Finding the Solution
To solve this problem, Ryerson invested in the Matrox Monarch HD H.264 encoder.
Monarch HD’s pre-configurable settings let the technical team create profiles for different needs far in advance, eliminating the stress of last minute adjustments. They simply log into the Monarch HD Command Center webpage, select a profile, and the unit is ready to go.
According to Ayromlou, he no longer has to spend his time training students and solving technical problems.
“The main thing we like about the Monarch HD is the fact that it’s easy and can be operated by just about anybody,” he says.
Setting up the Webcast
The main production facility houses the IT infrastructure and the news station, while the sports studio is located up the street at the Mattamy Centre.
All are connected through fiber optics. Each facility has a 72×72 video router and a large DANTE audio-over-IP network. These facilities are interconnected, so the feeds can be mixed and matched as needed.
In the new setups, a camera and microphone produce an HD-SDI output with embedded audio, which goes through an SDI-to-HDMI converter to the Monarch HD. The setup is similar for both the news and sports studios; only the delivery destinations differ, either a Wowza server or CDN.
In both environments, the HDMI output from the Monarch HD is fed to a 24-inch standard flat panel to monitor the feed and make sure it is working. Monarch HD provides the option to save files to a variety of recording media types including a shared network drive, USB drive or SD card, which makes it easy to store recordings in a way that works for everyone.
News webcasts are done at 4 Mbps and routinely recorded on SD cards with an average file size less than 4 GB for the one-hour show. Professors can revisit their journalism students’ news segments at the end of the semester for grading purposes.
The Ryerson Rams Athletic Club uses Monarch HD to provide live streams of sporting events to Stretch Internet, a CDN platform for athletic webcasts from universities across Canada. The live webcasts are also available from the Ryerson Rams web page. Coaches use Monarch HD’s high quality MP4 recordings to review performance post-game.
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