Matrox Parhelia APVe graphics card TV out

[chainboy]

Hi, is anyone using the Matrox Parhelia APVe graphics card? They recently announced that the TV out is compatible with ProTools....so I'm curious if this is the graphics card that I'm looking for to use my LCD TV as my only ProTools monitor. Anyone know? I hate to spend $350 and this not be what I'm looking for. Thanks in advance.

gym*

sorry for the double post if you saw this post earlier in the LE Windows forum.

[gerax]

I have the AGP version of the P750 (which is quite the same as the Parhelia) and with that certified driver from Matrox it works great, no hassles. Just update the driver and NET Framework to the necessary version and you are good to go. Hook your plasma screen up and you'll have full screen image from QT (beware of the LCD latecny though).

Hope this helps

L.G.

[AMZavareei]

So I just got a Parhelia APVe, and in it's settings I can see color bars on the TV, but I can't see the video from pro tools on it. I have 2 DB15 monitors and a TV connected. I have the HF driver installed. Anyone know how can I get this going? I'm on PT 7.4, .Net 2.0 and QT 7.5.5. I see no real instructions anywhere. Is there a setting in PT? I don't see much in the way of video options here. Thanks!

[AMZavareei]

Hey, I read that you needed QT 6.3 to use video out on the Parhelia, so I installed it and opened a session with video and it said I need Quicktime version 7 to play video. I'm using PT HD 7.4 on XP. Any help? Thanks!

[AMZavareei]

This is a reply I got back from Matrox:

The press release that you read about APVe with Pro Tools is more than 2 years old. At that time, the version tested was Pro Tools 7.1. Actually, what changed is the QT support for Overlay. If your video player does not support overlay, it means there will be no TV out. The color bars on the TV indicate that the connection is correct. Try to use QT version 6.x to see if it will work.

Can anyone here be of more help? I'd hate to have to get a Mojo. Money Money, plus more latency. Blecht!

[beggehorn]

Be aware that the OpenGL spec (hardware) on this card is outdated which causes GUI problems with some plug-ins which require newer specs. I've been down this road... Also you are stuck using older Matrox drivers as they've disabled TV out on the newer ones. I do have DVDMax working on my P750 but am pretty much resigned to getting a Mojo as parts for my new PC are rolling in today and the P750 (AGP) won't work with my new mobo (PCIe).

Another thing to consider is Digi's timeline for making the video satellite feature of PT8 available for us pc users. Anybody know when this might happen?

[kkfaudio]

I'm using it successfully on 7.3 - and did some research and heard of people working with 7.4 without trouble.

A couple of things to try - I think the QT needs to be open on one monitor vs the other - in my case it's the B output.

As well, there are a few Codecs that don't output - most of the Avid ones as far as I know, and it's a pain. I use H264 all the time, and DV as well.

Good luck

[AMZavareei]

begghorn-
Even if the video satellite worked, I'd need another computer, which I have, then an Mbox micro and the Video Satellite software is 250, AND a black magic card for 250, or a Mojo. So it's going to be a little more in sync and take a little less CPU from Pro Tools? I don't think that's going to be worth it for me, at least not until after I get something going. Maybe a Mojo is just the way to go. They seem to go for pretty cheap on ebay. What are the drawbacks of that? A little more latency than the matrox would be, but I can sync it back up with latency comp, right? And do they play many codecs?

kkfaudio-
what version of QT are you using? The people using 7.4? Only 6.3 has overlays I believe, which I think is required for this to work, and at least PT 7.4 requires QT 7. H264 is great though, good enough for me.

[AMZavareei]

George got back to me again. He said:

"I understand but the problem is not Pro Tools or Matrox. If you follow industry news, you probably remember that Microsoft decided to drop support for overlay in Vista, so many application developers tried to abide by Microsoft rules and they dropped support for overlay (this is why older versions of QT or Media Player will support overlay). Now Microsoft mentioned that it was a mistake after discovering that many software and hardware rely on the overlay technology and they decided to bring it back in Windows 7 (next release after Vista)."


Hey, thanks guys for helping, It was looking barren in here for a few days!

[kkfaudio]

Here's thread I started last November - someone says they're running 7.4.

http://duc.digidesign.com/showthread...atrox+parhelia

I remember being wary about QT version 7 - but as you know, PT 7 requires it, so I bit the bullet, and everything is fine.

I'm not on that system for a few days, so I don't know for sure which QT7 I'm up to - I don't update it regularly by any means.

It is an XP box - not Vista, so looking at your last post, maybe that's the problem?

Hope that helps...