Accelerator Card Provides Faster Than Realtime High Definition H.264 File Creation

NAB 2009 - Las Vegas, April 20, 2009 — Matrox® Video Products Group today announced Matrox CompressHD™, the first implementation of Matrox MAX™ technology in an H.264 accelerator card for the Mac, priced at just $495 US. Matrox MAX technology uses a dedicated hardware processor to accelerate the creation of H.264 files for mobile devices, the web and Blu-ray discs. By using specialized hardware acceleration, jobs are finished with amazing speed and system resources are liberated for other tasks. Matrox CompressHD works in systems with or without a video I/O device. Ease of use is ensured through direct integration with Apple Compressor on the Mac. As an added benefit, the Matrox MAX technology allows direct export to higher-quality H.264 Blu-ray compliant files from Compressor.

"Final Cut Studio is the creative tool of choice for video professionals around the world," said Richard Townhill, Apple's director of Video Applications Marketing. "By adding the Matrox CompressHD accelerator to a Mac Pro, editors can spend more time creating the movie they want and less time getting it ready for distribution."

"Matrox CompressHD is all about speed and workflow efficiency," said Lorne Trottier, president of Matrox. "For example, creating a 20 minute H.264 Blu-ray image typically takes about 90 minutes on an 8-core Mac Pro. Using Matrox MAX technology, that same image can be generated in less than 18 minutes. Matrox CompressHD is a must-have for anyone creating content today."

Key features of Matrox CompressHD for the Mac

• Faster than realtime creation of H.264 files, for resolutions ranging from iPod to HD, using Matrox MAX technology
• Low profile, half-length PCIe x1 card that fits into all Mac Pros and Intel-based Apple Xserve systems
• Works in systems with or without an I/O device
• Three-year hardware warranty and complimentary telephone support

Key features of Matrox MAX technology

• 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 to simplify workflow
• Creation of Blu-ray H.264 files that can be authored in Adobe Encore CS4 or Roxio Toast 10 and 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

Price and availability
Priced at $495, Matrox CompressHD with Mac drivers will be available in May 2009 right here at Videoguys.com. Pre-order now!