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Matrox RT.X2 in the Real World: Part 1

Aug 13, 2007 12:00 PM, By Jan Ozer

Nowhere is the phrase “time is money” more true than in digital video production. Our jobs typically require a demanding combination of creativity, superior output quality, and sheer computer throughput. That’s why I’m always on the lookout for hardware or software that can help me get the job done faster with no compromise in quality, while not breaking the bank. Matrox’s RT.X2 “professional realtime HD and SD editing platforms for the Adobe CS3 Production Premium” (according to the company) may be such a product for you, but it depends upon the type of equipment that you currently have and the type of projects you currently perform. More on that as we go through the article.

Let’s start with some speeds and feeds. The RT.X2 is a board/breakout box/software set in two configurations: RT.X2 SD, which retails for $895 and handles only SD video resolution, and RT.X2, which retails for $1495 and handles both SD and HD video and which I tested. At a high level, the product provides four main functions, which are:

• Realtime display of multiple layers of content on the Premiere Pro timeline
• Additional realtime effects including color correction, chromakey, and blurring
• Component analog capture to 32-bit MPEG-2 I-Frame AVI file (which I did not test)
• Full-resolution HD monitoring on an LCD panel.

Add up the pieces, and things quickly get exciting. For example, a component analog capture card costs several hundred dollars alone, and the full-resolution HD monitoring is the primary function of sister product Matrox MXO (Mac-only), which costs nearly $1,000.

Getting Installed

The RT.X2 works in very close concert with both the CPU and graphics card in your system. It is a very large card, with lots of large chips on board. Matrox takes great pains to detail the system requirements on its website, and you should definitely check these out buying or building a system.

I installed the unit in a Dell Precision 390 Workstation—which was not one of the listed units, but it met the dual-processor requirement. Note that you can meet this requirement with a single dual-core system or via two single-core processors. For the record, the Precision 390 was driven by a 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (X6800) dual-core processor with 3.25GB of RAM and running Microsoft Windows Professional XP SP2. My graphics card was an ATI Radeon X1950 Pro, driving a 30in. HP LP3065 LCD monitor for workspace and a 21in. Dell flatpanel as my preview monitor.

Although the Precision 390 is a full-size workstation, the RT.X2 is a long full-size PCI-Express card that required that I shift around a bunch of cards and unplug and replug a few cables. Nothing your average 14-year-old tech weenie couldn’t handle, but if you’re uncomfortable opening and working around in a computer case, you might consider having someone from your local computer store install the unit for you, or buy a turnkey unit.

The breakout box connects to the RT.X2 card via a custom cable, with a pass through FireWire connector for your system’s FireWire card. The breakout box has component video and stereo audio (via RCA cables, not XLR) input/outputs as well as FireWire, and can also handle S-Video with a supplied adapter.

You can capture component input as high as 1440x1080i resolution, but the highest quality storage format is MPEG-2 4:2:2 I-frame HD at between 50-100 mbps. Those with higher quality requirements should consider Matrox Axio LE, which can capture MPEG-2 4:2:2 I-Frame HD at 1920 resolution and capture Uncompressed 8-bit and 10-bit SD and HD. Axio also supports DVCPRO HD and DV50, and it can edit in 1080p at 23.98fps, 24fps, or 25fps. Topping it off are XLR, AES/EBU, and SDI embedded audio imputs, and a 1/4in. output jack for stereo monitoring. In short, RT.X2 is ideal for HDV, but it probably can’t take you much higher.

After you install the software, Matrox runs an Audio Drift Detection routine to help maintain audio synch, which you can run periodically if you lose synch during operation, which I didn’t. Other utilities include an info applet that displays details about your graphics card and RT.X2 card, including EEPROM revision and its current temperature, a nice guage to have if you’re concerned about case ventilation.

First Impressions

During installation, Matrox installs a number of RT.X2 presets that you must use to get the benefits of the card. If you have current projects that you’d like to convert over to RT.X2, you can simply import that project into the newly created RT.X2 project with similar parameters. Beyond that, operation gets a little obscure, so if you’re one of those types who likes to dive in without reading the manual, like me, you’ll probably be disappointed—especially if you jump right into a mixed-format project. For $1,500, you’d expect Matrox to provide a hard-copy manual, but it doesn’t, so either read the digital version on the DVD or print your own.

Specifically, if you import video into a project of a different resolution—say, DV into an HDV project—the RT.X2 won’t kick in for the new footage until you right-click and choose Scale to Frame Size. In addition, any external graphics (i.e. not titles created by Premiere) need to either be 720x486 resolution or 1920x1080. Finally, the RT.X2 won’t work with all video files; specifically, it must be DV/DVDCAM, DVCPRO, MPEG-2 I-frame, HDV, or Offline HD. If you have any files in QuickTime Animation or similar format, they’ll need to rendered before preview.

Once I adjusted my test and real projects to these realities, I was instantly rewarded with stunning, real time HD previews on my preview monitor, and vastly accelerated rendering. More on both of these, and the real time effects available in the RT.X2 in the next installment.

© 2009 Penton Media, Inc.