Bitcentral‘s Précis Digital News Production System Integrates with Matrox for Multiformat Playout
With Matrox‘s X.mio card, Bitcentral may now play to air MXF, DV, MPEG 2/4, WMV and MOV files natively without transcoding, significantly reducing time to air
Montreal, Canada, April 1, 2008 - Matrox® Video Products Group today announced that Bitcentral, Inc. has integrated the Matrox X.mio card, part of the Matrox DSX™ family of developer products, as the hardware engine for Précis, its revolutionary digital news production system. Précis delivers a fully integrated, end-to-end, open architecture solution that eliminates videotape and dozens of costly, time-consuming steps in the news management workflow. Broadcast news stations, such as WINK-TV in Ft. Myers, FL, greatly benefit from Précis‘ unique features.
“After a flurry of demos and presentations, we decided on the Précis system from Bitcentral, said John Emmert, Director of Technology and Special Projects at WINK-TV. “Station management felt Précis offered by far the best value, largest overall feature set and was easily the most adaptable system available. Précis, combined with a leading editing system, is able to ingest and utilize just about every video format easily without users having to go through any special conversion process.”
“Our solid partnership with Matrox is truly an alliance for the future of news production,” said John King, Vice President of Engineering at Bitcentral. “Matrox is an industry leader in innovative video applications, engines and I/O cards - and they possess a special understanding of the evolution of video. The addition of the X.mio card dramatically enhances the interoperability of our Précis system by supporting a broader range of video file formats and data rates.”
While in the past, systems were strictly limited to the MPEG-2 format for ingest and playout, Matrox‘s hardware engine now allows the Précis system to embrace non-proprietary MXF, DV and MPEG-4 formats, as well as proprietary MXF, XDCAM and P2 formats natively.
“Our systems now offer unmatched flexibility, further reinforcing our commitment to non-proprietary, open architecture solutions that are adaptable for any situation and any requirements a news station may have,” added King. “This paves the way for future shooting and editing in different formats, as well as the archiving and preservation of these files in their original formats. We are very pleased to partner with Matrox for an unbeatable combined solution.”
At NAB 2008, Bitcentral‘s solutions will be displayed in booth SL7720. The Matrox DSX product line will be demonstrated in booth SL320.
About Précis
Précis allows broadcasters to produce, manage and distribute stories across multiple platforms. Whether it‘s HD or SD TV, mobile phones, websites, video on demand, 24-hour or dedicated news channels - Précis integrates with them all, making it easy to distribute stories simultaneously to anyone and everyone, anytime and anywhere, all at the click of a mouse. Précis also simplifies story management by using a single interface for national and local stories. The all file-based workflow is browser based and highly scalable, with virtually no limits on the number of users that can access the system. The system delivers an integrated on-line archive with inexpensive commodity storage for SD or HD video content, as well as provides stations with a complete “eco-system,” featuring full integration with iNews, ENPS and editing software of choice, including Canopus Edius, Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple Final Cut Pro.
About Matrox DSX Developer Products
The Matrox DSX product line combines a full range of professional audio and video hardware components with comprehensive Windows XP- and Linux-based Software Development Kits (SDK) that enable OEMs and developers to create a wide variety of cost-effective products and applications including ingest/playout servers, broadcast graphics systems, NLE systems, automation and master control units, multi-layer compositors, and medical media servers. The open architecture Matrox DSX platforms leverage scalable CPU and GPU power in conjunction with high performance hardware to lead the industry in I/O density, native codec support, file format versatility, and on-board processing capability.
Key features of the Matrox DSX platforms:
• Modular architecture gives developers the flexibility to meet technical and price targets
• Multi-channel HD and SD video/audio I/O support from a single card
• Extensive native codec support in HD and SD including DV, D10 for IMX, HDV™, DVCPRO HD, MPEG-2 4:2:2, MPEG-2 4:2:2:4 YUVA, MPEG HD for XDCAM HD, H.264, and AVC-Intra for P2
• Cross platform file format support - MXF, MOV, AVI, MPG, etc.
• Multi-layer on-board HD scaler/compositor
• Professional realtime effects including sub-pixel 2D/3D DVE, color correction, chroma/luma keying, graphics overlay, smooth speed changes, etc.
• Application development support by a team of dedicated, experienced engineers
About Bitcentral, Inc.
Bitcentral provides innovative solutions that transform the management, production and distribution of the news. Established in 1987, Bitcentral delivers cutting-edge turnkey systems that combine proven broadcast and network computing technologies to enable end-to-end digital workflows. With a growing suite of solutions, Bitcentral changes the way broadcast news does business. Bitcentral is headquartered in Irvine, CA.
For further information, contact Charlie Grisham at Bitcentral, Inc. at: 18872 Bardeen Avenue, Irvine, CA 92612; Phone: (949) 417-4152; Fax: (949) 474-1885 or visit the company‘s website at www.bitcentral.com.
About Matrox
Matrox Video Products Group is a technology and market leader in the field of HD and SD digital video hardware and software for realtime editing, DVD authoring, capture/playout servers, clip/still stores, and CGs. Matrox's Emmy award-winning technology powers a full range of content creation and delivery platforms used by broadcasters, post-production facilities, project studios, corporate communicators, and videographers worldwide. Founded in 1976, Matrox is a privately held company headquartered in Montreal, Canada. For more information, visit www.matrox.com/video.
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Media Contact:
Andrew De Lara
CHAN & ASSOCIATES, INC.
Ph: 714.447.4993, x105
Email: andrew@chanandassoc.com
Matrox is a registered trademark and Matrox DSX is a trademark of Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged.
