Matrox RT2500 capture card worth getting?
 

Hi Dear Lordsmurf.I have a AIW 9600 capture card with Asrock 4CoreSata2. Is a reasonably priced (around $10) Metrox capture card worth adding to my collection of capture cards? thanks and best regards.

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The RT2500 is a DV+MPEG NLE card from 20+ years ago.

And I wanted one, 20+ years ago, before I got the AIW. The Matrox was way too costly at $1k+, so I waited for the AIW, which was only $350 or so. That $650+ saved let me get the first DVD burner, DVD-R(G), for about $900, the Pioneer DVR-A03. I wanted the RT2500 for Premiere+MPEG for DVDs, but ended up using Premiere with Ligos instead from AIW captures.

But now? Not really useful. A conversion piece, piece of history, nothing more.

The bigger problem is getting the breakout boxes, the card alone is worthless. Possibly the drivers, as I don't think these are easily available anymore.

These days, I'd rather spend $10 on a good sandwich, not more e-junk in a drawer. :laugh:

BTW, the Matrox DV was superior to Canopus DV. Still DV, but some of the issues with excessive block noise, color tint changes, etc, didn't really exist in Matrox hardware like it did Canopus hardware.

Some old related links:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...ing,348-2.html
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/...opus-or-Matrox

^ Note the comment that I made 18+ years ago, about Canopus marketing being total BS, which it was. I'd used the Matrox RTmac back then, sort of the crippled version of the RT.X100 (successor the the RT2500). Canopus was only a good NLE with Edius, not Premiere like Matrox. The "ADVC-100 is flawless" comment was in regards to it (at that time) functioning without the fuss of all the NLE cards, which is still true. Not great quality, but works without too much XP pushback. And I did eventually work for studios, but Canopus/Matrox was history, the world was FCP/Avid/Premiere, the tools I knew!

Your guidance prevented my loss :). You are a world of experience:wink2:. Thank you for all your helpful posts. :laugh: If possible, create a topic and write a list of capture cards that should not be bought. Because almost all users are here for help in getting the best quality from their analog sources. With respect ; Mousa .South Iran

That's a good idea. A list of "easily available yet bad" cards shouldn't take as much time as a listing of good cards (with all the caveats, with all that is involved, all the variables). I shall add it to my to-do list!