Volicon Provides Proactive Remote Monitoring Not so long ago, broadcast and media companies seeking to view aired content across the full distribution chain resorted to recording either to tape or a system the equivalent to a collection of modified TiVo’s. Neither solution was ideal, but both were a better alternative than dedicating staff to monitoring at remote sites. Using these recording systems, engineers could go back and review the content that had been broadcast on a particular channel at a given date and time. While these passive approaches to monitoring did give users access to all aired content and allow them to make a visual inspection for the purposes of compliance or quality assurance, they were highly inefficient. The task of finding specific content within recorded media was a time-consuming and cumbersome proposition. Additionally, issues in aired content was not detected for hours or even days. Already challenged to maintain operations with shrinking staff numbers, operators found it both practically and financially difficult to make these types of recording solutions work. Over time, improvements in broadcast and network infrastructure and increased use of IP networks for communications have enabled broadcasters and other media companies to implement remote monitoring, supported by SNMP transmission of messages from remote sites to a central monitoring system. Now, whether the remote site is across the country or across the world, remote monitoring provides real-time visibility into the entire transmission path, allowing engineers to identify problems, diagnose issues, and provide prompt resolution. Remote Monitoring Implemented Designed to monitor NOC/headend and remote hubsite broadcasts from a central location, today’s advanced remote monitoring solutions can scan hundreds of channels around the clock and automatically test signal integrity, issue alerts (via email and SNMP), and capture problematic content when channels do not conform to prespecified limits. Situated post-set-top-box (STB), this solution gives operators a single system and location from which to access and monitor the video output around the clock. Typical remote monitoring capabilities include review of video or audio for errors in closed-captioning and audio levels, and for issues such as static screen or black screen. Operators can access and play out VOD content to ensure content availability and system capacity, record DPI ad insertions for ad proof of conformance, or monitor interactive STB guides to ensure a customer’s experience. Full STB command access ensures effective troubleshooting and historical review of content and services. To simplify use and review, familiar “DVD-style” controls often are combined with

color cues to indicate clearly the channels being displayed, whether they are live or recorded. Users can add or subtract channels from their display and toggle between windowed, split, and full-screen display with a mouse click. They also can navigate quickly to an actual or relative time stamp based on the recording system’s clock. By eliminating the need for expensive and time-consuming manual and visual channel inspections, remote monitoring allows operators to respond proactively to faults, rather than wait passively for customer complaints. Operators can improve service and save on operating costs by doing away with unnecessary service trips to remote locations. Given these benefits, the applications for remote monitoring technology are numerous, ranging from competitive news analysis to monitoring of “out-of-footprint” broadcast and distribution channels. Competitive Analysis The evolution of remote monitoring has been driven in part by operators’ desire to keep an eye on what their competitors are doing. Remote monitoring supports competitive analysis by facilitating the monitoring of multiple broadcasts and allowing users to compare content and archive it to local storage. As events go on the air, staff across the network can see who broke the story first, right down to the second. Operators can look at what competitors are doing at the same time, which is a major benefit for any newsroom. From recorded content, users can quickly locate desired broadcast material, create clips, and send to other users for review. The integration of search engine capabilities enables users to locate content-based closed-caption text, as well. Because today’s remote recording solutions are Internet-based, an operator can view its own transmissions, as well as its competitors’, from anywhere in the world. Out-of-Footprint Monitoring An even more compelling and widespread use of remote monitoring technology is the tracking of signal quality though cable and satellite distribution. With capabilities including automatic scanning of channels, configurable audio, video outage parameters, audio bars, full-screen viewing, error logging, and remote control, today’s remote monitoring systems allow companies that deliver content outside their own markets to monitor their services more effectively and to take a more proactive approach to maintaining service-level agreements. From its network operations center in one market, a global broadcast and distribution services company delivers broadcasts to other areas of the world. By monitoring remote broadcasts delivered by cable or satellite, the remote monitoring system scans these channels continuously, testing signal integrity, issuing alerts when faults are identified, and records the associated content. Rather than wait for updates from in-market partners, operators can monitor their services far more proactively and cost-effectively, using centralized staff and resources to evaluate video according to the appropriate parameters. Full-frame recording at the local level provides detail that is valuable for quality checks and close analysis of errors. When the remote monitoring system has the capacity to stream low-resolution versions of this video over public networks — those less robust than CDNs and other dedicated links — then the operator also can be sure of an always-on connection to real-time video from its out-of-market channels. Users thus can select streaming of the appropriate video quality, depending on bandwidth availability and the demands of the application. Conclusion Volicon’s award-winning Observer Remote Program Monitor (RPM) system provides efficient, cost effective remote monitoring capabilities. This advanced solution enables MSOs, independent cable operators, IPTV, and satellite operators to evaluate the quality of their linear, on-demand, and interactive content and advertising automatically.

The Observer RPM gives staff real-time access to high-quality video streams, records HD video, provides mass video storage with smooth playback, offers an array of intuitive tools for efficient management and monitoring of live and recorded content, supports a range of export formats, and integrates well with third-party applications. The flexibility of this Observer system enables operators to expand and enrich their offerings while proactively maintaining quality of service.

Contact: Volicon, Inc. 111 South Bedford Street Burlington, MA. 01803 USA +1 781 221 7400 info@Volicon.com