MXF issues with Matrox and CS4

My video production department is running Matrox Axio LE workstations (Windows Vista 64bit, 16GB RAM, Quad Dual-Core 3.17 GHz Xeon Processors)loaded with Adobe CS4 Master Collection. We recently began integrating a digital workflow using the Panasonic HPX-170. The camera and footage have been excellent, but we are having major issues with the way Matrox and/or Premiere CS4 handles the footage.

Issue 1:

We create a sequence that matches the frame rate/size of the imported clips, yet we get render bars on sections of the footage in the timeline (with a noticeable shift in audio levels and video black levels between clips with render bars and those without). *Note: Clips captured in the same shoot with no camera setting change behave differently in PrPro and Matrox*

Issue 2:

We are sporatically losing channel 1 audio (main audio). Clips captured in the same shoot and with no camera setting changes produce some clips in the timeline with audio and some without. This is only affecting channel 1 audio, we still get the supplemental channels (i.e. shotgun mic). The strange thing is that this result is VERY inconsistent. The exact same clip will produce no audio on channel 1 on one ocassion, and will be fine on another. This leads me to believe that there are issues with Matrox and its interaction with the footage in PrPro CS4.

What we have done:

As a test we loaded PrPro CS4 on two non-Matrox laptops. Ingested the exact files that were causing issues on our main workstations.
The result: Perfect, beautiful footage WITH audio and NO render bar.

We also, in desperation, have taken the PrPro sequence into AfetrEffects (Dynamic Link) to simply render out a WAV file to get our full audio track. This worked, but what a hassle to use a graphics compositing tool for audio processing.

My question to this forum is...has anyone encountered these issues. If so what, if any, was the resolution?

Thanks,

Marc
Multimedia Video Developer
Dallas, TX