#Par vs Options
11 messages in this thread
No, currently there are no NT drivers for the Illuminator Pro.
As for your question on the MAX, it has been tested by our engineers and the
resolution is 720×486. However, I would be interested in the findings of the
engineers you mentioned. You can e-mail that to me when you get a chance.
Regards,
Lori Smordin[Matrox]
>> no, currently there are no NT drivers for the Illuminator Pro… <<
Hi Lori, there must be some misunderstanding. The the question as I believe I
put it to you was… will there be drivers for the Ill Pro in support of 3DS
and software independent drivers for applications that can take advantage of
them. This is an important for those of us that are migrating to the NT
environment which is probably sooner or later everyone that uses 3DS.
With regard to the other issue, it does not seem to be directly related to Ill
Pro, but to the Ill Pro / Max combination. I have been able to check the Ill
Pro with a technique suggested by a fellow forumite and the board is running at
720×486. I do not have a Max so I can't verify whether it outputs a full image
at 720×486 resolution or not. I will have the parties concerned contact you
and fill you in on the details. They have gone through Matrox previously on
this issue but apparently without success. Maybe you can make a difference so
that this issue is resolved satifactorily.
In the meantime if you could provide an affirmative on NT drivers being
currently written, as I have been told, and that when provided they will
support 3DS R5 and other hardware independent applications…
The Ill Pro is a great board, but to fully utilise it to its potential drivers
need to be written, without the drivers there's no point in having the board.
Is Matrox planning to discontinue selling the board, if not it would seem quite
evident that NT need be supported. DOS is dead… Win 95 is a possibility but
why when NT is superior. Regardless 3DS requires a driver as your literature
states compabilitiy.
Thanks for your time and I certainly hope you can address these issues in a
satisfactory manner.
Regards,
John
Hi John,
Technical support informed me that they could not confirm exactly when NT
drivers will be developed for the Illuminator Pro. I have passed on your
message to the product manager so that he could be made aware of your concerns
regarding future development.
Regards,
Lori Smordin[Matrox]
Thanks Lori,
I believe it was the product manager for 3rd party software development who
specifically called and mentioned an independent software driver for the
Illuminator would be available because of the D/Vision project… course he may
have considered that NT support. <g> Sorry but its easy to get cynical about
all this. 🙂
BTW I popped over to the Matrox forum and discovered that you've been assigned
to handle this product line… a relatively new position at that, looks like
you've had the job maybe a week…? Ouch… you've had a rough week and its
not even friday… I think you could stand a break already, so I'm going to
chill on this topic and see what develops. I hope that you're passing along
these concerns will have the desired result. And if there's anyway that I can
help in this regard please let me know… I'll call, I'll write, I can type up
a storm…. <g> (But I don't take dictation, that's what palm-corders are for.
<G>)
Take care and thanks for trying to resolve this issue…
John
Hi John,
I spoke to the product manager about NT support for the Pro, and he said there
is no planned development for NT on the Illuminator Pro. We will look at
making the Illuminator Pro work in Windows 95 by using the 16 bit software that
we have under 3.1x. Matrox future products will support NT and 95 in a 32 bit
environment.
Regards,
Lori Smordin[Matrox]
Hi Lori,
>> there is no planned development for NT on the Illuminator Pro… <<
Really? So how come Matrox has developed an NT driver for the Ill Pro in
cooperation with D/Vision in support of their hardware independent software
On-Line? Why cannot this driver be made available for other third party
applications… like 3DS and QFX and PhotoShop, not to mention that this
contradicts your Product Managers statement…
Win 95 is not an acceptable solution, when there is currently a NT driver for
the D/Vision product… this just doesn't make sense…
Thanks for your reply and most interested to hear how the rest of this will be
addressed… provided that VPG does follow through with a Win95 driver when
will it be available… <G>
John
Dear John,
I spoke to the product manager about the development of NT drivers for the
Illuminator Pro in cooperation with D/Vision. He informed me that the NT
driver for D/Vision is a pseudo AVI driver specifically written for D/Vision.
It is pseudo AVI because the current AVI specification by Microsoft has many
limitations. Matrox is not going to put any more effort into NT support for
the Illuminator Pro.
Regards,
Lori Smordin[Matrox]
Lori,
Thanks for your reply on this issue… I do understand there are some
limitations in terms of what can be achieved for the Ill Pro in the NT
environment. It would have been nice if someone would have taken the time to
explain this previously, as it would not have become such an issue. However,
this was prior to your arrival on the scene, so I do not feel that you are in
any way responsible for this oversight… And I do appreciate your follow up on
this matter.
BTW, can you tell me when drivers will be made available for Win 95… it
appears that I will be partially dependent on this OS anyway, so possibly this
will provide a solution…
Thanks,
John
>> As for your question on the MAX, it has been tested by our engineers and the
resolution is 720×486. <<
No it's Not!
As I mentioned before… Talk to your R&D Tech Support person Conroy, or talk
to Nadia who replaced karen Lukanavich, or Talk to James at Drastic
Technologies!
We've had an on-going problem with the Matrox MAX side of this equation since
last November.
Our Client that has been Beta Testing Various Bug Fixes is Bob Batal at
Wisconsin Public Television.
I will E-Mail you the Telephone Numbers if you want but you must have not
received my other message regarding this Lori because this is a _KNOWN_ Problem
that Matrox has yet to resolve.
I've been _Told_ that there is another Beta Version that is supposed to sole
this..however I've been told this many times before.
It is generally not a problem for _MOST_ facilities as the 486 to 480
eliminates 3 lines of _ACTIVE_ video that most of these facilities can
"forgive" as far as engineering goes.
That is..they live with it and run it through their house sync setup.
Since it's in the overscan and isn't really seen by the "Home Viewer" they
handle it.
It does however pose problems for some facilities.!
However…and this is a Big "HOWEVER"….it is not up to the spec as printed on
your own Lit. and Wisconsin Public Television Will not Accept it.
I've already gone in to way too much Detail here than I planned to on the open
forum but I will not let this rest.
My dealership has suffered due to this problem and I will not have you
telling the open forum that the MAX in it's current form meets the CCIR 601 720
x 486 Specification that your own company has published as fact when the truth
is it does Not.
I'm not calling the Illuminator Pro Card in to question here.
The Illuminator Pro Has always meet that spec. and I've had that dragged out as
a red herring argument every time I've talked to someone New to this problem.
The Problem is with the Matrox Max Card and Drastic Technologies Code in
Particular.
I know they've been working on this and may even as we speak have it now
resolved.
However!!! I still do not have an updated copy of this software in my
possesion nor do any of my cleints that Own the Matrox Max card have an updated
copy of Matrox Max Software that work's properly.
The current shipping version since last November has had this problem.
The so-called Bug Fixes have not been 100% succesful.
I can't put it any planer than that.
As a Dealer I will not Lie to my Clients Nor will I Allow a Vendor to Mis-Lead
anyone in to beleiving something that is not Fact.
You very well may not be aware of this problem but if this is true then I'm
even more concerned because I've been struggling with this since last November
and I've been literally Screaming at people at Matrox about it.
Bob Batal At Wisconsin Public Televison also has A Major File regarding Every
Letter written to him from Matrox regarding this problem, as well as every
phone call (literally hundreds!), and all contact between Wis. Public TV and
Matrox Regarding this Problem.
Almost what one might be expecting if one were to have to prepare a legal
breif.
What more can I say!
I am not amused at all by this problem and neither is Wisconsin Public
Television.
Your being unaware of it is even more disturbing as I suspect Matrox Wants you
on this forum to "solve" these types of Issues.
There's Still a Hell of a lot of Stonewalling going on around Matrox and I am
Done Keeping quite about it.
I've been a "Good Dealer" regarding this Problem for eight that's ( 8 ) MONTHS.
Your Time is UP!
James M. Murphy
Authorized Matrox Dealer
Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Reply Requested:
Dear Jim,
Lori has informed me of the correspondence you have had through Compuserve over
the past few days. I have asked Lori to send this message to you for me.
I understand your concern and frustration over the resolution issue with
Wisconsin Public Television. The current MAX driver runs at 720 X 484. This
has been corrected in our new promotional material. We are informing people
about the coming of the new software revision which will support the CCIR 601
720 X 486 standard. This was what Lori had been referring to.
I do not deny that there was a discrepancy between what our promotional
literature advertised and what the board could actually perform. This was
discovered after the datasheets were printed and we had advertised that the
board was CCIR 601 standard.
The MAX updates have been ordered and we are expecting to see them arrive soon.
Once Matrox receives the updated diskettes, we will be sending them out to the
end-users. Bob Batal at Wisconsin Public Television has been a tremendous help
to us through the Beta site program. I do recognize that there were some
difficulties at one point, but they are being resolved now.
Lori signs onto Compuserve in order to relay pertinent information and
correspondence to and from the Matrox Video products Group. She was unaware of
the situation with Bob Batal and Wisconsin Public Television because I have
been handling this issue as well as your other accounts.
I thank you for being so frank and appreciate your comments on the difference
between what had been advertised and what the performance actually was. In
future, you are more than welcome to send me messages via Compuserve if you
prefer.
Best regards,
Nadia Callocchia
Videographic Sales Manager – Central/West U.S.
Thank you for the Reply Nadia,
I've been more than a little frustrated but then I don't have to tell you.
I pride myself I giving my Clients "THE BEST".
That's not just some sale talk either. Every one of my current clients knows
that.
That's why it's extreemly important to me that any Vendors I do Busness with
Now
and in the Future Understand I mean exactly what I say and I say exactly what I
mean.
James M. Murphy