The world has seen an increase in productions requiring external and/or remote contribution, and with this comes a need to find innovative solutions for encoding and decoding, always considering three main aspects: Bitrate, Quality and Latency.
As we consider these three aspects, we turn the attention to the Matrox Monarch EDGE encoders and decoders.
When it comes to bitrates and quality, Matrox equipped the Monarch EDGE with an H.264 optimized engine, which assists in lowering and keeping the bitrate low, without sacrificing the image quality. In cases where the quality of the stream is key, this equipment supports encoding of up to 120 Mbps. The encoder allows sending up to four inputs across, with a resolution of up to 1080p60 or one single input of up to 2160p60, when using the high definition 4:2:2 H.264 profile. This ability to send the same input in various resolutions is useful when monitoring the signal remotely.
It’s at this point that most ask the question about latency. In live productions, the latency for transporting high definition signals can highly impact remote productions. The sync between the audio and video signals are tough to secure and the return signals tend to stay behind what is happening on location, which in turn affects the work and team interaction.
With a glass-to-glass latency that can reach as low as 100ms between the video input in the encoder and the video output on the decoder, the Monarch EDGE can reach one of the lowest latency levels in the market when considering 1GbE networks.
In terms of device syncing, the Monarch EDGE are connected to a single clock and every stream gets a timestamp which allows the decoder to align the streams on the output.
All things considered, Matrox suggests that the connected cameras have the genlock feature active for better performance.
For cases where a physical synchronizer is not available onsite, the Monarch EDGE comes equipped with a jack output for genlock, which sends out a signal for all cameras.
Beyond all the advantages we outline here, this Matrox solution comes with flexible streaming protocols for use during remote productions. In closed networks you can use MPEG-2 TS or RTSP, however, for cloud destinations or when the network is congested, the SRT protocol would be the most appropriate.
The Monarch EDGE encoder/decoder also comes ready for connecting the tally signals, providing that the tally system is supported by the vision mixer and is configured on the decoder’s side. These devices support up to 8 tally signals, which when connected to the decoder, can be sent out to the encoder’s output, which are in turn connected to the cameras. These devices also come equipped with two balanced inputs and outputs for use with intercom systems.
Both the encoder and the decoder come equipped with flexible connectivity options, which are ready for the future, supporting 3G and 12G SDI, and soon to receive a firmware update which will allow for ST2110 connections over 25GbE networks.
The encoders and decoders are compact and easy to use, having been conceived to be the most reliable. The front screen on the devices, allows the user to quickly have access to the status and settings. One of the greatest advantages with the Monarch EDGE is that they can be controlled remotely, using the Monarch EDGE Control Hub. This software provides the users access to a global overview of all the devices on the network and gives them full control via a simple interface.
In summary, this Matrox kit is ideal for expanding your production studio to remote locations, via a local network. The Monarch EDGE can process encoding for up to 4 cameras using HD and SDI-3G sources. However, where needed, it is possible to connect 4K SDI-12G signals or quad SDI-3G for sending out a full-4K stream. Given it’s compact nature, these devices can easily be packed into a fly-pack or onto a second unit on a 1RU-rack compartment.