Retina Mac Book Pro & Matrox Dualhead2Go Analog

tigret

Hello all,

Could not find an existing thread right away, apologies of rehashing any existing issues, but here we go:

Does anyone have experience with connecting a Matrox Dualhead Analog to the new Retina MacBook Pros?

It's time slowly to update the system but I have to keep working with composite signals. I've read on one forum that Matrox itself says the two are not compatible.
Any firsthand experience would be very welcome before I take the step to buy a new laptop! It just doen't seem smart to buy the 'oldstyle' MacBook Pro.

As an alternative, would using the two thunderbolts work? Does Isadora recognize that and 'assemble' that information into one project before it splits it to 2 different stages?
Sorry if I express myself clumsily.

Thanks so much in advance for your tips!

Sarah

Skulpture

Hmmm if ti says its not compatible then it probably isn't. The new machines are digital outputs and obviously the Matrox Dualhead is Analog so you'd need a convertor. Thunderbolt is digital too. Unless someone has got them working by chance I think its safe to say they are not compatible unless you got a convertor.

I have two [Matrox dual ME](http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/dh2go/digital_me/) and they work great with my retina.

tigret

Thanks! I'll look into to that HDMI-VGA converter.

Yes, I've thought about getting the digital Matrox, but then is it easy (meaning affordable) to go from that to a composite signal?

My setup has a scan converter that converts VGA to BNC.

Armando

Hello,

I used a triple head digital edition with a retina with succes but I used the analog input of the matrox and a thunderbolto to vga converter from apple. I also used old apple dvi to vga converters. That's why I m surprised of the that the analog edition is not working. Plus I used the retina thunderblot port plus the hdmi ouput as a dualhed 2 go. It also worjed pefectlu. I suppose that if you use hdmi ou tplut plus the 2 thundebolt ports you just don't need the matrox. Has someone used the 2 thunderbolt ports at the same time with succes. I suppose so.

tigret

Hi Armando,

Wow that's good news, so matrox IS too pessimistic about its own compatibility (-:

I thought that the digital edition of the Matrox that has VGA output only worked with Mac. What is the exact product name of the triplehead Matrox you are using?

I am also very curious as to whether both thunderbolts can be used "as a dualhead". Anyone?

Michel

@tigret

Read HERE what MatthewH wrote about it.

Best
Michel

MatthewH

I don't really understand what your asking regarding using both thunderbolts as a DualHead. If you want to know if it is possible to use both simultaneously to output video then the answer is absolutely yes. The rMBP can output video on both thunderbolts and the HDMI port simultaneously for a total of three external monitors.

Armando

I don't know really about the ANALOG edition. I know that thunderbolt port can be converted into analog vga so I don't know why they claim it doesn't work in any case as I said isadora recognizes hdmi and minidisplay port at the same time as different stages.

MatthewH

You can definitely use analogue Matrox GXM products with Minidisplayport to VGA adapters. The only thing is that in some cases you will need something like SwitchResX to force the Mac to output the proper resolution.

CraigAlfredson

I have found that the compatibility list on the Matrox website is not very accurate. I don't have experience with the new retina display MBP's, but with the older unibody versions, the analog dualhead and the digital triplehead work fine out of the thunderbolt port with the Apple MiniDP to VGA adapters. My preference is to use the triplehead digital edition with a miniDP to DVI adapter and passive DVI-VGA adapters on the out. That way all of the digital to analog conversion is done by the Matrox. The newer devices that Matrox says are Mac compatible are actually less compatible if you are looking to down convert to an analog signal (VGA or composite), since they do not support analog out (the triplehead digital edition is the ONLY model that has DVI-I with analog signal out). This means that you have to rely on third party Digital to analog converters which are expensive, not too common and/or not too robust.