Matrox G400 Windows XP capture drivers [DOWNLOAD]

[lordsmurf]

Background

This is a response to a question I've had 2-3 times recently:
Where can I get the drivers that let me use the Matrox Marvel G400 card in Windows XP?

I saw another one today at http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/3...for-Windows-XP

So I took about 15 minutes to research it, and was able to find two different solutions.

The first method is well documented, but the files cannot be located.
The second method is not widely written about, but the files are still available! You can try!
Neither method has been tested, as I don't own a G400 card.


Method #1 (Fail)

According to wikipedia, and a few other sources (likely the origin of the information found on wikipedia), a Matrox G400 user named Adis had found a way to install the G400 on Windows XP. However, in 2010, his site is long gone. In fact, it was gone by the end of 2004. It was up maybe one year at most before he disappeared.

You can see the old site at the Archive.org Wayback Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/200407281....adis.szm.com/
Notice that it did not have any links to files! This is the page that is often linked to, but there were no hyperlinks. Looking at the HTML code, I see what appears to have been some javascripting for the free hosting account he was using. The links to the files were obfuscated.

The files mentioned on Adis' site were:

Quote:

PowerDesk v5.92.006+ (May 03. '04.) [6902]
VideoTools v3.05 (May 03 '04) [2013]
VideoTools v3.04+ (Nov 19 '03) [5163]
2K/XP VT Cleaner v2.0 (Aug 02. '03.) [108]

I'll assume the [] number is the times it was downloaded.

After locating a comment by Adis on a user forum, it was determined that the important file was VideoTools v3.0.2, also known as mvt_3.02.exe. However that file could not be located in advanced Google searches. The comment from Adis was apparently written before the 3.04+ and 3.05 files were released.

If anybody has one of those files, it'd be great to add here.


Method #2 (Success!?)

During research, I came across this site: http://www.motherboardpoint.com/g400...xp-t63333.html

from http://www.motherboardpoint.com/g400...xp-t63333.html

Quote:

This is the solution:

• Download and install the Win2000 driver 5.39.019. you can find it at: http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/dr.../w2k_vt204.cfm. Use the file w2k_539.exe
• Then download and install the TV program from the G450TV (I know that you have a G400). This is driver 2.10.010a (vt_210a.exe) and is avalable at: http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/dr...les/vt210a.cfm
• Reset your computer twice (not the reset button but switch it off for a few seconds. The sound chip needs a hardware reset.
• After this you can install your normal teletext driver (when you live in Europe).

Quote:

Sorry, I forgot this:

• Overwrite g400m.sys when the program asks.

Yes, I cleaned up the grammar in my quoted version, if you compare it to the original.
Those links were also dead, but it gave some more files to search for. And a quick Google search led me to the Matrox site.

These pages link to the files mentioned above:

• http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/su...les/vt210a.cfm
• http://www.zdnet.co.uk/downloads/vie...xe-39505426/2/

And then I've attached them here, too, just in case!


Downloads

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[NJRoadfan]

I am going to bump this as I own this card and went through HELL to get it to work with Windows 2000.

I have installed the drivers using Method #1 and might have the files somewhere (I actually got them off of the Matrox Users forum http://www.murc.ws/ ). Basically its a hacked beta version of the official Matrox driver that allows only YUV and RGB uncompressed video capture. The built in hardware Zoran MJPEG codec is bypassed. The drivers in question are VfW, no WDM/DirectShow that I know of for these cards. Oh... and they can be unstable at times with bluescreens, don't even dare to try and capture using the Matrox MJPEG codec... the machine will lock.... hard.

A little background on this card. Back when Windows 2000 came out, Matrox was fully intending on supporting this card with proper drivers (including WDM/DirectShow.. I think). After about 2-3 beta releases, Matrox threw in the towel. If I recall, the issue was Zoran wasn't very cooperative in providing hardware information to Matrox to properly support the hardware MJPEG compression chip. As painful as it sounds, if you have one of these cards, the only rock solid platform for video capture with is Windows 9x. The card works perfectly with hardware MJPEG compression and full VfW drivers under VirtualDub.

[lordsmurf]

Thanks for your input on this.

I did some digging at the Matrox forums when this post first went up. Sadly, as is all too common, a number of posts had dead links where the software was once (but no longer) available.

I'm a big fan of dedicated capturing computers. If you really want to use this Matrox card, then I'd agree that it's wise to go with a Windows 9x option.

The only downside to that, of course, is that it forces you to use FAT32 file system, meaning no file can be larger than 4GB. It will split files, I'm guessing. So even getting it to run on a Windows 2000 box may be a worthwhile endeavor, in the event that a Windows XP install proves to be impossible.

Matrox has a history of dropping support for hardware when a new OS comes out. Not that they're any more or less guilty than other hardware makers -- or that I can place the blame on them (instead of the OS maker, whether it's Apple or Microsoft). Great gear to build a system with, but prepare to be locked into that OS.

If you happen to find those files from Method #1, please do post them here!

[NJRoadfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

Matrox has a history of dropping support for hardware when a new OS comes out. Not that they're any more or less guilty than other hardware makers -- or that I can place the blame on them (instead of the OS maker, whether it's Apple or Microsoft). Great gear to build a system with, but prepare to be locked into that OS.

If you happen to find those files from Method #1, please do post them here!

Tell me about it. I have a Powermac G3 with an ATI XClaim VR 128 (basically a PCI AIW128 for the mac) that only captures video in OS9.

I checked the old computer (which I dual boot 98SE and 2k on), turns out my Windows 2000 install is setup with Video Tools 2.04 or 2.10a... and the MJPEG options are still there. All my Matrox installer stuff from years ago was wiped. Capture with Virtual Dub 1.45 seems to work though. I might have went for method #2 to get the thing working the last time I played with it (timestamps indicate that was around 2002).

I do remember issues with trying to get PowerDesk 5.92 working on the card (wanted true dualhead support via windows) and I had to hack that to install since it didn't support the Marvel G400. I do believe I installed the MJPEG "patch" referenced here: http://web.archive.org/web/200402171.../VidTools.html

I DO HAVE THE ABOVE FILE AND ITS ATTACHED.

Whats interesting is that I can't find ANYTHING from Matrox indicating that a 3.0 release of the Video Tools was ever made. HTH.

[NJRoadfan]

Matrox still carries an archive of all their old drivers on their FTP site: ftp://ftp.matrox.com/pub/mga/archive/

Looks like I installed the official VT2.04 and added on the MJPEG patch. None of this was tested under XP though, so it may or may not work.