Matrox codecs now available free of charge

Video captured using Matrox products can now be viewed and editing on non-Matrox Windows systems without having to buy anything. Just download the codecs.

Fresh from Matrox:

In the past, Matrox has offered the Matrox M.Key/100 USB device that unlocks the Matrox MPEG-2 I-frame HD, DVCPRO HD, HDV, and other Matrox Video for Windows (VFW) codecs for use on 32-bit systems that don’t have Matrox editing cards. Since the launch of this product, M.Key/100 has supported only 32-bit Windows operating systems. With the recent surge of 64-bit operating systems, M.Key/100 is now incompatible in many environments. The popularity of Matrox codecs has also grown, which has increased the market demand for open codecs from Matrox. Therefore, Matrox will no longer be offering the Matrox M.Key/100 USB device. As an alternative to M.Key/100, Matrox is pleased to announce our new Matrox VFW software codec package, which will be available for download free of charge from our website. This package provides the following VFW software codecs for use on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows operating systems:

• Matrox DV/DVCAM
• Matrox DVCPRO
• Matrox DVCPRO50
• Matrox DVCPRO HD
• Matrox MPEG-2 I-frame in SD and HD resolutions, with or without alpha
• Matrox Uncompressed in SD and HD resolutions, with or without alpha
• Matrox Offline HD
• Matrox M-JPEG and HDV (playback only)

The new Matrox VFW software codec package will allow any system to use AVI files that have been captured on Matrox Axio, RT.X, and MXO2 systems, and to also create these AVI files for use on Matrox systems. This flexibility lets you use any workstation to do a rough cut, then copy the project and assets to an Axio, RT.X, or MXO2 system to finish the job. There is no need for time-consuming recapturing. As well, dedicated compositing or animation workstations can render finished elements that will play back in real time on Matrox editing and playout systems.

The new Matrox VFW software codec is available to all Matrox Axio registered users as a free download from the support section of the website.

Thank you,
Matrox Video Product Group