Tektronix, the market
leader in broadcast video test, monitoring and analysis solutions, introduced
Sentry Assure, the latest addition to the company’s award-winning line of
Sentry® digital content monitors, and which is optimized to help cable
television operators and other providers of multi-channel video services comply
with the Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act which requires that ads be no louder than the
programs they accompany.
On or before December
15 of this year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will adopt rules
for the CALM Act’s enforcement and cable operators will have one year from this
date to come into compliance with these rules.
Failure to comply could result in a fine for each instance of an overly
loud commercial, which could be a major issue for cable operators offering
hundreds of channels.
Sentry Assure is
designed specifically for identifying loud commercials in the multi-channel
environment. It combines the ability to
simultaneously monitor hundreds of channels in real-time with loudness
detection capabilities and post-splice ad insertion monitoring, which makes
Sentry Assure an ideal solution for cable operators’ CALM Act needs. Additionally, Sentry Assure’s post-splice
monitoring capability identifies when local ads are not inserted correctly,
enabling operators to diagnose and repair the issue, eliminating revenue loss
from ads failing to air properly.
Sentry Assure also
helps operators comply with government regulations for closed captioning thanks
to its support for the SCTE-608, SCTE-708 and SCTE-20 specifications.
“Variations in
content loudness have been a challenge for decades, but because of the CALM Act
they could have a costly impact to the bottom line of cable operators,” said
Eben Jenkins, general manager, Video Product Line, Tektronix. “We’ve developed Sentry Assure to give
operators what they need to tackle loud ads and to enable them to come into
full compliance with CALM Act.”
Sentry Assure is just
the latest addition to Tektronix comprehensive line of loudness detection and
monitoring solutions, which currently includes:
- The WFM6000/7000, WFM8000 , WVR6000/7000 , and WVR8000 Series waveform monitors and rasterizers. These have been recently upgraded to expand their previous loudness measurement capability. The upgrades include capabilities such as an Audio Loudness Meter, an Audio Loudness Session Display and the industry’s first audio loudness monitoring of Dolby Digital Plus audio, among others.
- The Sentry digital content monitor . The award-winning Sentry can simultaneously monitor hundreds of channels in real-time, enabling cable operators and other multi-channel video service providers to comprehensively and continually monitor their entire channel line-up to identify loud commercials.
- The Cerify content verification software. Cerify is a world leading solution for the automated quality control of file-based content and is ideal for identifying loudness issues in video-on-demand (VOD) programs. Recent upgrades to Cerify include support for long and short audio loudness tests per the ITU-R BS. 1770 standard and support for true peak level tests per ITU-R BS.1770.
- The VQS1000 Video and Audio QoE software . This proven, award-winning software was recently upgraded with new audio loudness measurement capabilities as specified by the ITU-R BS.1770/1771 standards – which make it a powerful analysis tool for the detection of loud commercials. This software is ideal for analyzing a single program in real time to correlate QoS errors with QoE errors , or analyzing a pre-recorded Transport Stream file when troubleshooting network problems.
Tektronix will
demonstrate Sentry Assure’s loudness monitoring capability, and other advanced
capabilities at the upcoming Cable-Tec Expo, November 15-17 in Atlanta.
For more information
about Sentry visit
http://www.tek.com/products/video-test/digital-content-monitors.html or call
310.227.8620.
About
Tektronix
For more than sixty
years, engineers have turned to Tektronix for test, measurement and monitoring
solutions to solve design challenges, improve productivity and dramatically
reduce time to market. Tektronix is a leading supplier of test instrumentation
for engineers focused on electronic design, manufacturing, and advanced
technology development. Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, Tektronix serves
customers worldwide and offers award-winning service and support. Stay on the
leading edge at www.tektronix.com.