Accelerated HD H.264 Encoding Now Available on Windows Products Featuring Matrox MAX Technology

Award-winning Matrox CompressHD card and Matrox MXO2 Mini I/O device speed up HD H.264 file creation for Blu-ray, Flash, YouTube, and the web

Montreal, Canada - October 9, 2009— Matrox® Video Products Group today announced that Windows drivers for Matrox CompressHD and Matrox MXO2 Mini with the MAX option are now available as a free download from the Matrox website for registered owners. Matrox MAX technology uses a dedicated hardware processor to accelerate the creation of HD H.264 files for Blu-ray, Flash, YouTube, and the web. By using specialized hardware acceleration, jobs are finished with amazing speed and system resources are liberated for other tasks. Ease of use is ensured through direct integration with Adobe Media Encoder and Adobe Premiere Pro on the PC.

"Users of Matrox MAX technology for Windows get the HD encoding speed and quality of a high-end workstation from a laptop or older PC when delivering to Blu-ray, Flash, and YouTube," said Alberto Cieri, Matrox senior sales and marketing director. "If they are lucky enough to own that high-end system, the Matrox MAX hardware can be dedicated to cranking out HD H.264 deliverables, letting them use more system resources to continue editing."

"Creative professionals who use PC laptops for H.264 encoding can expect a huge performance boost with Matrox MAX technology," said Chris Yigit, Matrox technical marketing manager. "For example, creating a 20 minute H.264 Blu-ray file from an XDCAM EX 1080i 60 HQ source typically takes about two and half hours on an Intel Core 2 Duo laptop. Using Matrox MAX technology, that same file can be generated in about 19 minutes."

Key features of Matrox CompressHD for the PC

• Accelerated H.264 encoding using Matrox MAX technology
• Low profile, half-length PCIe x1 card

Key features of Matrox MXO2 Mini for the PC

• " HDMI and analog input, output, and monitoring
• Small, lightweight, external box that's easily connected to laptops, desktop computers, cameras, and monitors
• Available with Matrox MAX technology for accelerated creation of HD H.264 files

Key features of Matrox MAX technology for the PC

• Accelerated encoding of H.264 files for Blu-ray, YouTube, Flash, web formats, and mobile devices including iPhone and iPod from various video sources including SD, HD, and RED R3D 2K and 4K files
• A specialized, dedicated hardware processor liberates system resources for other tasks
• Direct integration with Adobe Media Encoder and Adobe Premiere Pro
• Creation of Blu-ray H.264 files that can be authored in Adobe Encore CS4 then burned without re-encoding

Price and availability

Matrox CompressHD priced at $495 US and Matrox MXO2 Mini with the MAX option priced at $849 US not including shipping and local taxes are now available through a worldwide network of authorized dealers. Matrox Mtx.utils 1.5 is available as a free download from the Matrox website for registered owners of Matrox CompressHD and Matrox MXO2 Mini with the MAX option.