Monarch LCS Encoder Appliance

Your Ideal Lecture Capture Appliance.
IT administrators will find this reliable, standalone network appliance simple to set up and integrate into any open Video Management System (VMS) or Learning Management System (LMS). Monarch LCS lets you easily define profiles for live streamed and recorded lectures by mixing camera and presentation material from SDI and HDMI sources. Once configured, this versatile H.264 encoding appliance can be operated by anyone at the push of a button. And it won’t break your budget!

SKU: MONARCHLCS
MPN: MHLCS/I

$2,595.00 MSRP
$1,995.00 NEW MSRP

Monarch HD Encoder Appliance

Professional Video Streaming and Recording Appliance.
Matrox Monarch HD is a small, easy-to-use video streaming and recording appliance designed for professional video producers to stream a live event while simultaneously recording a higher, master quality version for post-event editing or archiving. Webcasting to YouTube and Facebook Live is easy for these popular platforms. All that’s needed is to set up the device once with these accounts and it’s automatically retained for subsequent streams.

SKU: MONARCH
MPN: MHD/I

$999.00 MSRP

Monarch HDX Encoder Appliance

Dual-Channel H.264 Encoder for Broadcast Streaming and Recording.
The Matrox Monarch HDX is a simple and versatile video encoding appliance specifically designed for broadcasters and webcasters who need a flexible solution that is powerful enough to take on today’s demanding webcasting and recording workflows. Monarch HDX offers 3G-SDI and HDMI inputs with frame-synchronization to correct any discontinuity at the input, and two independent H.264 encoders that can be assigned to individual tasks. 

SKU: MONARCHHDX
MPN: MHDX/I

$1,395.00 MSRP

“We are looking forward to learning from and contributing to the community at SVG and working together to drive the future of sports-video technology,” says Alberto Cieri, senior director, sales and marketing, Matrox Video.

The Matrox Monarch family of products have become a staple for the company. The Matrox Monarch EDGE 4K UHD/multi-HD powers some of the most engaging sports-video workflows. Monarch EDGE delivers resolutions up to 3840x2160p60 or quad 1920x1080p60 — n 4:2:0 8-bit or 4:2:2 10-bit video — while offering flexible 3G/12G-SDI and SMPTE ST 2110 25 GbE connectivity with multi-protocol streaming options. The Matrox Monarch HDX is a simple and versatile dual-channel H.264 video-encoding appliance with SDI and HDMI inputs that is specifically designed for broadcasters and webcasters who need a flexible solution powerful enough to take on today’s demanding webcasting and recording workflows.

“With our latest generation of encoding products,” Cieri says, “we are not only trying to broaden the reach of the workflows we have traditionally enabled but are now also creating new tools in order to lower the cost of high-quality sporting-event production.”

The Monarch family also simplifies efficient production of live web streams. The Matrox Monarch LCS video-encoding appliance makes live webcasting simple, delivering high-quality streams to Facebook Live, YouTube, or a favorite online video platform (OVP) with multicamera production values, without operator assistance. Monarch LCS supports productions with two HDMI video sources or with one SDI and one HDMI video source. The Matrox Monarch HD is a small, easy-to-use video-streaming and -recording appliance designed for professional video producers to stream a live event from any HDMI input source while recording a higher, master-quality version for post-event editing or archiving.

Recently, Matrox has been involved with numerous universities and international sports entities, including the Universidad La Salle, FIBA’s AEK Basketball Club, and the University of Dallas.

Says Cieri, “We are committed to remaining at the forefront of industry developments by powering new video innovations, like multi-angle and 4K UHD high-frame-rate webcasting and remote production, that allow sports-rights owners to deliver new and immersive viewing experiences while also making it affordable enough to cover more events with smaller staff.”

Check out the full article HERE

Learn more about Matrox HERE

Overview

The Super Bowl draws in over a hundred million viewers, making it not only the largest event of the year for American football fans, but for the press as well. Every year, media outlets from around the country travel to the host city and set up in a venue dedicated to the press, all of whom broadcast live coverage simultaneously from one location. Coined “Radio Row”, this weeklong promotional event leads up to the Super Bowl game on Sunday, and gives all attending media a chance to interview with current and former football players, sports commentators, and celebrities. For the past twenty years, sister radio stations KTBB 97.5 FM News & Talk and KRWR 92.1 FM The Team Sports Radio have covered the Super Bowl from Radio Row. After years of traditional audio coverage, KTBB and KRWR were among the first radio stations to bring video equipment to the Super Bowl convention center. Paul Gleiser, owner and operator of KTBB and KRWR, wanted to move to a live platform to capture his interviews in a completely new way, and provide his audience with a more visually engaging experience.

Super Bowl Stadium Pre-Game

A new (hardware) formation

For a number of years, KTBB and KRWR recorded video interviews from a single camera and then uploaded the content to their websites and YouTube channels for video on demand (VOD) consumption. In preparation for the 51st Super Bowl, the stations wanted to provide an even better viewing experience with a multi-camera interview setup that would switch between the guest and host, all while streaming live to a social media platform.

Paul Gleiser researched video switcher and encoder options and discovered a bundle from a photo and video equipment retailer. The package included the Matrox® Monarch HD encoder appliance and a Roland® V-1HD video switcher. With the hardware bundle, KTBB and KRWR could simultaneously stream and record, and reach their social media followers through Facebook Live. “For us, the bundle was key for what we were trying to do,” exclaimed Gleiser. “Doing a live multi-camera shoot, and being able to record it at the same time—it was perfect!”

Establishing a game plan Super Bowl LI was fast approaching, and the Monarch encoder and V-1HD switcher were scheduled to arrive only 10 days before the event. As soon as the bundle arrived, Gleiser contacted Matrox’s support team to ensure a smooth setup for the event. “I was so impressed with Matrox’s tech support team. Not only did they help us transition from the single- to dual-camera platform, but they also followed up to make sure everything was going well,” says Gleiser. “An exemplary experience—beyond anything I have experienced from a tech company in a long, long time.” The installation included a two-camera configuration—one camera focused on the guest, and the second towards the host. HDMI outputs from both cameras, and a laptop (to generate lower-third graphics) were connected to the Roland V-1HD switcher. Another HDMI cable connected the switcher to the Monarch HD appliance. An audio mixer was used to capture sound from two microphones positioned near the guest and host. An analog connection was then made from the mixer to the Monarch HD’s analog stereo input via 1/8” jack. Streaming and recording destinations as well as encoding parameters such as resolution and bitrate were simple and intuitive for Paul’s team to configure using the web-based Monarch Command Center. With minimal set-up time and production costs, KTBB and KRWR were ready to broadcast.

Matrox Monarch HD Command Center

It’s not just football here at Super Bowl LI

Live, multi-angled video interviews are now streamed in 720p directly to Facebook Live via RTMP, with laptop-generated “title” graphics superimposed onto the webcast in real time; these titles display the interviewee’s name, the interview topic, sponsor information, and the like. VOD content is simultaneously recorded in higher-quality 1080p on to the SD card inserted in the Monarch HD. Interviews are captured in a single live shot by switching between the two cameras, and once encoded, are immediately available for editing without the need to transcode. This makes for a quick and seamless post-production turnaround involving a simple trimming exercise in Adobe® Premiere® Pro at the beginning and end of each interview. Interviews are then uploaded to the stations’ YouTube channels, with the YouTube links embedded within their respective websites.

Game-changing results

KTBB and KRWR are continuing to expand the frontiers of what fans can expect from their favorite radio stations. At one time, it was unthinkable that a station on Radio Row would even consider video. Today, thanks to the bundle that features the Matrox Monarch HD encoder, they can webcast multi-camera, fully integrated, broadcast-quality video interviews to Facebook Live, or various other video hosting platforms, and record for VOD.

Encouraged by the positive experience using Monarch HD at Super Bowl LI, the stations have since used the products to cover various high-profile corporate functions and political events, including live video coverage of the 2016 US Presidential Election. Gleiser already plans to use Monarch HD to cover next year’s Super Bowl and is excited about the future possibilities the complete solution has to offer. Gleiser enthuses, “With the two video cameras that we already own, the switcher, and the exemplary Monarch HD—we can go live anywhere! It is pretty amazing.”

About Monarch HD

Matrox Monarch HD takes an HDMI input from a source such as a camera and generates an encoded stream compliant with IP protocols (RTSP or RTMP). While encoding the video at bitrates suitable for live streaming, it can simultaneously record a high-quality file (MP4 or MOV) to an SD card, a USB drive, or a network-mapped drive.

Consistently ranked in the top ten programs by U.S. News and World Report, and recently gaining the #5 spot, Purdue University’s prestigious online master’s in engineering program provides working professionals the flexibility they need to complete their studies. Striving to give its distance students a genuine on-campus experience, the school captures every engineering lecture held in its classrooms, Monday through Friday, between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. These are then delivered as digital lectures via video on demand. Distance students are able to watch a live stream of a lecture in real time, or download a high- or low-resolution video within 20 minutes after the class ends, thanks in big part to the Matrox® Monarch encoders.

Classroom lecture capture in progress

Purdue University’s multimedia setup for lecture capture

Researching Encoder Options Carl Black, Purdue University’s multimedia production manager, was tasked with researching hardware encoder options to live stream lectures in their new engineering distance learning facility. With a goal of finding an easy way to stream live video, and needing a scheduling mechanism, he hoped a standalone appliance would meet his requirements versus adding another computer and having to configure the hardware and software. This is when he came across the comprehensive Matrox Monarch HD H.264 hardware encoder—priced under $1000, it met all his criteria.

Close Examination Distance students in the “digital campus” face the same challenging curriculum and exams as in-class students. Digital lectures, through exceptional streaming and recording, help replicate the vibrant in-class experience and assist them in learning. To produce these digital lectures, each engineering classroom is equipped with two pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras that feed audio and video signals via SDI to a video switcher located in an operator room. A production engineer from the operator room produces the audio and six video sources—two PTZ cameras trained on the lecturer, one document camera, and two laptops and a computer with presentation material—to be sent for lecture capture. The resulting output from the switcher serves as the input for the Monarch HD encoder. Every lecture being unique, it is captured and streamed at different resolutions and bitrates, to suit the varying needs of the distance students.

The Monarch HD’s API utility, Monarch HD Dev Tools

Rigorous Testing and Assessment

Playing a pivotal role in Purdue University’s contemporary multimedia production setup, the Monarch HD sends a 1280 x 720, full frame rate, RTMP stream to a Wowza Media Server while simultaneously recording at a higher 1920 x 1080 resolution to a network mapped drive. As Monarch HD can record MP4 or MOV files to a locally attached SD card or USB drive, or to a network mapped drive, the recording bitrate is not tied to the streaming bandwidth limitation and can be set much higher. For instance, when streaming at 2 Mbps, the recording bitrate can be set way above, at up to 28 Mbps. Since the Monarch-encoded files don’t need transcoding, they are immediately ready to be transferred to the appropriate watch folder/server to provide higher-resolution digital lectures than the stream and archive.

With the support of Monarch HD’s application programming interface (API), the Monarch HD Dev Tools, a sophisticated automation scheduler application developed by Purdue University controls the operations for scheduled events. For ad-hoc recordings, a third-party controller starts and stops the operations by making API calls to the Monarch HD encoders.

Pass with Flying Colors

“When we moved to our new engineering facility, we wanted to upgrade to an all-in-solution,” says Joshua Brown, multimedia production engineer at Purdue University. “The Monarch HD encoder makes it possible to have a recording completely ready to go and at our disposal as soon as the lecture is over. It simplifies streaming and archiving, and offers tremendous flexibility.”

The school’s successful online platform through streaming and video on demand (VOD) of lectures has opened up new opportunities and strengthened its bottom line through a wider network of global applicants. Working professionals now have the freedom to learn at their convenience—resulting in better retention, a lower learning curve, and a generally more rewarding distance learning experience.

Continuing Education

Purdue is in the process of exploring the Monarch LCS, an H.264 encoding appliance specifically designed by Matrox for classroom lecture capture. With dual inputs supporting SDI and HDMI, an inbuilt scheduler, and several layout options, the Monarch LCS lecture capture appliance can provide even more flexibility for Purdue University’s ever-growing distance learning initiatives.

About Monarch HD

Matrox Monarch HD takes an HDMI input from a source such as a camera and generates an encoded stream compliant with IP protocols (RTSP or RTMP). While encoding the video at bitrates suitable for live streaming, it can simultaneously record a high-quality file (MP4 or MOV) to an SD card, a USB drive, or a network-mapped drive.

Court reporters are the eyes and ears of the legal team, capturing detailed transcripts and records of official legal proceedings. The quality and reliability of their work is integral to the judicial process.

The team at Huney-Vaughn Court Reporters prides themselves on being Iowa’s largest court reporting firm with a core staff of ten certified reporters servicing attorneys and legal teams from across the United States from the three Huney-Vaughn offices. The firm was the first in Iowa to computerize, bridging stenography skills with videoconferencing and deposition recording capabilities. To maintain their leading technological edge, Huney-Vaughn continues to seek out optimal resources, such as the Matrox® Monarch™ HD, to ensure the highest calibre court reporting for their clients.

Video Brief

As part of pre-trial preparations, attorneys request depositions and collect statements from witnesses to trial events and from experts who can contribute testimony to the case. These depositions are oral accounts that are later reproduced as written documents as part of trial discovery. Depositions commonly take place outside of the court and are not overseen by the presiding judge for the case. Consequently, the recording quality of the deposition video is tantamount, for there is but a single opportunity to capture a quality video recording, with no chance for retakes or do-overs. Recognizing this need, Huney-Vaughn sought a solution that offered optimal recording and live streaming capabilities with fail-safe measures to back up each recording for posterity.

Exhibit A: Streaming and Recording Solution

Prior to the changeover, Huney-Vaughn recorded and streamed live contents from a laptop with a built-in webcam. This set-up was less than ideal, offering limited ability to zoom in on the speaking witness or expert; moreover, if the streaming stopped or the recording failed because of the laptop not being able to keep up, this would be detrimental to the deposition. Huney-Vaughn sought a reliable appliance with built-in stream and record capabilities, instead of a laptop.

Huney-Vaughn became aware of Matrox’s offerings through the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA), the leading educational and informational resource for members of the legal community; after scrupulous study of available hardware and software options, the firm selected the Matrox Monarch HD streaming and recording appliance. The versatile, cost-efficient solution integrated seamlessly into Huney-Vaughn’s corporate workflow.

With the Monarch HD, videographers have the ability to stream and record simultaneously, ensuring the one-time deposition opportunity is capitalized upon. High-quality H.264 video is recorded as MP4 or MOV files; the Monarch HD’s deinterlacing and scaling engines produce superior footage with every recording. A file splitting feature is also available in the Monarch HD. While file splitting is not currently part of their workflow, Huney-Vaughn likes knowing this fail-safe feature is available if they need in the future.

The device can record digital video files at bitrates up to 30 Mbps (when recording without streaming) before saving the files to an SD card. This back-up system provides the assurance Huney-Vaughn needs; as Andrea Kreutz, manager of IT services, notes, “The last thing you want is to lose the video you’ve worked so hard to record.”

The Monarch HD also generates an H.264-encoded, RMTP-compliant stream at bitrates up to a maximum of 20 Mbps. These streaming capabilities means attorneys can conduct depositions from remote offices—thus saving on travel time and costs—while the deponents are present at one of the three Huney-Vaughn offices located in Des Moines, Davenport, and Council Bluffs. Depositions are broadcast via LiveDeposition.com, a cloud-based text-and-video streaming service.

The Set Up

Monarch HD appliances are installed in Huney-Vaughn conference rooms; on-device buttons allow easy control of start/stop operations. The input to the Monarch HD is the HDMI output of an HDMI Panasonic camcorder, while the Monarch HD’s HDMI output is used to preview on a Delvcam monitor, ensuring the camera signal is framed and focused correctly. The rack-mounted QSC TouchMix-8 mixer handles the audio from the four Lavalier and two conference microphones situated in each room. The audio mixers output is sent to the Monarch HD’s audio input.

A compact yet powerful appliance, the Monarch HD makes life simple for court videographers, who need only to configure the Monarch HD once; afterwards, with a single push of the button, the Monarch HD is streaming and recording to pre-specified encoding parameters.

The Verdict

With the Monarch HD in place, Huney-Vaughn makes a solid case for their position as an industry leader in court recording. High-quality video recordings are integral for deposition testimonies, and the results obtained with the Monarch HD streaming and recording appliance are unparalleled. The older laptop and webcam set-up was limited, a situation greatly improved by the Monarch HD and its ability to dial in the quality of recordings, as videographers are now able to control professional video camera and equipment, producing the clear, well-framed deposition videos Huney-Vaughn require. Live streaming contents means increased efficiency and cost reduction when attorneys can conduct and view depositions remotely.

“The Monarch HD is the first dedicated streaming/recording appliance our firm has used and we could not be happier,” says Andrea Kreutz. “Its installation was simple to integrate into our conference room environment. Most importantly for a busy firm, we were live in less than 15 minutes. The jury is in: we have found a perfect streaming and recording solution at an attractive price point.”

Click here to watch on Youtube.

Guildford School of Acting Streams Performances Right on Cue with Matrox Monarch HD

The Ivy Arts Centre on University of Surrey Campus where the productions, that are also streamed using Matrox Monarch HD, take place.

In general, art and theatre patrons are keen to view and support manifold performances. The dilemma they face on which performances to pick and travel to attend is reduced to an extent by the ability to view the live streams of these same shows from across the world. Guildford School of Acting (GSA) is the arts and performance hub at the University of Surrey, one of the most highly regarded theatre schools in the UK and arguably the foremost musical theatre school in the world. GSA trains performers and technical theatre artists and produces around 40 public-facing live events every year in genres including theatre, musical theatre, dance, music and performance art.

Auditions and Selection

Matrox Monarch HD H.264 encoder in operation at the Comrade Rockstar show launch by the Guildford School of Acting.

For the launch of their musical, Comrade Rockstar—written and produced in-house and performed in GSA’s main theatre, the Ivy Arts Centre—GSA worked towards streaming the event live to guests worldwide. These guests were interested in developing the production but were unable to make it to the launch. By selecting the Matrox Monarch™ HDstreaming and recording appliance, GSA was able to stream the entire two-hour sold-out show with a seating capacity of 200 to viewers located all over the globe, and almost doubled its audience. Chris Watling, digital media specialist at the University of Surrey says, “We had looked at other disjointed systems—for example, adding recording devices into our setup—but really wanted the simplicity of an all-in-one solution that the Matrox Monarch HD presented. We were looking at taking away the computer from the streaming process; having a dedicated box that can stream and record was attractive to us as it frees up other resources and reduces set-up time.”

Rehearsals and Staging

The 18m x 18m Ivy Arts Centre theatre has a 48-port Category 5 patch bay for connecting to cameras and other devices. A JVC GY-HM150E camera is attached to a grid and a host of other cameras are added as needed. GSA normally sets its cameras to output 1080p25 or 720p50 with the encoding setting in the Monarch HD matching this. For the Comrade Rockstar webcast, GSA used a 4K vision mixer to switch between four cameras and a computer feed from a Mac Pro® that dealt with graphics and intermission. GSA took a mixed stereo feed from the sound desk straight into the vision mixer which was passed to the Monarch HD for high-quality audio representation of the live band and vocals.

Act 1, Scene 1

GSA webcasted Comrade Rockstar to external audiences using Monarch HD’s RTMP protocol, at around 8 Mbps (including high-quality audio). For streaming within the building—to dressing rooms for example, so that the cast can see how the show is progressing and not miss their cues—RTSP protocol was used. Here the bit rate was set lower at 1 Mbps to ensure stream reliability since quality was not as paramount. Being GSA’s first major foray into live streaming, they experimented with different streaming providers; originally thinking of YouTube, they settled on HitBox due to problems with access to YouTube in Germany. Besides streaming, GSA also uses the Monarch HD in its theatre as a recording-for-archive system, recording at 5 Mbps. The Monarch HD’s versatile developer application programming interface (API) was used to easily automate the recording of shows. Previously, GSA had to manually deal with hard-to-access cameras connected to the ceiling grid for recording. GSA also records all practise-based assessments in the school (hundreds per year) which are archived and shared via its lecture capture and virtual learning environment (VLE) platforms. Currently on the lookout for a more flexible system to capture classroom activity, GSA is evaluating the Matrox Monarch LCS appliance, which is specifically designed for lecture capture.

Brilliant Performance, Standing Ovation

Into the Woods, a show performed by Guildford School of Acting students, recorded using the Matrox Monarch HD streaming and recording appliance for archiving and sharing for assessment purposes

With the Monarch HD’s API, GSA has automated its streaming and recording schedules. Watling remarked, “The Matrox Monarch HD has helped to take the mystery out of streaming. No longer do we need to dedicate a complex computer-based solution to our streaming setups. We can approach streaming proposals with confidence and also use the recording features of the Monarch HD to add further value. This means that we can capture and distribute more content with less work. We are also able to leave people who are non-tech savvy in charge of capturing our performances and even running a basic stream themselves.”

Encore

GSA is considering using Monarch HD to expand capacity, offering a live stream to the box office foyer for those absent from the theatre, or even possibly creating a screening room for a second audience when performances take place in smaller, limited-capacity studios and there is overwhelming demand for tickets.

Small, private, cozy rooms. Cameras on. Lights on. As senior psychology students delve into the secret minds and emotions of their patients, the interactions are streamed live to distant observation rooms where supervisors unobtrusively view the sessions in progress. At the same time, they are recorded to a secure, remote network location for later review.

UQAM is a French-language public university in Montreal, Canada with international outreach that provides unique programs and advanced research often linked with social concerns. The Centre de Services Psychologiques (CSP) clinic offers one such program where senior students acting as interns consult with real patients. Every session in the CSP’s 23 consultation rooms is recorded for medico-legal policy adherence and training purposes.

Since the consultations are considered medical acts, privacy is a main concern for the center. With their prior recording setups in every room of an analog SD camera connected to a DVD writer or a game capture device with a USB key, privacy protection was not assured. Other problems included faulty DVDs and USB devices, poor quality audio and video, and accidental loss of data, which made for an unreliable media system. These issues impelled UQAM to consider new ways of acquiring and managing their media.

“We checked out the specifications of many devices, ranging from in-computer encoder cards to self-contained devices and found the Matrox Monarch HD interesting for this project. We initially looked at it as an equivalent to the game capture devices, since it could record directly to a USB drive and had a fairly unbeatable price point. We soon realized, however, that its remote recording capability was the key to solving our privacy problem,” said Dominic Besner, Director of Operations, Audiovisual and Multimedia Technical Support at UQAM….[continue reading]

Release 2.1.6.0013 features solutions to specific customer issues, compatibility with the latest supported applications, and improvements to product stability—including but not limited to:

• RTSP streaming operations (general).
• Optimization to file-sharing (path parsing) on Linux systems.
• Network File System (NFS) file recording capabilities and better path validation.
• Fixed issues with locating recorded files on an NTFS drive.
• Fixed stability issues of Monarch HD Dev tools (firmware and API)

Click here to download the update

The Matrox Monarch product line has been building a brand of strong recognition and a high perceived value since it started shipping. By not adhering to the established Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) a reseller can have a dramatic effect of diminishing or detracting from the perceived value of the Matrox Monarch brand. The internet, with its worldwide impact, has the possibility to cause great harm to any companies’ products, if they are advertised at prices that will eliminate any legitimate competition. Our MAP pricing policy is intended for consumers to purchase from other resellers based on loyalty and customer care expectations. Therefore, if Matrox recognizes you as an authorized dealer, you will need to agree and abide by the following requirements and restrictions. 

The MAP policy shall work under the following guidelines: 

* All prices are in US Dollars 

• The MAP policy applies to all advertisements of Matrox Monarch products in any and all media, including, but not limited to, flyers, posters, coupons,mailers, inserts, newspapers, magazines, catalogs,mailorder catalogs, Internet or similar electronic media, and public signage.
•  If pricing is displayed any strike-through or other alteration of the Minimum Advertised Price is prohibited. 

The MAP policy is designed to ensure dealers have the incentive to invest resources into services for Matrox customers.    

Dealers found violating MAP will have their authorized status revoked and no longer have access to Matrox Monarch products through distribution.