Matrox Monarch LCS Wins 2016 Innovative Product Award
By Jim Bask
Readers of Sound & Video Contractor Award Matrox’s H.264 Lecture Capture Appliance Top Honors in Streaming Category
MONTREAL — December 22, 2016 — Matrox today announced that the Matrox Monarch LCS™ lecture capture appliance, released in June 2016, has been recognized as one of 2016’s Innovative Products as named by Sound & Video Contractor (S&VC). Determined by S&VC’s readership, the Innovative Product Awards honor electronic and mechanical innovation across the full range of ProAV products.
This honor marks Monarch LCS’s seventh major award win of 2016. The product won Best of Show from Streaming Media, TV Technology, Sound & Video Contractor, and Video Edge at NAB 2016, as well as a Video Innovation Award (VIA) from the British Columbia Professional Videographers Association (BCPVA). In June 2016, it was also named Best of Show by Tech & Learning at InfoComm 2016.
Priced at just $2,495 US, the award-winning Monarch LCS accepts video from any SDI or HDMI camera and presentation content from computers over HDMI. IT administrators will find the reliable, stand-alone appliance simple to set up and integrate into any open Video Management System (VMS) or Lecture Management System (LMS). Fully schedulable, the LCS eliminates the requirement for complex recording equipment in order to capture presentations in lecture halls, enabling lecture capture in any and all classrooms.
A typical Monarch LCS setup consists of video and audio of an instructor and supporting digital material, such as presentation slides, to be mixed into a single recording. The H.264 encoding appliance can be configured in a number of modes that include layouts such as picture-in-picture (PiP) and side-by-side (SbS). Unique is the Monarch LCS’ capability to encode in dual mode, giving the power to dynamically switch between SbS, PiP, or full screen directly to the viewer.
The Monarch LCS’s ability to be programmed to start in a preselected production mode through the educational facility’s scheduling system ensures that, beyond lecture delivery, academic faculty do not need to be involved in the technical aspects of lecture capture. The appliance’s price point and concealable nature allow for integration into every classroom without affecting the behavior of the educator or the experience of the student.
“Thank you to the readers of Sound & Video Contractor for selecting Monarch LCS for this honor. The market is really starting to take notice of this appliance’s powerful, yet cost-effective feature set,” said Francesco Scartozzi, director of sales (Americas). “We feel that the Monarch LCS is an easy-to-use appliance that fits seamlessly into classrooms, houses of worship, corporate environments, or anywhere video needs capturing.”