Compared
Cortex Cast is the product operators most often compare us to, and it is a good one. This page is the comparison we would give you on the phone: what they do better, what we do better, and which venue should buy which.
First, fairly
Cortex Cast is built around content zones on the boards. Their site describes zones an operator draws around the perimeter, with content scaling and tiling into each one automatically, and RGB colour adjustment applied per media item, module, zone or broadcast feed.
Their strongest claim is asymmetric pixel-pitch correction, which their site says no other software on the market does: a run built from cabinets of different pitch corrected live, without re-exporting content for each board. On a stadium whose perimeter was extended in three phases, that is a real advantage and we will not pretend otherwise.
They also publish UEFA compliance and redundancy licences that let a second PC run in complete sync with the primary, with switching described as seamless and with no playout downtime.
Side by side
USM’s column is what our software does today. The Cortex Cast column is what their own site says, checked on 22 September 2026. Where it says their site does not state something, that is exactly what it means: ask them.
| USM Boarding | Cortex Cast | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | The perimeter, fascia and ribbon. One licence covers one PC and up to nine screens. | Sports LED playout, with zones drawn around the perimeter boards. |
| Fitting artwork to the wall | Artwork is laid onto the wall as a reusable sequence and prepared before it plays, at the wall’s exact pixel geometry. | Content scales and tiles into a zone automatically, with live correction for asymmetric pixel pitch. |
| Redundancy | A backup PC mirrors the main one all match and takes the wall after about 5 s of silence on a 1 s heartbeat. | Redundancy licences: a second PC in sync with the primary, described as seamless, UEFA compliant. |
| Proof of play | Logged to 1/100 s per screen, exported per fixture as PDF or Excel. | Audit logs of everything live on the boards, to CSV, with time, duration, zone and file description. |
| Building content remotely | Projects are built in a browser and played out on the venue rig. The two stay in sync. | Their Cast page does not state remote or browser-based project building. |
| LED hardware monitoring | Reads the NovaStar processors behind the wall: cabinets, temperature, main and backup cable, with email alerts and 13 months of history. | Their Cast page does not state LED processor or cabinet monitoring. |
| Control-room integrations | NDI out, scoreboard and live text, Stream Deck through Companion, and an HTTP trigger API. | Their site describes broadcast feeds and zone control; other integrations are not listed on that page. |
| Price | Published, with a configurator. You can price a two-screen rig without talking to us. | Not published. Quoted on enquiry. |
| When the playout PC dies | The operator moves the licence to another PC themselves, twice in any six months. Support-assisted moves are never counted. | Their site does not state what happens to a licence when its machine is replaced. |
| Who supports it | Maxamaze BV in Belgium, which also installs and operates LED at venues. | Cortex Tech. See their website for where they operate. |
Where they beat us
Cortex transforms content live. USM prepares it: a sequence is fitted to the wall’s geometry before it plays, which is why playout is cheap and predictable on ordinary hardware, and why changing a sequence means it is prepared again rather than adjusted on the fly. If your working style is to drag artwork in and nudge it during a rotation, theirs fits that better.
Their pixel-pitch correction has no equivalent in USM today. We fit content to the geometry a screen reports, which handles a mixed wall by describing it honestly, but it is not the same thing as correcting for it live.
What we would put on our side of the scale: the project is edited in a browser so the club’s marketing department can prepare a fixture without being at the venue, the proof-of-play log resolves to a hundredth of a second and exports as PDF or Excel, LED monitoring reads the processors behind the wall so a dark section is diagnosed rather than argued about, and our price is on the website.
Which one
your perimeter is a patchwork of pitches that has to be corrected live, your operator works by adjusting content during playout, and the club is happy for content to be prepared at the venue by that operator.
you want the fixture built off-site in a browser, a proof-of-play file your sponsor will accept, the wall itself monitored so a dark cabinet is not an argument, and a price you can read before the first call.
Everything in the Cortex Cast column is from their public website, read on 22 September 2026. We are not affiliated with them and this page is ours, not theirs. Products change: if something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will correct it. Cortex Cast website
Send us your perimeter geometry and a sponsor file that has given you trouble. We will show you what USM does with it, and if the honest answer is that the other product suits you better, we will say so.