Matrox DigiSuite MAX vs. Matrox RT2500: The $5000 Difference
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Back on the plus side, Matrox offers access to a free password-protected Web site where you can place a Real Media, Windows Media or QuickTime file for others you're working with on which they can annotate comments. If you're a DigiSuite owner, you're given 40MB of space and 2GB of transfers each month. Take a look at Matrox.tv, where you can add comments about specific videos placed there. There's an especially nice feature where you click on Insert Time Code Automatically, and then you can make comments about specific time code locations within the shot. When you're done, it gets emailed to the owner of the clip. This is a great client-approval process, and it sure beats shipping a tape or DVD across the country. In practice, as you were editing a spot for an agency, for example, you could load clips onto the site every few minutes as you work, and that agency could see it and make comments about it as you go. I guess this could also be nightmarish, but I guess sometimes it's better to hear disapproval during the editing process, when it's easier to change things, rather than after you're done, when it isn't. And, since you can lock your examples out from public viewing, prying eyes will be none the wiser.
So, think about the advantages that Matrox's DigiSuite MAX can give you, if you're trying to decide between it or its less capable sibling, the Matrox RT2500. I'd say, unless you have lots of Betacam and DigiBeta machines, or unless you're planning lots of serious DVD authoring, or unless you need all those extra real time effects DigiSuite can do, save your money. If all you need is to output DV in real time, and you don't use many 3D effects, go with a Canopus DVStorm card, a great choice for DV editing in real time with lots of layers, and the only DV card in its low-end class to offer real time DV out. But if you're working in a TV station where you need a good network citizen, and need to blend in a powerful real time production tool that can handle just about any video source you can throw at it, put DigiSuite MAX toward the top of your short list. [an error occurred while processing this directive]
DigiSuite LX MAX 7.0 $5995
Includes two boards, LX board and the Matrox MAX board
Bundled software:
Adobe Premiere 6
BorisFX 6.0
Inscriber CG (specific for Adobe Premiere)
Ligos LSX MPEG For (MPEG 1 and Video CD)
Sonic DVDit! SE
Sonic ReelDVD
Charlie White has been writing about new media and digital video since it was the laughingstock of the television industry. A technology journalist and columnist for the past eight years, White is also an Emmy-winning producer, video editor and shot-calling PBS TV director with 27 years broadcast experience. Talk back -- Send Chazz a note at cwhite@digitalmedianet.com.Prev 1 2 3 4 5
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