Links :

Matrox Video Products Group web site

Matrox MAX Technology

Faster than realtime, high-definition H.264 encoding technology

Matrox MAX is a unique technology that implements faster than realtime H.264 encoding1 for resolutions ranging from iPod to HD. It uses a dedicated hardware processor to accelerate the creation of H.264 files for Blu-ray, the web, and mobile devices. By using specialized hardware acceleration, jobs are finished with amazing speed and system resources are liberated for other tasks.

Quality and flexibility are ensured through direct integration with professional applications such as Apple Compressor on the Mac and Adobe Media Encoder on the PC. As an added benefit, the Matrox MAX technology allows direct export to higher-quality H.264 Blu-ray compliant files from Compressor.

Availability

Matrox MAX technology is available
in these products:

Matrox MAX technology saves you time.

You'll spend less time rendering and more time being creative and productive

Features & Benefits

Key Features

• Faster than realtime creation of H.264 files, for resolutions ranging from iPod to HD, at bitrates up to 50 Mbps
• A specialized, dedicated hardware processor liberates system resources for other tasks

• Accelerated encoding for Blu-ray, PS3, Apple TV, YouTube, Flash, web formats, and mobile devices including iPhone and iPod from various video sources including 2K files
• Direct integration with Apple Compressor on the Mac and Adobe Media Encoder on the PC to simplify workflow

• Creation of Blu-ray H.264 files that can be authored in Adobe Encore CS4 and Roxio Toast 10 then burned without re-encoding
• Support for Apple Qmaster to take advantage of multiple systems with a Matrox MAX processing engine for distributed encoding across a network

Faster than realtime creation of H.264 files

Matrox MAX technology saves you time. You'll spend less time rendering and more time being creative and productive. The following table shows typical encoding times for a 20-minute H.264 deliverable.

Specialized, dedicated hardware processing

Matrox MAX offloads CPU intensive encoding tasks to a dedicated hardware engine to crunch out your deliverables in record time for Blu-ray, the web, and mobile devices1, without sacrificing quality. The Matrox MAX hardware engine offers sophisticated encoding capabilities such as:

• Baseline and main profile encoding algorithms
• CABAC entropy encoding for high quality
• CAVLC entropy encoding for mobile devices

• High quality scaling with de-interlacing
• GOP structure
  controls
• Bitrate controls from 100 Kbps to 50 Mbps

• Color space conversions:
  • HD to SD
  • SD to HD
  • RGB to YUV

Direct integration with professional encoding applications

Matrox MAX technology taps into Apple Compressor on the Mac and Adobe Media Encoder on the PC to let you quickly and easily create H.264 files1 for Blu-ray, PS3, Apple TV, YouTube, Flash, web formats, and mobile devices including iPhone, and iPod. You can take advantage of all the familiar settings in your favorite application, use the Matrox MAX presets or customize your own. As an added benefit, the Matrox MAX technology lets you directly export to higher-quality H.264 Blu-ray compliant files from Compressor.

Customizable settings can be easily created to meet special needs as outlined in the table below.

On the Mac, Matrox MAX technology is also accessible to all applications that support the QuickTime codec component such as Final Cut Pro and QuickTime Pro. You get faster than realtime delivery of H.264 files, at resolutions for iPod to HD, directly from the application.

Efficient Blu-ray disc creation

Matrox MAX technology lets you create Blu-ray H.264 video files, directly from Compressor on the Mac or Adobe Media Encoder on the PC, that can be authored in Adobe Encore CS4 or Roxio Toast 10 and burned without re-encoding.

To create a Blu-ray disc without Matrox MAX technology, you typically rely on your authoring application and your system CPU. On an 8-core Mac Pro, this process takes about 80 minutes for a 20-minute project.

With Matrox MAX technology, H.264 encoding of the same 20 minute HD project takes about 8 minutes. Image creation overhead takes another 8 minute for a total of about 16 minutes instead of 80!

Support for Apple Qmaster

You can take advantage of multiple systems with a Matrox MAX processing engine for distributed encoding across a network using Apple Qmaster on the Mac.