Re: MX02 & Prores LT anomalies...

So finally my question: Even though Matrox has added ProRes LT 1080i capture to intel Macbook pros to their approved scenarios... and even though the DVCPro codec takes more bandwidth than ProRes LT, is my system still somehow not up to ProRes LT?

Well, although the data rate of ProRes LT and DVCPRO HD are roughly equal, the compression algorithm applied for ProRes is far more complex, so it is likely not an issue of bandwidth so much as an issue of raw computing. Your system ought to be up to the task of realtime compression to ProRes LT but something is obviously giving it conniptions ... what other apps/processes do you have running? Is Mail being checked in the background? Anti-virus software? You might want to open up /Utilities/Activity Monitor and then monitor that during ProRes LT capture to see if there is anything obvious happening when you get these glitches.


Or ( as I run out of time ) is bringing in everything as DVCPro HD ( 8 bit that it is) not so different from Prores LT?

Annoying if you had your heart set on ProRes LT, but DVCPRO HD is an excellent and reliable option for laptop capture, and as noted, is much less taxing on the system.


For the record, I have inspected the same clip as both Prores LT and DVCProHD at 200% and toss a coin on which is better, at least to my eyes.

There you go.


I had wanted to go the ProRes route because of other material to be integrated ( Canon5D MKII h.264 which I received a drive full of ) and seems about everyone on these forums recommends that.

That's because its flavour of the month. All those currently flying the "ProRes as Intermediate" flag seemed perfectly happy flying the "DVCPRO HD as Intermediate" flag before ProRes was introduced. I'm not suggesting that DVCPRO HD is better at all, ProRes does indeed offer a more modern codec with full raster higher quality compression at a higher bit depth ... but that does invalidate working in DVCPRO HD as an intermediate, as countless hours of broadcast HD can attest.


Also, one more thing of interest. In the MX02 easy setups, when capturing prores LT the device control defaults to Sony r2-422 29.97, and DVCPro HD easy set up it defaults to Pansonic RS-422 29.97.
The Prores 422 LT capture was exactly 2 seconds off of camera TC, such as it is, while the DVCPro HD capture on the money. So, I changed the Prores device control to Panasonic, and at least the TC matches.

That is weird! How about if you skio the CD MI altogether and go HDMI into MXO2 with FW from camera direct to your MBP for deck control?


Best
Andy