anybody here using a Matrox dual-head card?

[housepig]

just curious - I'm trying to set up my video box as a dual-monitor system, and screwing with two video cards is giving me fits (the #2, PCI card "won't start" - tried two different cards in two different PCI slots each, and no go...)

I used a Matrox dual-head card (I think a G450) a few years ago, but I didn't need it that bad at the time, so I sold it. Now I'm thinking that I might pick up another one.

so the question - is anyone here using a Matrox dual head, doing video editing or dvd authoring? would love to hear pluses & minuses, especially from people using DVD Lab, Vegas 4 or ParticleIllusion.

thanks for any info.

[tgpo]

My mac at work had one in it. But we had to remove it because the card combined with Maya is fatal. It completely trashed the system the second we ran the program. The card now sits on the desk next to us as a dust collector.

[housepig]

The card now sits on the desk next to us as a dust collector.

can I have it?

[tgpo]

The card now sits on the desk next to us as a dust collector.

can I have it?

It's just a cheap $700 video card dust collector

I don't think you'd want to go through the paperwork to get a video card from the US Government.

[housepig]

but other than Maya, you didn't have any problems with it? what other software were you using?

and $700? what model Matrox is it? the ones I'm looking at are going for under $50... (G450 / G550)

[tgpo]

I think that this is what we have sitting there......right next to our Pioneer 106 DVD burner that we still haven't installed.

Other than Maya the card worked perfect. That's with Final Cut Pro, all Adobe software, DVD Studio Pro, Avid, Filemaker....etc

[Will Hay]

I had the G400 and it was flawless, although I only outputted to TV.
It was my first venture into capturing as I had the rainbow runner add-on too (although I imported that from the US; it was NTSC so I couldn't connect an aerial - I used composite vias my VCR so no problems.
I still have that rainbow runner, but no G400
Will

[bugster]

I have a G400 Dual head on my work machine. Not used for any video work though but it does run fine. With two monitors set as a single desktop, resolution of 2560 * 1024, I can have code on one monitor and reference docs open on the other, it works great!

[rallynavvie]

I've been interested in the Matrox cards as well. As long as they work well with AE, Premiere Pro, and Encore I'd be happy. Or maybe I should just output to a TV monitor with one of my capture cards. I'd rather have the dual monitor support for other programs though.

The one I was looking at was the Parhelia 256MB version, I think it retails for ~$400. I think the one tgpo has is a workstation card, the prosumer could get away with cheaper

http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/parhelia/256mb.cfm

[energy80s]

I am just about to buy a Matrox G450 or 550 dual head card as I want to be able to output the raw video signal to a TV screen while my PC screen acts as a normal computer monitor. I would imagine this would be ideal for video editing as it is impossible to gauge picture colour and saturation levels on a PC screen.

[rallynavvie]

That's entirely true, that's why most NLE systems have good TV monitors for preview. However you don't need a dual-head card for carrying one monitor and one TV, most capture cards can do this as well depending on the software you're using. Basically it would be like outputting to an analog device (i.e. VCR) but just sending it to a TV screen. Supposedly Premiere, AfterEffects, and I believe maybe even Encore can do this, as well as most of the other professional apps. The dual head card would be more helpful if you were running two monitors as the res requires the processing power of the card. Heck you may be able to output a preview to a TV from a cheaper card with a TV out. I have a Ti4400 with an S-video out that may work in conjunction with the monitor.

Just trying to save you some cash, those Matrox cards are $$$, and I heard they cause some conflicts with games and some other apps (besides Maya apparently).

[energy80s]

The Matrox cards are quite cheap secondhand - I've seen them go for less than 20 quid. I've never heard of "Maya" what is it? I have an ATI AIW card but its crap, so don't want to go down that route.

[housepig]

yes they are... I just picked up a dual-head Matrox G4+ (looks like an OEM version of the G450 made for Dell), 32Mb ram, for $25, shipping included from someone on eBay.

will post once I have it in and running... hopefully I'll be able to run pIllusion again, as the Radeon 7000 I have in there now doesn't agree with it...

bw, Maya is a 3D program, it's apparently really good, and just released a LE version that's free for personal use.... although the system requirements are a bit much...

[BJ_M]

you cant run Maya on a G450 , no opengl support to speak of ...

anyway .. I use a matrox parnelia card (3 outputs), it and the matrox 650 and 750 cards are great for video editing and graphics work ... best image quality you have ever seen ..

but the 650 and 750 are not for playing games on ..

the 450 is a very old model and i dont suggest it (or the 550)

[housepig]

you cant run Maya on a G450 , no opengl support to speak of ...

well, I don't care about running Maya, I'm not a 3D guy... (although I might download a copy of Blender and fool around with it).

on the Matrox website it says that the G450 supports OpenGL and DirectX.... I'm going to be a little pissed if they lie, as pIllusion relies on OpenGL to accelerate it's preview function...

(well, I won't be super pissed, if it will run Vegas, Photoshop & DVD Lab decently...)

[energy80s]

Yeah, I would have no call to run "Maya" either. I don't mind about old hardware, much prefer it to newly released stuff as it usually has a proven track record. Maybe that's why I can't run Win XP satisfactorily as most of my ISA / PCI cards are over 3 years old! Thank God for Win 2000.

[housepig]

well, it came in the mail today... we'll see how well it works, I probably won't have it in until late tonight or tomorrow afternoon.

updates as they occur.

[lordsmurf]

One of my friends has the RTMAC and I think it allows dual output, though he has two cards in the system to accomplish this. They work together.