Can someone tell me - in real simple layman's terms - the exact difference between a Nitris DX and a Mojo DX.  I get it that there running the same software (Media Composer). And I know that the Mojo I/O box is smaller, but what are the differences between the 2?

Mojo DX: SDI only, Nitris DX: SDI and analog I/O and hardware DNxHD. hth

Luca, Yes that definitely helps.  Help me out a little more:

1.  Does the Nitrix DX I/O box add processing power to the HP workstation?

2.  By "hardware DNXHD" do you mean that the Nitris acts as a transcoding box during ingest and that the Mojo doesn't?

Bear with me.  I'm trying to get a grip on this so that I understand it for myself.

1. Depends what You mean with processing power. Both Nitris DX and Mojo DX do some video centric trix for MC, such as scaling video.

2. With Mojo DX, the CPU will trnascoding the incoming HD-SDI to DNxHD. With Nitris DX, the incoming HD-SDI is transcoding in the box without any use of the CPU.

Sorry I was a little unclear.  But you answered me anyway - the Nitris transcodes independent of the PC and the Mojo doesn't.

What was the Mojo originally designed for?  Editing in the field/on-location?  Any idea?

I believe that it was originally designed as a cheap monitoring and I/O solution for Xpress DV and Xpress Pro.

jwrl:

it was originally designed as a cheap monitoring and I/O solution for Xpress DV and Xpress Pro

MojoDX was introduced after XpressDV and XpressPro were EOL'd.  It was never intended to be used with those products.  The original Mojos (analog or SDI) were also not ever compatible with XDV.  XpressPro was the first product to be usable with the Mojo (non-DX)

Kenton.VanNatten:

MojoDX was introduced after XpressDV and XpressPro were EOL'd.  It was never intended to be used with those products.

Colby:

What was the Mojo originally designed for?  Editing in the field/on-location?  Any idea?

jwrl:

it was originally designed as a cheap monitoring and I/O solution for Xpress DV and Xpress Pro

Tracking.  Thanks for all your input.  Aside from the limited I/O of the Mojo compared to the Nitris DX, is there any other function that the Nitris I/O box does other than transcoding to DNXHD that the Mojo doesn't do?  For example, when an effect is rendered (BCC or Sapphire), does the I/O box of the Nitris lend any of its computing power to that or is it strictly on the CPU of the PC at that point?

Go to the products-Mojo DX page and the system requirements page and carefully read the published info: Mojo DX does not support DNxHD capture on some systems, a minimum 8 cores machine is needed for that if I recall... and I doubt that Nitris DX would interact with third party plugins.

Even though they say an 8 core is minimum, I currently use a Mojo DX wiith an HP XW 6400, 2 dual core 3.0 Intel Xeon processors and regularly use DNxHD 220, in 1080, and DNxHD 175 in 720 for a LOT of capture and  playback without any problems whatsoever. Running 3.12 on Win XP 32, Quadro 3500. You might not be able to do same, but it works fine for me.

jwrl:

Kenton.VanNatten:

MojoDX was introduced after XpressDV and XpressPro were EOL'd.  It was never intended to be used with those products.

Yes, that's true.  But the question was

Colby:

What was the Mojo originally designed for?  Editing in the field/on-location?  Any idea?

To that question I replied

jwrl:

it was originally designed as a cheap monitoring and I/O solution for Xpress DV and Xpress Pro

I stand by that reply.  I believe that was the original Mojo's purpose.

From that context, yes I agree - you are 100% correct.  But, to me in the context of the whole thread (subject line included) it seems that Colby is referring to the MojoDX and is dropping the DX part of the name, which leads to confusion.

I don't understand it either - just why should I pay more for the Nitris?  SDI to analog converter is $300 and for HD there is HDMI.

GeorgeDe:

I don't understand it either 

Avid want to make more money, they believe the Nitris will be bought by facilities and broadcasters rather than editors.

Editors will buy the Mojo DX and a cheap external analogue convertor.

The Nitris does have DNx chips inside for encoding which relieves you computer of some work during capture from tape however no one seems able to say if those chips do anything in normal editing!

If your spending someone elses money you buy a Nitris if it's your own money you buy a Mojo with an external convertor.

Or cheaper still you go out and buy Final Cut Pro and a $500 i/o card and join the new kid on the block

Those DX box's will be the death of Avid if they dont sort out the prices soon.

Thanks for the suggestion. Didn't mean to hit a nerve with my post... I guess I could convert SDI to analog if I wanted to with a converter. Got a particular one in mind? The Mojo DX also doesn't have AES in or out nor any XLR connectors. So there's a few more things that make it different. Seems to me