Matrox G450 ETV
Written: Dec 29 '01 (Updated Jan 21 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Matrox is serious about driver support. Dual-head feature. Superb 2D Quality.
Cons: Can't get PC-VCR to schedule, and get BSOD's in Win2K. Slower 3D Performance
The Bottom Line: Better bet than competing ATI and Asus products due to superior driver support, tech support, and competetive pricing.
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| tsellers's Full Review: Matrox Marvel G450 eTV |
Our distributor sold off excess stock before Christmas and I ended up getting 2 Matrox G450 eTV cards (AGP) and an ATI All in Wonder 128 Pro (PCI) for less then half price in OEM packaging. As I was having trouble with a brand new monitor (review of LG915FT) I decided to swap out the existing G450 Dual Head in my system to see if it could be the cause of the problem (it was not) and try Vegas Video Editing Software with the new card.
In my other computer I've been running an original ATI All In Wonder Pro for quite awhile. I've been very unhappy with it, especially with the way ATI abandons driver support for their cards as soon as they bring newer ones to market, so I was looking forward to using the video capture facility on the Matrox with better success.
This card came with 360 MHz Integrated RAMDAC, 256-bit Dual Bus Architecture, 16-32 MB 64-bit DDR Local Memory, AGP v2.0 4x Support, Audio/Video Input + Output and Cable Ready TV-Tuner. There was no software apart from the driver CD which I ignored, as I got the OEM version of the card (the retail versions we earlier sold clients contained Ulead VideoStudio v4.0, Ulead Photo Explorer v6.0, Matrox PC-VCR
and Matrox DVD Player). I am not a gamer, and as we have satellite TV the TV Tuner is of no use to me as the card cannot control a satellite receiver. As with all video cards, drivers that come with it are almost a non-issue as you should always go to the Web and download the latest, which is what I did. Their drivers support Windows 9x/ME, WinNT/2000, Unix/Linux/BeOS and as of a couple of weeks ago, still no support for XP which may have changed by now.
Everything installed into my Asus CUV4X-D system running Win2K with 2 PIII 733 processors , 1 GB memory, and a second Matrox Millenium PCI video card without a hitch. I plugged the composite and S-Video video feeds from my satellite receiver into the inputs on the Matrox. I plugged the output cables into my time lapse VCR, and then from there to a 14" TV set. I was quite impressed when I enabled dual head support and ended up with 3 monitors if you count the TV set as a third. I was able to choose to place my email client onto the TV set to watch for incoming email, or simply feed the TV signal to it and watch TV as I did before. The quality of watching TV this way as opposed to a direct feed is not quite as good, but acceptable none-the-less. There was no hitch in using the older Matrox PCI millenium on dual display mode BTW.
I was able to capture video with the Matrox PC-VCR software. I was disappointed that the software gives no apparent way to set custom capture profiles. For example, I like to capture shows to watch on my PocketPC later, and this requires resolution and settings lower than what I can set the software to, requiring that I render the captured file yet again with Tsunami or some such program. The scheduler that is built in never would turn on and actually capture anything. I never could get the ATI scheduler to work without crashing my machine in Win2K either however. Once I enabled dual head, the odd operation would give me a BSOD in Win2K. On to Vegas Video:
I tried to use Vegas Video 3.0 Capture to capture the input from the comp video feed. It would "see" the feed, but it could not capture it. I then tried to output a sample file to the VCR, which Vegas Video says it can do with this Matrox card. However, I had no luck here either both with and without Dual-Head enabled. I will try Adobe Premier next as a friend has suggested.
The Matrox PC-VCR interface is much different than the ATI interface but my feeling is they are both about equal, and head and shoulders above the program that comes with the Asus video capture cards which I found to be pathetic. I continue to find Video capture extremely frustrating, even after installing this high end Matrox. "Why", I ask myself, "after 2 years and three different cards, can I still not simply schedule a video capture event to run at 3 AM and expect to get up in the morning and find it done?" And now that Win2K has been around for awhile, I can't accept nascent drivers for the OS as being a valid excuse for all the BSOD's that I continue to get whether I'm using the ATI or Matrox units on different computers using different motherboards.
People who are interested in compiling video projects from their archival analog sources of VHS tapes, stills, etc., will like this card. If you want to capture analog input and don't need to schedule that event, then this will work. Individuals with Firewire and a DV Camera that has analog pass-through would not need this card as they can capture analog by passing it through their camera and then to the Firewire card. And, of course, anyone who wants to watch the news on their monitor while they work, and work with a very good 2D quality display, will enjoy this card. Gaming: I'm not qualified to even subjectively comment on that. It is not perfect, but so far it is probably about as good as they get for this type of card.
Update, Jan 21:
A friend with the same card told me that Matrox now has XP drivers for this card on their site. Also I discovered that the reason I could not preview video clips from Vegas Video probably relates to the frame size. If you play an MPEG that is the proper size for display on a TV: ie: 352X240, then the DualHead is smart enough to automatically route it to the TV (and hence the VCR too). So you still need to render any video clips you are working on before previewing, but as an aside, Vegas Video is head and shoulders over Adobe Premier for video editing. I haven't had any crashes of late due to this card but also I have not been using it do do much in the way of capture. I still have not been able to get the schedule utility to work.
And one other curiosity: I purchased a TTX 8998 monitor and when I placed it on the eTV card the display looked so bad I immediately thought the monitor was bad. I tried all the appropriate new drivers, different refresh rates, etc., to no avail. Then just out of curiosity, I placed the TTX monitor onto the second video card in the system which I had changed to an ATI Rage Pro in a PCI slot. Funnily, the monitor looked fine on this card, and the LG on the Matrox was also fine, so for some reason I cannot use the TTX monitor on the Matrox but I can use the LG!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 160.00 CAD
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Epinions.com ID:
tsellers
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Location: Alberta, Canada
Reviews written: 8
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