CTW Review: Matrox MicroQuad Multiviewer

ChurchTechArts by

We took a quick look at this product at NAB earlier this year, and my friends sent me a sample this summer to play with. If you’ve been following this blog, you know my summer was a bit, well, busy. I finally got a chance to download the control software, configure my system and give the MicroQuad a run through it’s paces.

What is it?

The MicroQuad is a pretty simple product. It’s a small 4 SDI input, 1 HDMI output multiviewer. When I say small, I mean small. It’s roughy 5”x4.5”x1”. It has a grand total of seven connectors on it; four SD or HD-SDI inputs, a power connector, a micro-USB port and an HDMI output. Three buttons control all the functions. You can use it perfectly well in stand-alone mode, or connect it to a computer (Windows only at the time of this writing) to access a few more functions.

To test it out, I plugged in a variety of sources, all spitting out 1080i video. The image quality on our Panasonic broadcast monitor was quite good and there was no discernible latency. The MicroQuad will sync all inputs, so you don’t have to have them all gen-locked together.

When you plug the first input into the MicroQuad, it automatically detects and switches to the appropriate resolution. It doesn’t do any scaling on the input or output side, so all your input sources need to match, and the output will be the same as the input. read more...

Check out these items featured in this post and available now at Videoguys.com.
	Matrox MicroQuad Quad SDI to HDMI Multiviewer for 3G/HD/SD $995.00			Matrox Convert DVI Plus HD-SDI Scan Converter with Genlock $1,495.00			Matrox MC-100 Dual SDI to HDMI Mini Converter for 3G/3D/HD/SD $495.00