Newest Marvel is up on Matrox's website

[bongo]

So that's it...the silly Mtrox people are putting out the Marvel e450 with the ability for ONLY monitor And TV, but Not 2 monitors like a true DUALHEAD...AAAARGHHHHHH.

I am not a happy camper.

[Elie]

Bongo,

The G400/G450 are dual head cards NOT triple head, meaning that you can have either 2 monitors, 1 monitor and a TV, a monitor and a flat panel etc. but you cannot have 2 monitors and a TV out because then you would need an extra ramdac/processor just to output to TV, if Matrox produced such card you can bet it won't cost ~ $260 US.

Cheers,
Elie

[Dr Mordrid]

DITTO ELIE!!

You guys have to remember that if you take over a head for video/TV output that means there is one less than you need for a second VGA port. Maybe once triplehead becomes a feature.....

Dr. Mordrid

[Riddek]

Doc,
"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..."

Hmmm.. I thought I read in the review on the Matrox site that it was more expensive, but I stand corrected.

If you were stranded on a desert island with no RT2000, just a kick a$$ system, Tia Carrere, a Canon Elura and a choice between a G400 Marvel and a G450 eTV card, which would you pick and why? ("why" NDA permitting)

In other words, does the faster ramdac and ???? software video capture capabilities on the eTV more than make up for the loss of the hardware codec and (your favorite) the BOB?

[Dr Mordrid]

Ok, fair enough. Now for my reasoning;

1. I rarely change devices with the BOB plugs, preferring a composite/S-Video switchbox instead. In essence the switchbox becomes my "BOB", but with a much smaller cable and 8 switchable inputs.

2. I've become much less of a Marvel MJPeg user for several reasons, not the least of which is my growing use YUY2/HuffYUV, MPEG and PICVideo MJPeg. Why PICVideo? It can capture at higher quality (5 mb/s vs. 3.1 mb/s). That Zoran chip is going largely unused except for testing.

3. Improvements in the TV tuner.

4. Reduced clutter (owing to #1).

Dr. Mordrid

[Hulk]

What are the improvements in the new tuner?

[bongo]

the bottom line is I want a Marvel that I can attach 2 COMPUTER monitors to it, like my g400 dualhead. I do not care about TV output as my second monitor ( I DON"T OWN AN F$^%#!^% TV )...Matrox makes me use separate video cards if I want to have 2 vga monitors AND do video editing.

Why couldn't they make one card that could do that. I am get tired of using up my slots because of poor engineering.

[Brian Ellis]

Doc

When I bought the Marvel g-200, I had the choice between the TV and the non-TV versions, with a considerable price difference. I'm pretty sure I paid a helluva lot less than $265 for the non-TV version with a hardware codec. That is why I said you get less for more, as I don't want a tuner and DVD player to consume extra power and be more things to go wrong. As for the BOB, this is something I like, as I do have to change cables from time to time and it's a hellishly easy and useful way of doing so. As for the 'sewer pipe', this is no problem: I've stuck the BOB onto the top of the computer with double-sided Scotch tape. I hate dangling cables for this kind of job. They invariably, sooner or later, get tangled up with other ones as things are plugged and unplugged: at least the 'sewer pipe' never did

Of course, this is just my view and you are entitled to yours but, quite frankly, the Marvel 450-eTV is not interesting for the work I'd put it to. This is why I'm not impatient to rush out and buy one. Plus the fact that, for full screen video capture, with the software codec, my PIII-450 processor would be marginally too slow. I therefore believe that, for my circumstances and limited cash (I live on a state pension), this is simply not on the cards, which is why I think that Matrox are trying to go down-market for the Marvel.

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

[Dr Mordrid]

If it's poor engineering then it's being repeated by everyone else. I have yet to see an editing card from ANYONE that offers dualhead AND a vidout.

And vidout, my friend, is essential to that 99.9% of the users who want to record their projects on TAPE.

Dr. Mordrid

[bongo]

I output to cd and DVD, tape sux.

[gibverse]

Would it have been so hard to have TV out like it is on the Millenium G400's? I love the way I can go to a second monitor, OR use the included VGA to SVideo/Composite out table to output to TV. That's the reason I didn't buy a Marvel G400... I wanted the extra flexability to output my secondary to both.

Guess I'm even happier I didn't wait for the G450... the only half-decent sounding inprovement is with the tuner.

John

[Axatax]

The eTV sounds really nice. However, there's one element that scares me. Someone mentioned above that the software codecs were licensed from a third party and that would prevent one from downloading the software package and using it with the Marvel/RRG, etc.

This is eerily reminiscent of the situation with the DVD module and the Ravisent software DVD player. I get the feeling that what comes in the box is what we'll get, and what will be here for a long time.

When was the last time we had an update to Ravisent DVD or the Zoran module? Every software project that had third party involvement has fallen by the wayside, if not abandoned completely after the initial software release. The eTV sounds nice, but this situation is a little disheartening.

[Bixler]

Hey Ax:

Methinks you've struck a nerve. Can anyone under NDA (Doc?) weigh in on this issue? How exactly will this software bundle be made available and to whom? I wouldn't suggest asking for any commitments from the Tech Support team on this issue since these types of marketing and support decisions are not up to them. As you pointed out AX, the decision to abandon upgrades on these OEM bundles is a problem, and the continuing trend toward third party solutions is NOT a good thing if Matrox cannot back up their currently GOOD reputation (in general) for legacy support.

[Axatax]

Bixler, I posed the question to the Matrox support form and received an answer on this issue from Haig:

http://forum.matrox.com/mgaforum/Forum13/HTML/000485.html

Essentially, the VidTools for the RRG/Marvel/eTV will be the same (this is my understanding). The Ligos codec will be on the CD. Once installed, it will "plug-in" to the VidTools and enable the MPEG-2 capture. We won't have the timeshifting or PIP because the current tuners don't support this.

[Bixler]

Ax: I read your post...It's clear Haig is being careful in his statements. I did the same thing, posting in Video Editing. Here it is (After I requested that it be moved)

http://forum.matrox.com/mgaforum/Forum8/HTML/000213.html

As far as I can tell, Matrox isn't going to make this package available at all, other than as an OEM bundle.

I could care less about the tuner crap. I've got a tv and a vcr (along with 99% of the rest of computer owners.) What I'm interested in is some newer and perhaps better ways to edit video and capture video which is why people pay $300 us for this gizmo. I bought my wife a 19" TV/VCR Combo last week for $219.00 Big Deal.