Matrox Monarch Streams Universities’ Content to Students and Social
By Jim Bask
Two universities in the US are using Matrox Monarch encoders, with multiple-channel and simultaneous stream/record options, to live stream and record events and lectures to their students, social media platforms and campus websites. They have been able to take on these new capabilities with the same production staff numbers, in fewer hours, and increase their audiences.
Oklahoma State University (OSU) operates a video portal called OStateTV that captures and live streams events ranging from graduation ceremonies, performances and sports, to various speakers and seminars hosted on campus. The portal has produced over 1,000 videos and delivers about 100 live streams in a year.
While OStateTV functions as a central video resource, the university also wanted to widen its audience through social media platforms like Facebook Live and YouTube. Their existing equipment – a content management system (CMS) and turnkey video production units – did not allow them the flexibility to live stream to multiple platforms in parallel.
Social Streaming
Knowing they would need dual-encoding hardware, and also aware of their limited staff and budget, they looked for a single, straightforward device that wouldn’t add steps to their live-stream workflow, and was affordable and portable. Because they had already been using Matrox products in earlier workflows, the university first checked out the Monarch HDX dual-channel H.264 hardware encoder, and stayed with it.
The university owns several Sony cameras and camcorders and a variety of portable video production switchers, resulting in both HDMI and SDI inputs to the encoder depending on the event the OStateTV team is covering. A single speaker might only output a basic one-camera stream, but pageants and assemblies involve a multi-camera live stream. The Monarch HDX encoders can be used in all types of production including outside broadcast trucks for live streaming of college sports.
At the university, the Monarch HDX is connected to a Gigabit Ethernet switch and the LAN. Taking inputs from the video production switcher, the Monarch HDX is the principal encoder that enables simultaneous streaming to different platforms such as Facebook Live and YouTube, as well as their own video portal at 720p resolution, and at bitrates from 1 to 5 Mbps…[continue reading]