Reprinted from a Matrox Graphics press release:
Matrox Graphics Inc., the leading manufacturer of professional graphics solutions, is pleased to announce its v1.02 beta drivers and digital video plug-ins for the Matrox Parhelia graphics card, with the final driver release scheduled for later in October. Delivering the industry’s most comprehensive display solution for digital video workstations, the Matrox Parhelia provides an unmatched graphics platform that enhances the usability and productivity of software-only non-linear editing (NLE) applications, visual effects applications and hardware video editing solutions. Developed specifically for the professional video editor, these new drivers uniquely enable simultaneous TV-previewing with dual-display support, in addition to TripleHead, DualHead-HF, Matrox’s video output feature: PureVideo Preview, and Realtime Display Color Adjustment. In addition, the new What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) plug-ins for Adobe After Effects and Discreet 3D Studio Max, combined with PureVideo, provide visual effects designers with powerful previewing capabilities.
Dual-display plus TV-Output for software non-linear editing platforms
Parhelia is the only display solution to offer dual-display plus TV-Output support for digital video. This feature provides a significant enhancement for users of software-only NLE applications such as Adobe Premiere and Avid Xpress DV. Combined with Matrox’s high-quality PureVideo feature, this unique multi-display capability facilitates editing by enabling simultaneous previewing of video on an NTSC/PAL video monitor, while allowing users to benefit from the added real estate available through dual-display. Now more than ever, digital video editors have more flexibility and options, as the Parhelia allows for real-time display color adjustment via independent gamma settings for video in a window, and independent proc-amp settings such as hue, saturation, brightness and contrast, for both video in a window and on a TV.
“We are extremely pleased to see support for digital video users from leading display card manufacturers,” says Steve Chazin, Senior Manager, Avid Product Marketing. “The Matrox Parhelia features dual-display plus TV-Output, addressing a real need in the software-only NLE market. Parhelia’s increased desktop real estate and real-time TV-preview capabilities are great productivity enhancers for Avid Xpress DV users.”
An ideal companion display card for hardware-based video editing workstations
Matrox Parhelia’s extensive multi-display support and features, including PureVideo and Realtime Display Color Adjustment, also benefit users of hardware video editing solutions such as Matrox’s RT.X100 or Pinnacle brand products. Matrox’s DualHead-HF provides the best dual-display support available in the industry, allowing users to choose between dual-RGB and dual-DVI with dual-gamma correctable hardware overlays, and support for ultra-high resolutions with identical image quality on both displays. The triple-RGB display option provides the maximum display real estate for the widest timelines and a plethora of related applications, clip bins, toolbars and effects control windows.
WYSIWYG with real-time TV-preview for motion graphics and visual effects
Parhelia is the only display solution that integrates the support for, and actually includes, WYSIWYG plug-ins for popular visual effects applications such as Adobe After Effects and Discreet 3D Studio Max. These plug-ins overcome inefficiencies in the post-production process, introduced through reiterative tweaking and fine-tuning requirements, which are a direct result of inherent dissimilarities in the appearance of content on RGB monitors and TVs. The WYSIWYG plug-ins work in conjunction with Matrox’s PureVideo and multi-display TV-preview features, allowing users to preview their work-in-progress directly on a video monitor. This in turn, allows users to ensure a proper aspect ratio in NTSC/PAL and check for exact color temperature, safe-title area, and any interlace artifacts that may be present in their images.
“Adobe Premiere and After Effects users are always looking for ways to increase their productivity,” says Erik Lundblade, OEM product manager for Adobe Digital Video products. “The new dual-display and TV-Output support offered by the Matrox Parhelia display card will help improve efficiency by allowing the editor to view the application, timeline and effects windows across two displays, and preview their digital video project on a TV or video monitor.”
“Matrox is very pleased to include optimizations for the digital video editing market, with our new v1.02 beta driver,” says Dan Wood, vice president of technical marketing, Matrox Graphics Inc. “With our advanced multi-display capabilities and new WYSIWYG plug-ins, digital video editors have options available to them like never before.”
