need some info on the Matrox RT.X100 Xtreme

[pipeme]

Hi

I do video editing in Premiere Pro and am interested in the real-time features of the Matrox RT.X100 Xtreme Pro.

I just can't get a straight-forward answer to my question (all I get is shitty sales hype which don't answer my questions) and I really want to know before I purchase the product (I don't go spending $2000 without making sure). SO I am hoping that some one has used or is using this product.

Anyways at the Matrox site they say;
"Combine over 16 effects in real time. Exploiting the power of both your CPU and the dedicated hardware onboard Matrox RT.X100 Xtreme, you can currently combine more than 16 effects in real time on two layers of video and four layers of graphics."

My question to the above is, what happens if I have 3 or 4 video layers going at once (which I do quite often in sections of my video), each with their own effects, and I am previewing it in Premiere:
A - Will the Matrox card do what it can and then the CPU does the extra bit
B - The Cpu will handle ALL layers and ALL effects
C - I will get an error or something because the Matrox card can't handle more than 2 layers?
AND if B or C is the answer, can I trick the card by using a sequence that has multiple layers and drag it into another sequence so essentially it looks like one line of video???

If anyone uses this card, your help would be greatly appreciated. I would also like to know other limitations that you, yourself as a user has come across.

AND in your opinion, would it be worth my while purchasing the card or getting a Dual Xeon System (they will both cost about the same to get, but unfortunately I can only afford one or the other) in regards to speeding up my editing.

[lordsmurf]

If I read correctly, it diverts to the CPU when the hardware runs out.

[leebo]

I have the card, but I am not quite an expert on it. But I can tell you this: if you break the real time "rules" of the card, it will have to render. You cannot fool it into doing something it wasn't designed to do.
One thing you can do is render a new avi and bring that in to bypass the two video track limit.

However, if it has to render, it can still play a preview in real time, though not at a quality to go back to tape. The faster your CPU, the better quality the previews will be. The good thing about that is you can still judge things like effects and timing.

I really like the cards ability to convert the timeline to DVD spec MPG2 in real time (a one hour program takes one hour to encode).

One bit of advice: make sure your motherboard is on their approved list or you might have BIG problems getting things to work right. Also, set up your hard drives the way they recommend. There is no shortage of people on the Matrox X100 forums blaming Matrox for their problems even though they haven't set up their system the way Matrox recommends.

But it's a great card, I love it.

[pipeme]

Thanks for the info.

Just another question do you lose quality when you break the "real time" and then export it to an Mpeg, or does the quality issue only apply when you are previewing the footage in Premiere's monitor window?

Thanks

[leebo]

Quality level of the preview is dependant on your CPU and what you're trying to do.

If any footage needs to be rendered, it has to be done b4 the realtime output to Mpeg2. But the output of mpeg2 is not bad at all (assuming your source footage is good).

[pipeme]

Cool, thanks for the info, so good to get straight forward advice without sales pitches.

So with the exporting of DVD compliant files, if I use multiple tracks, etc, then the export won't be in realtime, but still quicker than if I didn't have the card, is that right?

Thanks.

[leebo]

Exporting 15 mins w/o the card took several hours.
Exporting the same 15 mins with the card took... 15 mins.