The word on the street is that Matrox’s MXO2 release has been delayed for a short period of time as they iron out final hardware details, so if you are looking for true HD monitoring for FCP the original MXO looks to be one of the few affordable options out there. Ken Stone has written an extensive and detailed review of the MXO. It’s very informative, both as a review and a setup guide. I highly recommend the read.

The Matrox MXO is available from B&H for under $1000 (currently there are a few refurb units listed as low as $850). The MXO2 is backordered for the time being, you can get your place in line when it ships for $1595. All purchases made via those links help support FreshDV at no additional cost to you.

FreshDV interviewed the MXO2 Product Manager at NAB 2008, you can view that segment here.

UPDATE: Videoguys has posted a detailed FAQ on the Matrox MXO2 that covers basically any question regarding capabilities, configuration, and system requirements. They also compare the featureset to the AJA IoHD, Kona3, Kona LHe, Blackmagic DeckLink HD Extreme, Multibridge Pro, Multbridge Eclipse, and the Motu V4HD.