Matrox MX02 for capture?
I'm trying to digitize my old VHS tapes. I've just ordered myself a Blaupunkt RTV-950 and now I'm looking for the reight device(s) to do the capturing. Whilst I have access to an old PC that would make using an AIW an option but as the old PC has been sitting in storage for over a decade and I can't be certain it's in working condition or has a CPU up to the job, I'd prefer to use my modern PC if possible.
In the "Best ATI All In Wonder card alternatives, to transfer tapes to digital?" thread, lordsmurf recommends the "Matrox MX02 HD + analog PCIe capture card" for a professional grade setup. Which, along with the "Hauppauge 610 USB2 capture stick", are the two main candidates for the capture device I will buy. I have a few questions though.... 1. Why does the Matrox MX02 need an "analog PCIe capture card"? I thought the Matrox was the capture card and it connected to your PC via a cable that plugs into it's own card? 2. If I do need a separate capture card, would the AVerMedia CE310B be suitable? |
The MX02 is no longer recommended. There are some USB options that are comparable.
OS is the main problem. If your "modern system" uses Win10/11, you'll have a horrible time capturing. XP/7 was the bset OS for capturing, least issues. So perhaps that "old" (probably not really old) PC is the best tool for this task. What CPU is it? Capturing lossless is not CPU intensive, and cold be done 20 years ago without major CPU problems. Best is a system from only 10 years ago. Capturing needs good HDD I/O, second drive (not shared) for capture. |
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"Matrox MXO2 HD + analog PCIe capture card" = Matrox MXO2 (make & model) PCIe capture card (what it is) for HD and analog [SD] (sources it accepts) (it's an O not a 0 btw) |
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Speaking of the USB options... I assume the ATI TV Wonder 600 is the main one but is the Hauppauge 610 USB2 capture stick still recommended? I have found a new 610 for sale. Quote:
As for the storage disk, would an SSD do the job any better than a HDD? Quote:
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Just to further clarify on what's required to use an MXO2 for capture.
Hardware: Power supply for MXO2 MXO2 (multiple varieties from Mini's to Rack mount some with SDI output) Analog input adapter (s-video to separate Y-C RCA plugs) from playback device Analog audio cable PCIe Connector cable (Matrox PCIe cable or equivalent HP Molex Q3938-67942 printer cable) Matrox Y7347-1100 Video Capture Card (PCIe cable to PCIe bus card) OR Matrox MXO2 PCIe ExpressCard/34 adapter AND a ExpressCard/34 to PCIe bus card (eg: PCIe to 34mm Express Card 2.0 adapter) Note: I've tried. Both options work. This would be a complete kit So not exactly as simple as a USB dongle :wink2: But maybe more reliable and less touchy with USB bandwidth issues, etc. I'm not sure... Software: Matrox Utilities "mtxutil" latest version is 8.0 (I believe) supports Windows 8.1 The software provides support for the hardware and also a video capture application to capture uncompressed AVI files. I was not able to access my MXO2 from within VirtualDub 1.9.11 but may not have known where to look (no directshow support for MXO2). The Matrox capture software is very limited in what can be controlled, but does appear to do a good job with the captures it creates. I only played around with the hardware I pieced together enough to know that it can be made to work, at least in Win7 and maybe Win10 (I think I tried circa mid-2020 - have not tried recently). I bought everything very cheap via eBay. The first MXO2 mini was DOA, the second works. I believe the signal is all digital from the output cable to the PC so the term "analog PCIe card" is probably incorrect. My :2cents: BW37 |
I'll just say right off the bat that I'm still undecided on what capture device to get... @lordsmurf, do you still have the ATI TV Wonder 600 USB or the PAL version of the Pinnacle USB for sale (i.e. are they an option for me)?
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As for the issue of simplicity... I don't mind a bit of added complexity if I end up with a better result (either in terms of quality or reliability) but in that regard, I'm happy to defer to the advice of people like yourself and lordsmurf, who know a heck of a lot more than I do! Quote:
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Just a quick reply for now. Dinner awaits...
Sorry I can't help on making a choice between an ATI TV Wonder 600 USB and an MXO2. I have no personal experience with the 600 and have little experience with the MXO2. :( I remember LS was (in the not to distant past) going to evaluate an MXO2 and report back, but I've not seen anything other than his recent thumbs down. I do not know his reasoning on this. I just did a search on this forum using the Google custom search box. I just typed in "mxo2 in virtualdub". Quite a few interesting threads are returned. It appears that at least some users ARE able to get the MXO2's to work in VirtualDub, user "jjdd" for one. He describes having to install FFDSHOW to make it happen here. He seems to like the results he was getting with the MXO2. I never got to trying FFDSHOW before having to box up all of my accumulated capture hardware and software to make a move. I'm still unpacking and setting stuff up so I can't try anything quite yet. I hope in a month or so I can start playing with my toys again in a much improved, dedicated space (not the kitchen table anymore) :D I suspect it was from reading some of those threads back in 2020 that I decided to purchase an MXO2 on the cheap just to try it. BW |
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The newest version I found was: "Matrox Mtx.utils version 8.0.15342 for Windows 10". The zip file is 1.32 gigs. But that includes everything. Just the utilities installer is 150 megs. I know it says for Windows 10; the previous version I was able to find (see the attached image) says for Windows 7, so ... Anyway, I'm willing to throw whatever version you (or anyone else) may want on Dropbox or Google Drive or wherever. (Sorry, double posted) |
Send it to me so I can post it on the CDN.
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Anyone who still needs/wants these can download them here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/900xgoyyg...YiVAw1sIa?dl=0 I'll be deleting them in about a week, and then posting a few more Matrox files I didn't have space for with the rest. -- merged -- Quote:
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Here is a new link. The folder now includes every file I have. This folder will be available until near the end of August.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ul5awhji3...3O-iZQEpa?dl=0 |
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Just to comment on ATI TV Wonder 600 USB vs MXO2 -- I have both of these devices and can not figure out how to make the ATI 600 not have a super choppy video input using VirtualDub. I followed sanlyn's guide step by step, to no avail. I had set aside the MXO2 since it doesn't seem to work with VirtualDub but after reading some posts here, I figured I'd give the Matrox AV Utils a shot and to my surprise, it works absolutely perfectly. Completely smooth. Definitely a win for the MXO2 here. I got the MXO2 super cheap off ebay, probably paid more for the PCIe card also off ebay, special ordered the host cable through B&H, and it's all working great. Maybe it's because I'm using Windows 10, but given my success with the MXO2, I think I'll be sticking with that. Btw I am using the Burst Electronics Pixie-FS TBC. I built my own case for it with a custom interface for the controls since I couldn't stand the tiny buttons the way it came from the factory. It looks like crap but is much easier to use!
Also, you can download the Matrox software from their website. It's listed under "Legacy Products": https://www.matrox.com/en/video/apps...legacyProducts |
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ATI is the preview, fix it in timing settings. Disable the (something, forget without looking) for the audio preview. Just screen cap you timing settings, attach image here, let me look at it.
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I also snagged an AJA Kona. Piling all this into a collection of Ati all in wonder cards of all flavours. I will dig further into my hoard of old pc stuff, im sure there are all sorts of old pci capture cards. Sadly I do not have any Ati usb adaptors :( Your positive results with the MX02 is encouraging! I am aiming to get mine setup and no doubt will need help at some point. I am really interested in that device you built with all the buttons! you say it looks terrible but if it works then so be it :D |
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But yes the MXO2 just worked fine with my first capture but one immediate downside is that at least for the MXO2 LE MAX I have, you only get two options for capture codec- uncompressed 8 bit, and MPEG2 (which I assume the compression is done on the device). Even though I will be burning these videos to a DVD for the “customer” (my parents), I opted to capture uncompressed because I didn’t want to throw away any quality for the sake of post editing. If you can get the ATI or any other virtual dub device working, even lossless huffyuv or similar will give you something like a 2:1 compression ratio. Of course, I can always use vdub now to take that huge uncompressed file (150-160 GB for a 2 hour 720x480 NTSC video) and process it into a compressed lossless huffyuv file. I’ve been reading up on how to use avisynth and virtual dub so I’ll do some playing around. And thanks! On the custom pixie-fs interface (sorry for post length/sort of off topic): The pixie-fs custom interface was kind of a pain to make mostly because I’m not very experienced in soldering to circuit boards and at one point even thought I had accidentally destroyed an expensive TBC, but fortunately was able to re-flow one solder pad, and miraculously found a random test point on the board for another button trace that I screwed up. I had to solder jumpers to +5v and ground (to power my own indicator LEDs, add connectors to the two existing LED solder pads, connect jumpers to the inc/dec buttons, and 4 jumpers to the rotary switch which outputs a binary number 0-9 for the existing rotary switch. I then used that 8-column interlock switch which is 4pdt (4 pole double throw- only need 4 pole single throw- 4 are required for the binary bits, but since it only goes up to 9, I could cheat and get away with using 1 of the poles for the LED indicator at the cost of using a different pole to turn on the indicator LED for the 9th option/8th switch “s-video”). I ran a ground jumper across the common pins of all poles of the switches, and wired up the binary number for each corresponding switch. There are 9 modes on the pixie-fs but I could only find an 8-column switch on Amazon although I do have a 10-column one on order from AliExpress. That’s why I have a separate toggle switch surrounded by JB weld for the genlock option, since I didn’t have enough on the interlock switch. Since I was impatient and wanted to get this working asap I choose to do that rather than wait for the proper part to come in from China. Of course that means if I switch on the genlock mode, any subsequent mode on the interlock switch I choose will screw up the mode, I just have to know not to do that. I thought about writing “only one red LED may be on at a time” but since this is just for me, I think I’ll remember 😅. After I put it together I realized one of the binary digit jumpers wasn’t working, and of course I had tried to secure those 4 jumpers with adhesive shrink tubing so I had to carefully desolder those 4 pins, re-flow the inoperative digit solder pad, since the only other test point for that digit was covered in some sort of red epoxy on the circuit board, and of course this was after staying up all night working on this, but it works now! This was all inspired by the fact that there is an internal jumper to set the output format from composite video to s-video, which was the first switch I wired up, and the easiest since I just used a 3-pin 2.54mm connector which fit perfectly on the jumper pins. |
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