Marvel G400-TV versus Mill G400MAX+RRS?

[Dangerman]

Okay, here's my dilema. I currently own the original Matrox Mystique 4MB with the RRS duaghter board. This has been great, however it's time to upgrade.
I was going to go for the Matrox G400MAX + Rainbow Runner upgrade for it. However, I now see Matrox have released the Marvel G400-TV.
So which do I go for and why? What are the differences?

TIA

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- Darren

[mmflame]

Hi, I work at the head office of Matrox Graphics in Montreal, I'll be glad to help.

Here are the differences between using the Marvel G400-TV (not out yet) and the RR-G w/ Mill. G400 MAX:

1 - The Mill. G400 MAX does not yet work with the RR-G Series because the drivers aren't ready yet.

2 - RR-G uses Ulead Media Studio Pro for editing (more features, less user-friendly), while Marvel uses Avid Cinema.

3 - The Marvel G400-TV will only take up one slot, while the combo will take up an AGP and PCI slot.

4 - The Marvel G400-TV has 16MB of memory with a 300MHz RAMDAC, and the MAX has 32MB with a 360MHz RAMDAC.

For more info, contact me at any time at 1-800-361-1408, ext. 7862.

Thanks,

Mony

[Dangerman]

Mony, thanks for the info. There's actually a little more to this than I put in my first post. You say the Marvel uses Avid video editing s/w. Since I already have MediaStudio Pro, will this work okay with the Marvel?

I also thought the RR-G was a daughterboard for the Mill G400, but if it takes up another slot that may cause me problems.

Another issue is that I heard Matrox are releasing the RT2000 in the near future. What advantages would this give me?

Also, I currently have a REALMagic Hollywood Plus DVD decoder card and a Creative 3D Blaster Voodoo 2. If I purchased the Mill G400 or Marvel, would I still require both these cards? I currently have no spare PCI slots and would like to free some of these up.

The ideal solution is to have 1 card which "does it all" i.e. 2D,3D,3DFX,MPEG decoding,DVD,video capture/editing MJPEG but I guess I can carry on dreaming.

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- Darren

[jedrek]

From what I recall the G400-TV doesn't have an on-board MPEG2 (DVD) decoder so you'll probably want to hold on to your decorder but you can replace the Voodoo card with the Maxtor - the 3D chip on the Maxtor is a generation ahead.

Cheers,
Jay

[Mr. D]

jedrek i think you mean Metrox not Maxtor.
Maxtor makes hard drives not video card like Matrox.