Slight ones. I can't say more than that.

And two I'll throw in for the helluvit:

How is it for dropped frames?

Pretty good. I captured over 137,000 frames today with just one drop, and that occurred in the first fraction of a second.

How good does it look on TV and do transitions look "squirrely"?

It looks pretty darned good, even at 352x480. Titles and transitions look good too. I'll admit to being suprised given the low quality of the Ligos engine used in MSPro6.

By the way, Ligos is working on implementing their new MPEG kernel into the product line. The Premiere plugin was first to get it. They took a lot of heat over their kernel....

Dr. Mordrid


[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 23 September 2000).]

[T-rex]

Other questions for you, Dr Modrid. (I hope these aren't under NDA )

What resolution are supported for YUY2, and Mpeg2 Capture? (there is support for 480x480, or 480x576 ?)

The capture settings in PC-VCR are fully customizable, (I,P,B frames, Costant or Variable Bitrate etc.) ore there are only presets?

You can't capture in Mpeg1 with Pc-Vcr Remote, but the bundled Video Studio 4.0 can do that, right?

Thanks in advance.

[This message has been edited by T-rex (edited 23 September 2000).]

[Riddek]

Hi Doc,
Pleeeeeeeeease, I gotta know once and for all-does this thing support full dualhead(2 VGAs), or is it at least an improvement on the G400 Marvel VGA/TV dualhead?

I was at a computer show today and the Matrox reps were trying to say the G400 Marvel could do full dualhead. Needless to say, they weren't very helpful with providing info on the G450 eTV either.

[Riddek]

I think the fuzzy "G400 Marvel to G450 eTV evolution" picture is slowly coming into focus. Matrox axed the BOB & hardware codec, upgraded the TV tuner with picture in picture, switched to the smaller die size and added a bunch of software features(timeshifting, MPEG2 software codec, etc.)

In essence, they cut production costs from the G400 Marvel by at least a third and bumped up the price. Man, they are going to make a KILLING on this product! "Kudos" on Matrox's business sense.

The marketing campaign looks pretty good as well. It seems that Matrox is finally getting a long overdue facelift for their product line.

The stage is now set for their new "flagship" G800. Let's hope they spend some of the eTV profits to get the G800 off the drawing board and out the door a little faster!

[Nick Piercey]

Thanks Doc, as ever.


Your contributions are always appreciated!


Kind regards,

Nick.

[Brian Ellis]

Riddek

You've hit the nail on the head. They're offering less for more. One of the reasons I changed to the Marvel G200, in the first place, was the BOB and the hardware MJPEG, bothe of which do their job Marvel-ously. I hate those little cable adaptors (I had them before Marvel): they really are a pest. And now bye-bye, BOB. This is certainly not going to inspire me to rush out and buy one (even if they were available ). However, I have another gripe. I have no interest in connecting a Marvel to an antenna, a cable or a DVD player. So why should I be forced to pay for a system which is designed for that with their time whatsit and all, in the name of all that is holy? It looks to me as if Matrox are trying to go down-market from the serious amateur/semi-pro to the consumer markets, at least in the Marvel series. As I have not yet a DV-in/out camera (the victim of buying the first Panasonic 3-CCD mini-DV model at 3 times the current prices ), I cannot really justify going for an RT-2000. Guess my faithful G200 Marvel is here to stay for some time yet.

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Brian (the terrible)

[Riddek]

Brian,
You bought your Marvel for the same reasons I bought mine. Although I have yet to open the package because of lack of time. I was contemplating returning it and waiting for the G450 eTV, but I don't see any real benefit (for me) in getting the new product.

I think you're right, Matrox is changing their "affordable" product line into consumer level stuff. Unfortunately, any of us that want to do anything semi-pro in the future will be forced to buy something at least in the RT2000 price range. (I would love to own one of those beasts, but it's not in the "cards" right now)

[Flying dutchman]

I couldn't help but note the "4 gig openDML" in the Doc's response.

The "4 gig limit" is non-existent in NTFS, so I guess he's talking about Win98 drivers that have YUY2 enabled by default, not Windows 2000... I wonder if we'll ever see decent Win2k drivers.

Doc, my fingertips are itching for this question. The black borders! Have they finally gone ???? Is there hope???

[Dr Mordrid]

Here's what I can answer;

Riddek & Brian E:

The G450 eTV is NOT more costly than the current Marvel G400-TV. The G450 eTV lists at $265 USD while the Marvel G400-TV lists at $299. Check for yourselves...

http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/pricing/home.cfm

The resolutions for MPEG2 and YUY2 are the same as those for MJPeg with the previous Marvel. No SVCD resolutions so far.

No, it doesn't support dual VGA's. 1 VGA and a composite/S-Video output. No BOB, it uses a "spider" to connect. I find this more practical than finding room for the BOB and that sewer-pipe of a cable.

MPEG-1 capture works in MSPro6's capture program becuase YUY2 is present. I'm assuming the bundled version of VideoStudio4 will work the same. I don't have VS4 installed though so that's pure speculation on my part.

The 4 gig OpenDML reference was indeed for Win98SE. I state a 4 gig limit because that is the max file size FAT32 supports in Win9x. In Win2K/NTFS it's another story as far as the OS support goes. I don't know if the eTV drivers will support >4 gig captures in NTFS though.

Dr. Mordrid


[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 24 September 2000).]

[Phire]

Maybe they broke YUY2 on the latest Marvel drivers so they could make you buy the 450tv :P