Matrox RT2500 review

Premiere 6's expanded possibilities and the Ligos LSX-MPEG LE plug-in have extended output options. The RT2500 hardware provides analog output straight from the Premiere timeline in real-time, but playback to FireWire still requires an overlong session of rendering. Alternatively, the video can be output to DVD-compliant IBP MPEG-2 for import into DVDit! and burning to DVD. Unfortunately though, DVDit! won't burn to CD. The Ligos plug-in offers speedy output to MPEG-1 and a version of MPEG-2 that can be used in Super VideoCDs - the new format that combines MPEG-2 with CD-ROM as a cheaper route to higher-quality video. Finally, Premiere 6 has Media Cleaner 5 EZ built in, plus the RealMedia and Windows Media export plug-ins for creating Web streaming video. To make this more useful, Matrox now offers 20Mb of streaming space via its Matrox.tv service, free to registered RT2500 users.

My one caveat with the RT2500 is compatibility. On my purpose-built Windows 2000 Athlon test system, it installed and functioned without a hitch. However, Matrox's hardware compatibility list is small so far and there are still some unresolved issues with the RT2000 that affect the RT2500 on certain hardware platforms. So ensure your intended host system is compatible before purchase. Other than that, the RT2500 is the best video-editing card for under £1,000. Only the Canopus DV Storm comes close and that's £500 more expensive, plus it doesn't have the 3D real-time effects capabilities. Whether you're a corporate video maker or fancy yourself as a bit of a video artist, the RT2500 will have you editing more productively than ever before.

Author: James Morris