Sony's New Live-Production Switcher Is Now Shipping—Here's What to Know

Sony Electronics’ new live production switcher, M2L-X , is now available. Targeted toward remote and in-house production, it features hybrid processing and operations for on-premises and cloud production. The M2L-X, which includes 24 inputs and a built-in clip player, allows producers to remotely orchestrate live video switching, audio mixing, graphics, and captions from virtually anywhere over a network.

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As a key component of Sony’s Networked Live portfolio – which enables production resources to be optimally connected, used, and shared, from virtually any location – the switcher can be deployed on public clouds, and a future software update will allow it to be deployed on COTS hardware or a private cloud. It also handles various streaming formats and can produce in SDR (8-bit) and HDR (10-bit).

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The open and flexible interface of the M2L-X enables use in conjunction with many of the company’s live production solutions to leverage shared resources and foster remote and distributed production. It expands Sony’s established M2 Live cloud-based switcher system and can be operated using Sony’s ICP-X series control panel or an Elgato Stream Deck®. It can also be used with Sony’s MLS-X1 scalable production switcher to create a hybrid processing stack, enabling further flexibility for live productions. In addition, the M2L-X supports several third-party controllers and applications.