The collaboration combines Matrox’s media framework with EVS control and orchestration tools, letting broadcasters allocate production resources as needs change.
Broadcast Technology: EVS And Matrox Team Up On Software-Defined Production
Live production specialist EVS and Matrox Video are combining technologies to help broadcasters move away from fixed, hardware-dependent production environments.
The collaboration brings together the Matrox Origin software-defined media framework and EVS’s orchestration and workflow management platforms. The goal is to let broadcasters deploy, configure and scale processing resources for individual productions instead of permanently assigning hardware to specific tasks.
In practical terms, a broadcaster could draw on the processing capacity required for one production, then reassign those resources when the show ends. That promises better use of infrastructure, greater flexibility and potentially lower operating costs.
Supporting the DMF model
The companies are aligning their work with the European Broadcasting Union’s Dynamic Media Facility initiative. DMF sets out an architecture in which media functions run as software and resources are allocated according to operational needs.
Matrox Origin provides the underlying media transport and processing framework. It runs broadcast workloads on standard IT infrastructure, either on-premises or in the cloud, and supports open approaches including the EBU’s Media eXchange Layer and IPMX.
EVS will build on that foundation with its production control and orchestration technology. Its Production Resource Manager can deploy and reconfigure processing resources for individual productions, while Tactiq provides operators with a workflow-based interface that hides much of the technical complexity underneath.
Cerebrum, meanwhile, gives engineering and operations teams a common control layer spanning SDI and IP systems as well as on-premises and cloud infrastructure.
“Broadcasters are increasingly looking for ways to make their production infrastructure more flexible and responsive to changing operational requirements,” said Dieter Backx, vice president of control and orchestration at EVS.
The companies said they will continue developing technologies intended to make live production infrastructure more dynamic, scalable and software-driven.