Documenting the Matrox Axio LE

Published — Edited

About four years ago, I found and purchased a strange piece of tech at my local Value Village. With a bit of research, I was able to determine that it was the X.linkLE breakout box from someone's old set of Matrox Axio LE editing hardware. Though I was able to find a few eBay listings for the Axio LE card and analog audio cable bracket, they were exceedingly expensive at the time and the X.linkLE ended up in a storage bin.

In , while doing some spring cleaning, I once-again found the X.linkLE and continued my long-abandoned attempt at acquiring the full set of Axio LE editing hardware. As luck would have it, there were affordable listings for the Axio LE card, analog audio cable bracket, and a compatible D-Sub (DB-26) cable on eBay.

With the help of a few RCA-to-XLR, RCA-to-SDI, and Component-to-HDMI adapters, I was able to launch and use the Matrox AV Tools. This opened up the opportunity for me to capture, stream, and view live audio/video from my fat PS2.

The rest of this post will serve as an archive of information on the Axio LE editing hardware and as my own personal documentation. It will be updated as I continue to experiment with and learn about it.

Warning: Do not attempt to use the Matrox CompressHD card in newer versions of Windows. It has some sort of incompatibility, and it is likely to cause repeating BSODs (Blue Screens of Death) with a PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA message. The only way I was able to recover from this was to do a system restore to before the device was plugged-in for the first time.

Until I acquire another computer to run an earlier version of Windows on, I will be unable to document interactions between the Matrox CompressHD and Matrox Axio LE hard/software. As far as I am aware, the CompressHD card allows for capture of h.264 footage from the X.linkLE breakout box.

Hardware

Axio LE Card

A diagram of the Axio LE PCI Card.
A diagram of the Axio LE PCI Card.

Analog Audio Cable Bracket

A diagram of the Axio LE PCI Card alongside the Analog Audio Cable Bracket.
A diagram of the Axio LE PCI Card alongside the Analog Audio Cable Bracket.

X.linkLE Breakout Box

A diagram showing the front and back of the X.linkLE.
A diagram showing the front and back of the X.linkLE.

The following list contains direct links to sections of the Matrox Axio Installation and User Guide, which correspond to the settings menus within the Matrox AV Tools software. Various helpful sections are also given at the beginning of this list.

Downloads