BANGALORE, 20 August : Tektronix has introduced a
real-time, continuous monitoring solution for ensuring the quality of compressed digital
video. The PQM300 Program Quality of Service (QoS) Monitor gives providers of compressed
digital video the most effective way for managing image quality and efficiently allocating
bandwidth.
The advent of digital television (DTV) and compressed signals requires broadcast,
satellite, cable and content providers to redefine how they evaluate program quality and
provide QoS assurance. The QM300 addresses DTV dynamics by allowing users to quickly
identify the most common visual impairments, including blockiness, frozen and repeated
frames, loss of service and Gaussian noise, before they become customer complaints.
"In the digital world, the interval between slight and catastrophic image
degradation is narrow and precipitous," said Mahendran, Corporate Manager- Marketing,
Tektronix India. "Due to the bursty nature of MPEG errors, sampled QoS assurance
systems cannot provide enough data to characterize image quality-only continuous
monitoring of all channels can yield this information," he further added.
Real Time, Continuous and Simultaneous Monitoring Assure QoS Tektronix' PQM300 monitors
all pixels and all fields continuously. In-service, continuous monitoring by the PQM300
assures that the most annoying picture defects are intercepted and logged for all
monitored programs. When the PQM300 identifies an image defect or impairment, it will
signal an alarm, identifying the channel on which the problem exists. It also allows users
to increase the number of channels as their monitoring needs change.
The PQM300 allows users to establish quality histories and defect logs for all
simultaneously monitored programs. These provide customers with highly valuable QoS
information. In contrast to today's technology, the PQM300 provides users a systematic and
quantifiable method for assigning bit rates to individual channels. Helping users
efficiently allocate their transmission bandwidth maximizes service capacity by reducing
the number of bits required per program, while maintaining acceptable levels of picture
quality.
Network Capabilities and Remote Operation for Centralized Monitoring PQM300 units can
be networked to provide centralized monitoring. The instrument supports
SNMP, a broadly
implemented network management protocol, to enable remote communications and prompt
response and display remote units as icons on a network monitoring workstation. The PQM300
also supports leading Web browsers to enable remote, convenient operation of multiple
units. These capabilities allow the PQM300 to provide monitoring capabilities for a
virtually unlimited number of channels in multiple locations.