Advanced realtime editing workflow
Matrox Axio supports traditional offline-online tape-based workflows and the new tapeless workflows, as well as a mix of both. There is no need to choose one or the other you have complete flexibility to work with whatever formats your clients throw at you. Matrox Axio offers a full range of performance- and quality-optimized codecs that are critical for efficient collaborative workflow. Axios versatile architecture and native codec support let you mix the full range of video formats on your timeline without time-consuming and quality-compromising transcoding.
You can mix all file formats and all codecs on your timeline in real time. In many cases you can also mix resolutions in real time. Mixing interlaced formats with progressive formats will require rendering of the clips that do not match the timeline format. Clips within a timeline that do not have the same frame rate as the timeline format will also require rendering.
- Resolutions: NTSC <> 1080i at 29.97 fps; PAL <> 1080i at 25 fps; 486p at 23.98 fps <> 1080p at 23.98 fps; 486p at 29.97 fps <> 1080p at 29.97 fps;
576p <> 1080p at 25 fps - File formats MXF, AVI, MPEG (Adobe native HDV), M2T (FireStore)
- Codecs uncompressed, MPEG-2 I-frame, DVCPRO HD, MPEG HD, HDV, IMX, DVCPRO50, DV, DVCPRO, DVCAM, offline
This versatility simplifies integration with various broadcast equipment and eases file management, as there is no need to maintain multiple versions of your clips. You simply capture your footage using the appropriate codec for your source material and then combine clips in their native formats as needed.
Please click here for the full list of supported video resolutions, frame rates, and codecs.
Matrox Axio also completes a PC-based workflow for customers seeking end-to-end solutions using MXF file formats with Omneon MediaDeck and Spectrum media servers, and MediaGrid active storage systems.
Tape-based HD workflows
Tapeless workflows
Collaborative workflow using centralized storage
Support for Omneon media servers via native MXF file transfers
Tape-based HD workflows
Matrox Axio provides the full range of analog and digital inputs to let you work with tape-based source material. Please click here for the full list of supported I/Os.
- For no-compromise image quality, Matrox Axio offers realtime multi-layer uncompressed editing
- For those projects where HD bandwidth and storage requirements are a concern, Matrox Axio provides a finishing-quality MPEG-2 I-frame HD codec. It is highly optimized to provide visual quality that rivals uncompressed but with tremendous savings in storage space and file transfer times.
- For responsive low bit rate editing of proxy HD material on a laptop, from a DVD, or over a low-bandwidth network, Matrox Axio also features an offline HD codec.
- For digital tape formats, Matrox Axio provides native ingest over 1394 and realtime multi-layer editing of HDV, DV, DVCPRO HD, DVCPRO50, DVCPRO, and DVCAM. Native editing saves time and preserves video quality.
Tapeless workflows
The new "tapeless workflows" offered by Panasonic P2 and Sony XDCAM and XDCAM HD are truly revolutionary. They simplify acquisition, transport, archiving, asset management, etc. At the heart of these tapeless workflows is MXF. MXF (Material eXchange Format) is a standardized (by SMPTE) file exchange format that assures interoperability among devices and systems. P2 and XDCAM use .mxf files rather than .mov, .avi, or .mpg files, for example. MXF provides a common way of packaging video and audio along with metadata so that information about the content is maintained as it flows through the production process.
Matrox Axio natively supports the MXF file format in Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects. This allows Axio users to use MXF files created by their Panasonic P2, Sony XDCAM, or Sony XDCAM HD cameras directly in these applications without having to convert the files to the traditional AVI file format.
Matrox Axio also includes the unique Matrox EZ-MXF utility to let you use your native MXF files in animation, compositing, and motion graphics applications that support Video for Windows AVI files.
Matrox Axio also supports the use of the popular Focus Enhancements FireStore drives allowing you to simply transfer P2 and HDV files to your Axio system and edit them in realtime.
For more information about Matrox EZ-MXF click here.
For more information about tapeless workflow with Matrox Axio and Panasonic P2 click here.
For more information about tapeless workflow with Matrox Axio and Sony XDCAM and XDCAM HD click here.
Collaborative workflow using centralized storage
Realtime nonlinear editing gives you the creative freedom to experiment and make changes to your projects on the fly. In facilities where multiple artists collaborate on common projects, the next level of productivity gain comes from true file sharing using centralized storage. Where tasks are sub-divided, with everyone working from their own computer and storage; special effects scenes, graphics, sound tracks, and animations are transferred back and forth between editing stations and the other creation stations. All these file transfers cause delays, interfere with creativity, lead to versioning errors, and make back-ups more difficult.
Matrox Axio takes advantage of recent advances in compression, data storage, and high-speed networking technologies to enable realtime editing of HD projects across your entire facility. Media files reside on central storage and are accessed using a high-speed network so the most recent changes are immediately available to everyone working on a project. Access rights can be managed to prevent accidental or unauthorized modification or deletion of files.
The optional Matrox M.Key/100 USB device lets you implement this workflow even in compressed HD. It unlocks the Matrox MPEG-2 I-frame HD, DVCPROHD, HDV, and 32-bit VFW codecs on systems without Matrox editing cards, so any system can use these AVI files captured on Matrox Axio and create these AVI files for use on Matrox Axio. This flexibility lets you use any machine to do a rough cut, then copy the project and assets to an Axio system to finish the job. There is no need for time consuming recapturing. In addition, digital content creators can use VFW applications such as Adobe After Effects, Autodesk Combustion and 3ds Max, eyeon Fusion, and NewTek LightWave 3D to render finished elements that will playback in real time on an Axio system. By using compressed HD, bandwidth and space pressures on the storage system are minimized.
Support for Omneon media servers via native MXF file transfers
Support for Omneon media servers via native MXF file transfers Matrox Axio completes a PC-based workflow for customers seeking end-to-end solutions using MXF file formats with Omneon MediaDeck and Spectrum media servers, and MediaGrid active storage systems. Using Matrox Axio and Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, you can edit files natively from Omneon Spectrum or MediaGrid servers. After editing, the resulting MXF OP1a (IBP and I-frame) and XDCAM HD/SD files can be sent back to the Omneon MediaDeck or Spectrum media servers for playout. This workflow provides a huge productivity advantage over other methods involving conversion or transcoding before and after editing.
Supported formats include:
- Generic OP1A using MPEG-2 I-frame or IBP compression
NTSC, PAL
720p at 50, 60 fps
1080i at 25, 29.97 fps - XDCAM using IMX or DV compression
NTSC, PAL - XDCAM HD using MPEG HD compression
1440 x 1080i at 25, 29.97 fps (Available only when in a 1440 x 1080i editing mode.)
