Matrox® Video Products Group today announced support for Softron Media Services’ MovieRecorder ingest application and OnTheAir Video playout application with the Matrox MXO2 I/O device for the Mac. Softron’s products provide all the functionality needed to run a TV station on a Mac. They are in use at news and sports broadcasters, educational institutions, religious broadcasters, and postproduction facilities around the world. Matrox MXO2 provides all the features of an I/O card and breakout box with the added advantage of portability. It can be easily moved among Mac Pros in the studio and taken on the road with a MacBook Pro.

“The combination of Softron’s applications with the Matrox MXO2 hardware greatly enhances any facility’s ingest and playout capabilities and does so at an incredibly low infrastructure investment,” said Mike Skibra, Softron Media Services, Business Development Manager. “The ability to broadcast using a laptop offers incredible flexibility.”

The products from Softron Media Services will be demonstrated at IBC 2009 in Amsterdam on stand 3.A48. The Matrox products will be demonstrated on stand 7.B29.

Key features of Matrox MXO2
· Works with Intel-based MacBook Pros, Mac Pros, and Apple Xserve systems
· Lightweight, fits in a laptop bag
· Can run off a field battery or its AC adapter
· HD/SD SDI, HD/SD analog component, Y/C, and composite inputs and outputs
· Genlock – SD analog black burst (bi-level) or HD tri-level sync
· HDMI input, output, and monitoring with calibration controls including blue-only
· 10-bit realtime hardware up/down/cross conversion on capture and output
· Up to five user selectable simultaneous video outputs – HD and/or SD on HDMI, SDI, and analog
· Professional audio inputs and outputs with 5.1 surround sound monitoring
· RS-422 machine control for frame-accurate capture and print-to-tape
· Captures to a variety of codecs – Apple ProRes 422 HQ, 10-bit uncompressed HD, and many more
· File-based workflow support – XDCAM, XDCAM HD, XDCAM EX, P2, P2HD
· RED workflow support
· HD-SDI closed captioning support
· Works with Final Cut Pro, Apple Color, Adobe After Effects and all QuickTime applications that support the V-out component
· Also available with Matrox MAX for faster than realtime H.264 encoding
· Three-year hardware warranty and complimentary telephone support

Price and availability
Softron products are available online and from selected resellers. Matrox MXO2, priced at $1,595 US (£1,095, €1,349), not including local taxes, is available through a worldwide network of authorized dealers. Support for the Softron applications is included in Matrox MXO2 software release 1.6 which is available free of charge to registered MXO2 owners from the Matrox website.

About Softron
Softron Media Services, headquartered in Brussels, Belgium has been providing Macintosh based video and audio solutions for 25 years. Softron focuses on software development while relying on open architectures to provide hardware suitable applications. Softron partners with the strongest suppliers to assure quality. Softron Media Services applications offer intelligent and easy-to-use interfaces. They are sold by Apple ProVideo specialists throughout the world. For further information about Softron visit www.softron.tv

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 accelerated H.264 encoding, realtime editing, audio/video input/output, DVD/Blu-ray authoring, scan conversion, 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.