Matrox

Both Matrox RT.X2 and Matrox RT.X100 are ideal for corporate communicators, event videographers, project studios, educational facilities, and digital filmmakers. There are, however, important differences between the two products.

Matrox RT.X100 is designed for realtime DV editing and it has a dedicated, on-board GPU (graphics processing unit) to process Matrox Flex effects.

Matrox RT.X2 is designed primarily for realtime native HDV and DV editing. Matrox RT.X2 is built on the award-winning Matrox Axio architecture that leverages CPU and GPU power. It relies on your system graphics card to process Matrox Flex GPU effects, providing more scalability. If you want to do more layers of 3D you can simply upgrade your graphics card. RT.X2 also provides a high-quality MPEG-2 4:2:2 I-frame codec so you can capture other HD and SD formats using RT.X2’s analog inputs and mix all types of footage on the timeline in real time. With Matrox RT.X2, you get a high-performance, future-proof HDV and SD editing environment.

RT.X2 features not found in RT.X100

Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium and Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 support
Realtime, multi-layer native HDV editing – RT.X2 provides HD performance similar to what RT.X100 provides in SD
Many more realtime layers of video and graphics in SD – on a reasonably performing system, you can expect to edit at least five native DV video layers plus six graphics layers and effects in real time
Extensive camera support including many new models from Canon, JVC, Panasonic, and Sony
Native editing of Panasonic P2 MXF 720p and SD files with Matrox RT.X2
Panasonic VariCam 24p and 25p support with the Panasonic HVX200 camera via MXF file transfers
Realtime MPEG-2 I-frame editing in HD and SD – this 4:2:2 codec provides high-quality capture from analog sources
Realtime mixing of formats and resolutions on any timeline in real time – you can mix HD and SD material – no hassles, no rendering
Realtime down conversion of a 1080i timeline to NTSC or PAL – eliminates the need to render an SD copy of an HD master
23.98 fps editing for the film look in DV
New Matrox Flex CPU and Flex GPU effects such as realtime primary and secondary color correction, realtime track matte, realtime surface finish, accelerated shine, etc. – the same professional effects found on Matrox Axio are provided on RT.X2
Analog component input and output in HD and SD lets you capture and record using higher-end sources such as Betacam, DigiBeta, etc.
1394 pass-through is provided on the RT.X2 breakout box
Audio VU meters on capture let you easily make adjustments so you always capture audio at the proper signal level
Faster than realtime DVD encoding (encoding speed depends on timeline complexity and system CPU and GPU power)
Faster than realtime export to disk (export speed depends on timeline complexity and system CPU and GPU power)
Full-resolution HD monitoring on an inexpensive flat panel display via independent DVI output – you can view full-quality HD on an affordable monitor

RT.X2 provides tighter integration with Adobe Premiere Pro

Realtime effects control is integrated into the Premiere Pro user interface - there is no need to learn a custom UI, if you know how to use Premiere Pro and After Effects, you know how to use RT.X2
Voiceover is supported on RT.X2
5.1 surround sound mixing and monitoring is supported on RT.X2
WYSIWYG support with dynamic Alt+Tab switching is now provided for the most popular applications - there is no need to close Premiere to have a preview output
Adobe Dynamic Link support - RT.X2 lets you take full advantage of this key feature of Adobe Production Studio
Realtime mixed-format multi-cam - your HDV and DV cameras can all be used as sources in a multi-cam shoot
Safe title area and zooming of live window
Additional realtime native Adobe effects: Crop, Dip to Black, Black and White, Additive Dissolve
RT.X2 uses the Premiere Pro native “Scene Detect” feature for scan and capture in DV and HDV

Other differences

Most features of Matrox Media Tools are now found in Premiere Pro
Most features of Matrox Media Export are now found in Premiere Pro
A few effects such as 3D tiles and particle effects are not implemented on RT.X2
To enhance system compatibility, realtime “always output to 1394” is not offered on RT.X2
Realtime M2V capture is not implemented in the current release of RT.X2