On the dual-video output front, Matrox's competition is NVIDIA's GeForce2 MX. At this time, we do not have a GeForce2 MX with two HDI-15 outputs, so we cannot compare the abilities of each card. We know that Leadtek has such a card in the works, and Guillemot supposedly has such a card in the works as well, but we have not seen a dual HDI-15 as of yet. When we do, we'll be able to see which multi-monitor setup works best.

Matrox has also integrated a TMDS into the G450 silicon and will be building a DVI digital monitor connector onto some boards as well. With the G400, a $60 add-in card is needed for digital video out. The G450's TMDS is capable of running at up to 1280x1024x32bpp. We're a bit disappointed that the card won't do 1600x1024, 1600x1200, or 1920x1280 through DVI. Next year, some amazing high-resolution displays will be coming out, but if you buy a G450 with a DVI-out now, you won't be able to use any of the upcoming high-resolution digital displays without upgrading your video card as well.

The G450, like the G400 before it, comes with a TV-out port. The card actually has an adapter for TV-out, which splits into composite and SVHS connectors. Matrox's documentation states that the G450 TV-out can run up to 1600x1200. While your TV certainly cannot capture the quality of 1600x1200, the feature is still useful for presentations where you need several windows on screen at once.

Movie watchers will appreciate the ability to playback a DVD full-screen on a TV while using a monitor at the same time for other tasks. However, the lack of hardware motion compensation makes the G450's DVD playback look mediocre compared to most of the competition.

On a side note, Matrox will eventually ship a G450-TV, which will include a TV-tuner and support video-in. The quality of the G400-TV was excellent for its class, and we expect even better quality from the G450, which should include real-time software MPEG-2 encoding. The G400-TV included onboard hardware MJPEG compression, which takes up quite a bit of space and looks downright atrocious compared to MPEG-2 video. Of course, both cards support compressionless video.