Matrox today announced that Matrox CompressHD, the first implementation of Matrox MAX technology in an H.264 accelerator card for the Mac, is now shipping.

Matrox MAX technology uses a dedicated hardware processor to accelerate the creation of H.264 files for mobile devices, the web and Blu-ray discs. Priced at $495 US, Matrox CompressHD works in systems with or without a video I/O device. As an added benefit, the Matrox MAX technology allows direct export to higher-quality H.264 Blu-ray compliant files from Compressor.

Key features of Matrox CompressHD for the Mac

- Faster than realtime creation of H.264 files using Matrox MAX technology
- Low profile, half-length PCIe x1 card that fits into all Mac Pros and Intel-based Apple Xserve systems
- Works in systems with or without an I/O device
- Three-year hardware warranty and complimentary telephone support

Key features of Matrox MAX technology

- Faster than realtime creation of H.264 files, for resolutions ranging from iPod to HD, at bitrates up to 50 Mbps
- A specialized, dedicated hardware processor liberates system resources for other tasks
- Accelerated encoding for Blu-ray, PS3, Apple TV, YouTube, Flash, web formats, and mobile devices including iPhone, and iPod from various video sources including 2K files
- Direct integration with Apple Compressor to simplify workflow
- Creation of Blu-ray H.264 files that can be authored in Adobe Encore CS4 or Roxio Toast 10 and burned without re-encoding
- Support for Apple Qmaster to take advantage of multiple systems with a Matrox MAX processing engine for distributed encoding across a network