Blackmagic, Kona, or Matrox? at DVinfo.net

Ken Castellano · January 28th, 2007, 07:13 PM

Hi,

I would like to upgrade my viewing options with my Mac Pro.

I currently have a 23" Cinema Display and Sony PVM-1351 NTSC Montior.
I primarly shoot with the DVX and edit 23.98.

I have been researching Blackmagic, Kona, and Matrox MXO as options to upgrade.

Does anyone have experience or suggestions?

Thank you for any feedback.

Ken

Andy Mees · January 28th, 2007, 11:23 PM

the MXO is a clever box allowing you to monitor HD, including HDV, directly from the timeline to your 23" ACD, as pixel for pixel true HD. it includes a custom look-up table to ensure that the colors you see on the Apple monitor can be used for critical color correction. if you're working in HD, don't have an HD capable I/O card and a professional HD monitor then its a doozy of a box.

the Kona and Blackmagic solutions are extremely versatile input and output cards. if you ever expect to expand your workflow to include capturing bigger and better formats via HD/SD SDI or HDMI etc, rather than firewire, then you'd be better advised to go with an I/O card solution. like the MXO, the Kona and Blackmagic cards will also let you monitor your HD sources, including HDV, on an external monitor, such as your PVM (not the cinema display), directly from the timeline. while they don't gurantee a downconverted output suitable for critcal color correction, if you do have a professional HD monitor then you're fine.

in your shoes, I think i'd go for the Kona or Blackmagic card .... as to which? lots of people with lots of opinions. Blackmagic make the Decklink cards which are fantastic, excellent support, cross platform compatible, can be used with multiple NLE's. AJA make the Kona cards which are also fantastic, have excellent support, they work very closely with Apple and are solely focused on supporting the Mac platform.

January 28th, 2007, 07:13 PM	#1
Ken Castellano New Boot Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 14	Blackmagic, Kona, or Matrox? Hi, I would like to upgrade my viewing options with my Mac Pro. I currently have a 23" Cinema Display and Sony PVM-1351 NTSC Montior. I primarly shoot with the DVX and edit 23.98. I have been researching Blackmagic, Kona, and Matrox MXO as options to upgrade. Does anyone have experience or suggestions? Thank you for any feedback. Ken

January 28th, 2007, 11:23 PM	#2
Andy Mees Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Posts: 645	the MXO is a clever box allowing you to monitor HD, including HDV, directly from the timeline to your 23" ACD, as pixel for pixel true HD. it includes a custom look-up table to ensure that the colors you see on the Apple monitor can be used for critical color correction. if you're working in HD, don't have an HD capable I/O card and a professional HD monitor then its a doozy of a box. the Kona and Blackmagic solutions are extremely versatile input and output cards. if you ever expect to expand your workflow to include capturing bigger and better formats via HD/SD SDI or HDMI etc, rather than firewire, then you'd be better advised to go with an I/O card solution. like the MXO, the Kona and Blackmagic cards will also let you monitor your HD sources, including HDV, on an external monitor, such as your PVM (not the cinema display), directly from the timeline. while they don't gurantee a downconverted output suitable for critcal color correction, if you do have a professional HD monitor then you're fine. in your shoes, I think i'd go for the Kona or Blackmagic card .... as to which? lots of people with lots of opinions. Blackmagic make the Decklink cards which are fantastic, excellent support, cross platform compatible, can be used with multiple NLE's. AJA make the Kona cards which are also fantastic, have excellent support, they work very closely with Apple and are solely focused on supporting the Mac platform.