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The other interesting aspect of this technology is that it isn’t exclusive to Matrox – this 3D head technology was created by DigiMask. The programs required to create and view these heads are available on their website for anyone to use. Further, it is difficult to tell from the G550’s specs whether the HeadCasting Engine is actually a hardware component or a function of the drivers. The closest thing I found was the line referring to it being at the heart of the G550 chip, but I have a hard time believing Matrox would build the rest of the chip around a component that renders a talking head. Especially when one of the default heads looks like this:

Could you imagine sealing a business deal while communicating with a head like this? Unless I am missing the point, I am left to conclude that the HeadCasting is no more than a novelty, which isn’t a negative reflection on the card or the technology – just the marketing behind the Millennium G550.

If there is a hardware component to the HeadCasting technology (which there must be somewhere on the card), it would seem to me to be much more practical if it purpose was more broad in that it could also be used to accelerate matrix-based skinning within games as well.

One novel aspect of the technology is being able to use your own face within games and virtual communities (the latter of which I never got into (no pun intended) but I know some people who dig them). To my knowledge this currently isn’t possible, I am sure it eventually will be.

DualHead is surely the most attractive feature on the Millennium G550, giving rise to a whole new way of working. The extra width or extra height can open new doors when working with huge spreadsheets, graphing applications, music sequencers, etc… The second display can be configured to perform several different functions as can be seen in the expanded version of the left-most picture below.

MultiDisplay: extra wide or extra long, you decide

Clone: an identical copy of the primary display

Zoom: a magnified portion of the screen that can scroll with the mouse

DVDMax: watch DVD movies on a separate monitor or a television This is what MultiDisplay looks like when it is working:

This was taken with a resolution of 2048 x 768 – twice the width of 1024 x 768 split between two monitors. So much workspace… dr00l…

The next two options, Clone and Zoom, are pretty self explanatory. The fourth, DVDMax, is pretty cool because unlike what you would expect, you can use any DVD player you like (DVDMax worked on both CinePlayer, which is the player that ships with the G550, and PowerDVD 3.0). Simply enable DVDMax, stick in a DVD and booya, you’re hattnin’. The DVD plays in a window in the primary screen as well, but it can be minimized and forgotten so you can continue working away whilst your better half enjoys the latest New Release. And if you make use of the super cool Matrox Multi-Desk, you can even reclaim that taskbar space as though your not running a DVD at all.

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