Matrox, XVUE, Digital Image FZC, and Touch Interactive Collaborate to Bring Interactive Television to the Gulf Region
Montreal, Canada, September 4, 2007 - Matrox® Video Products Group today announced that Touch Interactive, one of the Gulf area‘s leading interactive television producers, has successfully installed eight advanced video/graphics servers based on Matrox DSX™ technology in TV stations throughout the Middle East. Located in Dubai, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, the stations broadcast via Nilesat and/or Arabsat reaching hundreds of millions viewers. The systems are used to broadcast automated interactive channels, with extensive use of SMS and IVR technologies, for game shows, voting, quizzes, SMS chats on TV, and song dedications.
The project was implemented by Touch Interactive through local Matrox distributor Digital Image FZC. The XVUE iOrasis Studio high-level programming interface was used to harness the power of the Matrox X.mio card, part of the Matrox DSX family of developer products. The systems, which replace traditional video servers, rely on the Matrox X.mio card to provide multiple video and audio inputs and outputs.
“Our mission is to bring participative TV formats and interactive services to viewers, channels, and entire networks. We were looking for a solution that could automate and integrate with our premium interactive solutions,” said Daniel Nassar, Touch Interactive managing director. “The proven Matrox DSX platform combined with the flexibility of XVUE iOrasis Studio gave us the opportunity to rapidly deploy eight different channels on-air in one month - faster than any other competitive solution.”
“We worked together with Digital Image FZC and Touch Interactive to prove that iOrasis Studio and Matrox DSX easily adapt to widely varying requirements. iOrasis Studio offers all the elements required to build an adaptable channel-in-a-box system for on-air graphics,” said Angelos Angelopoulos, XVUE managing director. “We are also pleased to announce that iOrasis Studio version 5 adds capture capabilities to our .NET SDK and also offers support for the new members of the Matrox DSX family - Matrox RT.X2 SD and the Matrox MXO-OEM”.
“Digital Image FZC has been actively promoting the combination of Matrox DSX with XVUE iOrasis studio since early 2007 with several installations in the Middle East, but certainly the Touch Interactive project was outstanding because of the rapid deployment time,” said Mohamed Dafer, Digital Image FZC managing director.
About XVUE iOrasis Studio
XVUE iOrasis studio Version 5 will be demonstrated at IBC 2007 on the XVUE stand 7.509.
XVUE iOrasis Studio is a high-level programming interface for the Matrox DSX™ family of HD and SD video and audio components. XVUE iOrasis Studio builds on the capabilities of the Matrox DSX Software Development Kit, providing a pure .NET framework for rapid application development. It simplifies the work of custom solution providers and developers in creating complex broadcast effects, letting them concentrate on project-specific logic or data sources needed to go on-air. iOrasis studio can be used to build customized news or entertainment channels.
Key features of XVUE iOrasis Studio
• Multiple layers of graphics objects with 3D capabilities: text, large animated sequences, all common image formats
• Support of interleaved video/audio files, Windows Media (9, 10), MPG, QuickTime, DV/DVCAM, I-frame, IBP files in the same playlist
• Chroma key support
• Video matte effects
• Mask effects using graphics objects
• 2D/3D-DVE on live sources and video playback
• Audio mixing of live and file audio (wav, mp3)
• Capture capabilities
• Multiple audio channels: analog, SDI embedded, AES/EBU depending on DSX board used
• VBI support
• Advanced text features: support for very long text, mixed right-to-left and left-to-right writing languages, text-autofit, mixed text styles, automatic substitution of text symbols with animated smilies
About Matrox DSX Developer Products
The Matrox DSX platforms will be demonstrated at IBC 2007 on the Matrox stand 7.228
The Matrox DSX product line combines codec and effects technologies and a full range of professional audio and video hardware components with a comprehensive Windows XP-based Software Development Kit (SDK). The Matrox DSX platforms exploit Matrox's "Power of X" and “Flex” technologies to enable OEMs and developers to leverage scalable CPU and GPU power to create a wide variety of cost-effective products and applications including NLE systems, ingest/playout servers, character generators, clip and still stores, graphics/production servers, automation and master control units, multi-layer compositors, and CATV barker channels.
Key features of the Matrox DSX platforms:
• Modular 10-bit architecture gives developers the flexibility to meet technical and price targets
• Full range of HD and SD audio and video I/Os
• Simultaneous input and output of different video standards in HD and SD
• Multi-format SD codec support in software - DV, DVCAM, DVCPRO, DVCPRO50, D10, MPEG-2, 8- and 10-bit uncompressed
• Multi-format HD codec support in software - HDV, DVCPRO HD, MPEG-2 at online and offline bit rates, 8- and 10-bit uncompressed
• Native MXF support for IMX, XDCAM HD and DCVPRO HD
• MPEG-2 4:2:2:4 YUVA I-frame codec in HD and SD
• Exploits CPU power to perform software effects on multiple streams in real time
• On-board 8- and 10-bit compositor/keyer
• On-board 8- and 10-bit scaler for YUV 4:2:2 and YUVA 4:2:2:4
• Professional realtime effects including sub-pixel 2D DVE, color correction, chroma/luma keying, graphics overlay, smooth speed changes
• GPU co-processor for realtime 3D effects
• Key input and output support
• Multiple board support in a single chassis
• Application development support by a team of dedicated, experienced engineers
About Touch Interactive
Formed in 1998 in France, Touch Interactive cooperates with MSOs, program makers, and broadcasters to make content interactive, providing mobile interactive services and innovative mobile-to-TV and SMS solutions. It also runs its own channels and produces interactive TV shows. Located in Europe, South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, Touch Interactive is a new media consultant to more than 140 TV channels worldwide. For more information visit www.mobilink.com.kw .
About Digital Image ZFC
Digital Image was established in 1993 in Lebanon and catered to the graphics and animation market in the Middle East, representing several leading broadcast equipment manufacturers but focusing mainly on Matrox video products. In 2005, the company moved to the UAE and has since been the Matrox video products distributor for the Middle East and Africa. Digital Image is currently developing custom broadcast solutions based on the Matrox DSX platform and the XVUE iOrasis SDK. For more information visit www.dimea.net.
About XVUE
XVUE is a privately-owned company established in early 2004, providing turnkey systems and software solutions for the integration of advanced graphics with interactive video servers for the professional broadcast and digital video industry. The combination of live input, playlist capabilities, graphics, 2D/3D effects, and audio mixing in a single iOrasis system helps create attention-grabbing channel branding systems, SMS voting channels, and interactive TV shows efficiently and cost effectively. For more information visit www.xvue.com or www.xvue.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 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.
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.