Matrox RT.X10

By Mark Shapiro

Over the last few years, Matrox has been one of the leaders in developing and marketing affordable and high quality video editing solutions for prosumer and professional video editors. This includes products like the DigiSuite, and the RT2500 for Windows computers and RTMac for the Power Mac. They recently announced two new products – the RT.X100 and the RT.X10. Both of these new systems were designed to take advantage of the new advances in processing speeds and CPU power that is available to video professionals, prosumers and consumers. 

 The new RT.X100 ($1099) provides many performance and feature improvements over the existing RT2500 system. The RT.X10 ($599) is basically a light version of the RT.X100 and is targeted towards prosumers on a budget and consumers who need high powered and full featured editing. Aside from more real time effects and transitions, the biggest difference is that the RT.X100 supports realtime DV and realtime MPEG2 output whereas the RT.X10 utilizes accelerated DV output and standard software MPEG2 conversion. MPEG2 is very important for making DVDs.

 The RT.X10 video editing solution consists of the new Matrox RT.X10 video capture card, the Matrox breakout cable, Matrox MediaTools DV capture software, 1394 cable, Sonic Solutions DVDit LE DVD creation program, and the new Adobe Premiere 6.5 editing software. By using the latest version of Premiere 6.5 and the Matrox RealTime plug-ins, end users have a nice selection of special effects and transitions that can be previewed without waiting for rendering. This includes customizable 3D page curls and picture-in-picture, organic wipes and a set of 60 Premiere effects. You can also do realtime color correction with automatic white balance and realtime slow motion and fast motion video. You can use Premiere’s other effects and transitions, but they will require rendering.

 According to Patrick Beaulieu, product manager for the RT series, the Matrox RT.X10 can mix two layers of video as well as two additional  graphic layers. You can also do multi-track audio mixing with an unlimited number of audio channels. The audio capabilities make it easy to add soundtracks, sound effects and music to your productions.

 The RT.X10 board and breakout cable enables users to capture video from a variety of DV and analog sources including both S-video and regular (VHS) video. The RT.X10 system also enables video capture in single frame, stop motion and time-lapse modes. SinglePass DV scan and capture can automatically separate your captured DV video footage into separate clips to make editing simpler, save time, and reduce wear and tear on your camcorder.

 RT.X10 also enables full-screen viewing of transitions and effects on a TV or NTSC monitor. “Instead of watching your video effects on a tiny preview screen on your computer monitor”, said Patrick Beaulieu,” the RT.X10 enables the editor to see exactly how the transitions will really look – correctly framed, before transferring it to videotape.”

 RT.X10 also enables users to output their completed video projects back to either digital or analog videotape. You can add color bars or even a bug logo during the output recording. Pretty cool!

 Of course, you can also save your final productions as avi files for playback on your computer, as MPEG1 or MPEG2 for burning and sharing on CDs, VCDs and/or DVDs. You can also save your final productions in a streaming video format such as Windows Media, RealVideo and QuickTime.

 By the way, Matrox provides free web space to share your completed projects at www.matrox.tv. Registered Matrox users can get up to 20 MB of space. In addition to sharing your personal videos and productions, video pros can use Matrox.tv as a tool for their customers. You can associate time code with the streaming video to enable customers to review and comment upon productions in progress.

 As stated earlier, the Matrox RT.X10 kits ships with a full version of Adobe Premiere, one of the most powerful video editing products on the market. If you are already experienced with Premiere, you will be immediately at home with the new RT.X10 system. If not, there are many instructional books, guides and web sites that provide information to help you master Premiere.

 According to Beaulieu, the current version ships with Adobe Premiere 6.0 as 6.5 is not quite ready yet. However, RT.X10 customers will get a coupon for a free upgrade to Premiere 6.5 when it becomes available.

 Is this for you?

 The recommended hardware is a 2.2 GHz P-4 or Athlon XP 2000+, or better with 512 MB of RAM.  You need to be running Windows XP or Windows 2000 Pro. On top of that, you need two separate hard drives, one for your programs and one for your A/V data. The A/V drive needs to be formatted using NTFS to maximize file sizes. However, I was assured you could install and run RT.X10 on less powerful computers – minimum specs are 1 GHz P-III with only 256 MB of RAM. Everything will still work but some of the more complicated effects may not roll in real time.

 If you are a high-end video hobbyist or a professional video producer on a strict budget, the RT.X10 may be perfect for your needs.  Essentially you are paying full price for Adobe Premiere 6.5 and getting a very good video capture and effects acceleration card thrown in to the deal.

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