Matrox have taken a different approach to Thunderbolt connectivity with their I/O products compared to other manufacturers. Instead of building new models with Thunderbolt connectors, the adaptor allows new and existing products to use the superfast technology.
At IBC 2011, Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd announced their solution to bring their products up to date with Thunderbolt connectivity. The Thunderbolt adapter is available for $199 for customers who have an MXO product already. So the point here is you don't have to buy a new Matrox I/O box to enjoy the many advantages Thunderbolt brings.
The box is cheaper if you are buying an MXO product, it adds $100 to the price. This means that when you buy say an MXO2 Max, the Express Card and PCI Express board versions will retail for $1395 each and the box with the Thunderbolt adaptor will retail for $1495.
Many customers have to to lug a 17" MacBook Pro around to use an MXO2 as it is the only current model that features an Express Card slot. The adaptor will now allow any Thunderbolted Mac to use an MXO2, so it works with the new MacBook Airs and brings a capture/layoff and monitoring solution to the iMac range. Although it means the device will be at the end of a Thunderbolt chain, there should not be dip in performance even if four other passthrough devices are connected in series.
A slight random thought here, but could a 11" MacBook Air with an MXO2 Mini and LaCie Little Big Disk be the smallest HD edit setup that can capture? The Thunderbolt adaptor is bus powered which means you don't have to carry another wall plug with you or mains cable to lose.
We didn't realise that the MXO product line supports an output for FCPX. This can only be achieved by mirroring the desktop, a limitation of FCPX not Matrox. The products will of course work with the other edit programs out there, FCP7 Adobe Premiere and Avid. The adaptor with a Matrox MXO2 Mini is the only Thunderbolt qualified device for Media Composer 5.5.
On the FCPX news front, we were pleased to find out that the H264 encoding accelerators that Matrox sell work well with Compressor 4. The app passes frames to the encoder and therefore should keep the output in line with Apple's ColorSync promise of no gamma shifts in the post production chain.
I am the Editor-in-Chief of FCP.co and have run the website since its inception ten years ago.
I have also worked as a broadcast and corporate editor for over 30 years, starting on one inch tape, working through many formats, right up to today's NLEs.
Under the name Idustrial Revolution, I have written and sold plugins for Final Cut Pro for 13 years.
I was made a Freeman of Lichfield through The Worshipful Company of Smiths (established 1601). Though I haven't yet tried to herd a flock of sheep through the city centre!
Current Editing
2020 has been busy, the beginning of the year was finishing off a new property series (cut on FCP) for Channel 4 called The Great House Giveaway. I also designed and built the majority of the graphics as Motion templates. It has been a great success and the shows grabbed more viewers in the 4pm weekday slot than any previous strand. It has been recommissioned by C4 for 60 episodes, including prime-time versions and five themed programmes. The shows have also been nominated for a 2021 BAFTA.
Although both were postponed to later in the year, I worked again on ITV's coverage of the Tour de France and La Vuelta. 2020 was my 25th year of editing the TdF and my 20th year as lead editor. The Tour was the first broadcast show to adopt FCPX working for multiple editors on shared storage.
BBC's Snooker has played a big part in my life, I've been editing tournament coverage since 1997. I'm proud to be part of a very creative team that has pioneered many new ideas and workflows that are now industry standard in sports' production. This is currently an Adobe Premiere edit.
Covid cancelled some of the regular corporate events that I edit such as trade shows & events. I was lucky however to edit, from home, on projects for Amazon Kindle, Amazon Black Friday, Mastercard and very proud to have helped local charitable trust Kendall & Wall secure lottery funding.
As for software, my weapon of choice is Final Cut Pro and Motion, but I also have a good knowledge and broadcast credits with Adobe Premiere Pro, MOGRT design and Photoshop.
Plugin Design & Development
I'm the creative force behind Idustrial Revolution, one of the oldest Final Cut Pro plugin developers. It hosts a range of commercial and free plugins on the site. One free plugin was downloaded over a thousand times within 24 hours of release.
I also take on custom work, whether it is adapting an existing plugin for a special use or designing new plugins for clients from scratch. Having a good knowledge of editing allows me to build-in flexibility and more importantly, usability.
FCP.co
Now in its 10th year and 4th redesign, running FCP.co has given me knowledge on how to run a large CMS- you are currently reading my bio from the database! Although it sounds corny, I am pretty well up on social media trends & techniques, especially in the video sector. The recent Covid restrictions has enabled live FCP.co shows online. This involves managing a Zoom Webinar through Restream.io to YouTube and Facebook.
The Future
I'm always open to new ideas and opportunities, so please get in touch at editor (at) fcp.co. I've judged film competitions, presented workflow techniques to international audiences and come up with ideas for TV shows and software programs!
