Tektronix, the market leader in broadcast video test, monitoring and analysis solutions, today announced its Sentry® digital content monitor now enables cable television operators to ensure the quality of their live and on-demand services delivered using adaptive streaming through the quick identification and diagnosis of video and audio quality issues that can impact viewers’ quality of experience (QoE).

“Cable operators are realizing as they utilize adaptive streaming technology to compete with the growing number of over-the-top (OTT) providers, that an exceptional QoE is the best way to ensure the superiority of their services,” said Eben Jenkins, general manager, Video Product Line, Tektronix. “Sentry’s combination of advanced audio and video quality monitoring capabilities and proven performance make it an ideal solution for ensuring adaptive streaming quality and is another demonstration of our commitment to ensuring that Sentry addresses operators’ most pressing QoE requirements.”

The key to Sentry’s new adaptive streaming monitoring capabilities is its ability to perform its unique Perceptual Video Quality (PVQ) analysis on video streams encoded in the H.264 codec used for adaptive streaming. PVQ enables Sentry to identify video artifacts that are due to over-compression, which commonly happens with motion-intensive programs like sports and action movies. Such over-compression artifacts are virtually undetectable by simply looking for packet loss and represent a major threat to video quality.

In an adaptive streaming monitoring application, Sentry examines H.264 video streams immediately after they have been transcoded from MPEG-2 and just prior to them being fragmented and encrypted. This is a critical point in the adaptive streaming process as transcoding can introduce QoE-impacting video errors that are virtually undetectable after encryption. Simultaneously with the H.264 monitoring, Sentry examines the accompanying audio programs encoded in the AAC codec predominantly used in adaptive streaming. This combination ensures that operators can detect video and audio issues that will propagate downstream and degrade customers’ viewing experience.

Tektronix will demonstrate Sentry’s H.264 video PVQ, and AAC audio QoE and loudness monitoring capability, and other advanced capabilities at the upcoming Cable-Tec Expo, November 15-17 in Atlanta.

Sentry is an award-winning, comprehensive content monitoring solution for cable, telecom, IPTV and other video service providers. Sentry enables the early detection and diagnosis of video and audio issues (i.e., video freeze, macro-blocking, loss of audio, etc.) whenever or wherever they occur in the network, so service providers can deliver services with excellent quality, thus ensuring an optimal QoE for subscribers. Sentry accomplishes this insight through its unique combination of an unprecedented visibility into network anomalies at the IP and content layers, scalability to monitor every program in the network, and its real-time, 24/7 operation.

For more information about Sentry visit http://www.tek.com/products/video-test/digital-content-monitors.html or call 310.227.8620.

Wonder what else Tektronix is up to? Stay up to date on Twitter and Facebook.

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.

# # #

Tektronix is a registered trademark of Tektronix, Inc. All other trade names referenced are the service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Tektronix, the market leader in broadcast video test, monitoring and analysis solutions, today announced its Sentry® digital content monitor has received a 3.5 Diamond rating in the Broadband Technology Report’s prestigious 2011 Diamond Technology Reviews, marking the fifth consecutive year in which Sentry has been recognized in this annual review of the top products and solutions available to the cable television industry.

Established by Broadband Technology Report in 2005, the Diamond Technology Reviews (commonly referred to as “the Diamonds”) are determined by unbiased evaluations from a distinguished and independent panel of Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) national board members and cable engineering experts, including senior executives from the largest U.S. cable operators.

“The judges always seem to be impressed with the Sentry’s upgrades, and this year was no exception. Once again Tektronix received an excellent Review score,” said Rob Stuehrk, president and publisher of Broadband Technology Report.

Beyond application of the newest technology, entries are judged by innovation, ease-of-use, efficiency, reliability and contribution to profitability. This year’s Diamond judges noted Sentry’s newly-enhanced audio monitoring features, of special importance in the wake of the Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act which will soon require that ads be no louder than the programs they accompany. The advanced monitoring capabilities of Sentry make it an ideal solution for this non-trivial task given the hundreds of channels that cable operators will have to continually monitor.

“Scoring so well in its fifth Diamond Technology Reviews is a reflection of Sentry remaining the industry’s most advanced content monitor as well as a recognition of its success in the market, with nine of the 10 largest U.S. cable operators using it provide an optimal quality of experience QoE for their subscribers,” said Eben Jenkins, general manager, Video Product Line, Tektronix. “Adding the ability to detect overly loud commercials in the multi-channel cable environment is just the latest example of our commitment to ensuring Sentry can address operators’ current and future needs.”

Tektronix will demonstrate Sentry’s audio loudness monitoring and other advanced QoE monitoring capabilities at the upcoming Cable-Tec Expo, November 15-17 in Atlanta.

Sentry is an award-winning, comprehensive content monitoring solution for cable, telecom, IPTV and other video service providers. Sentry enables the early detection and diagnosis of video and audio errors (i.e., video freeze, macro-blocking, loss of audio, etc.) whenever or wherever they occur in the network, so service providers can deliver services with excellent quality, thus ensuring an optimal QoE for subscribers. Sentry accomplishes this insight through its unique combination of an unprecedented visibility into network anomalies at the IP and MPEG layers, scalability to monitor every program in the network, and its real-time, 24/7 operation.

For more information about Sentry visit http://www.tek.com/products/video-test/digital-content-monitors.html or call 310.227.8620.

Follow Tektronix on Twitter (@tektronix) and Facebook.

About Broadband Technology Report
Broadband Technology Report (BTR), celebrating its 7th anniversary in 2011, is the cable and telecom industry’s premier source for product and technology news, and is the most successful and fastest growing online outlet for product information and deployments; reviews and rankings; technology expertise; and buyer/seller facilitation. BTR’s portfolio includes online, print and video assets, all designed to help network operators build, upgrade and maintain high-performance communications networks. BTR, backed by over 70 years of combined industry experience, delivers its email, online, print and video production services to more than 21,000 subscribers. If you are interested in subscribing, consult http://broadbandgear.net/subscribe/. BTR is owned by Hermes Media, LLC.

About the Diamond Technology Review program
The BTR Diamond Technology Reviews (“the Diamonds”) is a renowned industry program now in its sixth year – that was developed to recognize some of the top products and solutions available to the cable industry as determined by a stellar panel of MSO engineering experts. Engineering executives from Bright House, Charter, Comcast, Cox, Suddenlink, Sunflower Broadband and Time Warner Cable served as third-party judges for the 2011 Diamonds. Every year, BTR invites vendors to submit written information about products/solutions that have been released or upgraded since the previous year’s SCTE Cable-Tec Expo (October 2010). Criteria used in the Diamonds rankings include, first and foremost, unique technology or application thereof, innovation, ease of use, efficiency, reliability and contribution to profitability.

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.

# # #

Tektronix, the leading provider of digital content monitoring solutions, today announced that its award-winning Sentry® digital content monitoring solution is a finalist in this year’s Cable & Satellite International magazine’s Product of the Year Awards. The CSI Awards, which are presented at the IBC tradeshow in Amsterdam in September, recognize technical excellence and innovation in the cable, satellite, terrestrial broadcasting and IPTV industries.

Sentry was selected as a finalist in the “Best Monitoring or Network Management Solution” category in recognition of its new Perceptual Video Quality (PVQ) monitoring feature. Sentry’s new PVQ capability helps video service providers (VSP) tackle content errors when the program suffers artifacts due to over-compression which is common in motion intensive programs like sports.

“Reaching the finals of the prestigious CSI Product of the Year Awards is the latest accolade for Sentry and a further acknowledgement that Sentry remains a state-of-the-art solution for the detection and diagnosis of video and audio errors that impact viewers’ quality of experience (QoE),” said Eben Jenkins, general manager, Video Product Line, Tektronix. “Sentry has been proven in deployments with the top U.S. cable operators and many other VSPs who use Sentry to ensure they deliver programming with the best possible picture and sound quality.”

Cable & Satellite International launched the Product of the Year awards back in 2003 and have attracted over 150 entries every year, gaining the endorsement of the industry’s leading technology suppliers.  This year’s winners will be announced at the award ceremony held at IBC on Friday, September 9 at 6 p.m.

About the Sentry Monitoring Solution

Sentry is a comprehensive content monitoring solution for cable, telecom, IPTV and other video service providers. Sentry enables the early detection and diagnosis of video and audio errors (i.e., video freeze, macro-blocking, loss of audio, etc.) whenever or wherever they occur in the network, so service providers can correct these issues, thus ensuring an optimal quality of experience (QoE) for subscribers.  Sentry accomplishes this through its unique combination of unprecedented visibility into network anomalies at the IP and MPEG layers, scalability to monitor every program in the network and its real-time, 24/7 operation.  Sentry is proven in deployments with service providers worldwide, including nine of the top 10 U.S. cable operators.

For more information visit www.tektronix.com or call 310.227.8620.

Follow Tektronix on Twitter – @tektronix.

Follow the Mixed Signals product line on Twitter — @mixedsignalsinc

About Cable & Satellite International

Cable & Satellite International (CSI) is a technology publication targeting the global video market, including cable, satellite, IPTV, mobile and terrestrial broadcast platforms. CSI assesses technology trends and provides detailed product analysis relevant to the core video delivery functions – namely content contribution/backhaul, distribution/transport, playout/transmission and home networking. CSI also analyzes the wider triple and quadruple play landscape.

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.

# # #

RGB Networks, the leading provider of scalable multiscreen IP video delivery solutions, today announced that at IBC 2011 Swisscom Broadcast, a leading Swiss provider of fully managed multiscreen TV services to the European B2B customer segments, will be demonstrating the transmission of its IP-based multiscreen TV services utilizing RGB’s Video Multiprocessing Gateway (VMG™) and TransAct Packager. The RGB multi-device delivery solution forms a key component in Swisscom Broadcast’s technology blueprint to support streamed media over private and public Internet to televisions, PCs and mobile devices, and will be showcased at RGB’s stand (4.C78) delivering live video over the Internet from Swisscom Broadcast’s headend to multiple devices on the stand.

Operating one of the major headends in Switzerland with approximately 400 TV channels, Swisscom Broadcast is quickly developing into a key supplier of fully managed IP-based video and audio services. Using the latest IP video distribution techniques, Swisscom Broadcast is building standards-based architectures to supply complete IPTV and OTT services to new and existing operators looking to update their legacy technology deployments.

To be demonstrated at RGB’s IBC 2011 stand will be live streams from Swisscom Broadcast’s headend utilizing RGB’s VMG to transcode program streams. These streams are formatted for a large number of different end user devices of varying resolutions and decoding capabilities for delivery via both adaptive streaming and traditional single bitrate environments. Working in conjunction with RGB’s TransAct Packager, this integrated solution provides streams in Apple HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) standard delivery format, Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming and Microsoft Smooth Streaming outputs, enabling them to fully address adaptive streaming for HLS-compatible devices, and the new Flash/Silverlight-powered platforms such as Android and Windows-based devices.

“Swisscom Broadcast is truly changing the face of the IP video market with its innovative solutions,” said Simone Sassoli, Vice President, International at RGB Networks. “Swisscom Broadcast has identified a growing market opportunity and is strategically adapting its infrastructure to scale to meet this and future industry needs. We are delighted that RGB was one of the key technology providers selected to help facilitate this change.”

At IBC 2011Swisscom Broadcast’s live IP-based video service will be demonstrated using RGB’s VMG and TransAct Packager on multiple devices including a TV, laptop, iPhone and iPad on RGB’s stand (4.C78).

About Swisscom Broadcast

Swisscom Broadcast Ltd. has been an independent subsidiary of the Swisscom Group since 2002. With around 240 employees and over 500 transmitter sites, Swisscom Broadcast is the leading Swiss transmitter of terrestrial radio and television signals throughout Switzerland. Swisscom Broadcast’s service offering ranges from the transmission of audio and video signals and the aggregation, preparation and broadcast of TV programs and video content to complete, multi-screen IPTV solutions. A broad spectrum of forward-looking, temporary communication, information and IT services for event organizers and media enterprises completes its service portfolio. For more information, visit: www.swisscom.ch/broadcast

About RGB Networks’ TV Everywhere Solutions

RGB’s TV Everywhere solutions include its award-winning Video Multiprocessing Gateway (VMG), the industry’s highest capacity transcoder, capable of simultaneously transcoding 500+ MPEG-2 and MPEG-4/H.264 video streams into the growing number of formats required to serve an ever-expanding array of end user devices. The VMG utilizes a truly carrier-class chassis with extensive redundancy features to ensure reliable operation at all times.

Complementing the VMG is RGB’s TransAct Packager, an advanced adaptive streaming solution that ingests MPEG-4/H.264 video programs and outputs multiple versions of each program encoded at different bit rates which are then packaged in the Apple HTTP Live Streaming, Microsoft Smooth Streaming and Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming formats.

Working together, the TransAct Packager and the VMG comprise the industry’s most complete, flexible and highly scalable solution for delivering live and on-demand video to PCs, tablets, mobile devices and set-top boxes.

About RGB Networks

RGB Networks enables video service providers to migrate to a multiscreen environment for the delivery of linear and on-demand video over managed and unmanaged IP networks. Wide adoption of the company’s solutions is based on core strengths in transcoding, advertising and overlay insertion, and statistical multiplexing. RGB’s solutions for video delivery to TVs, desktop and mobile devices are built to deliver the highest video quality at the best price-performance on the market—they uniquely offer the density and scalability required to support the growing demands of consumers with integrated functionality that simplifies operators’ network architectures and minimizes operational costs. RGB’s products are deployed by over 200 cable, telco, satellite, OTT and mobile operators in 30+ countries. Venture capital firms Accel Partners, Comcast Interactive, Focus Ventures, Granite Ventures, Institutional Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, and Mitsui & Co. Venture Partners have invested $63 million in the company. RGB is a private, profitable company based in Sunnyvale, California with offices around the world. For more information, please visit www.rgbnetworks.com.

# # #

Tektronix, the leading provider of digital content monitoring systems, has added significant new reporting capabilities to its award-winning Sentry® digital content monitor which is used by leading cable television operators to improve the quality of their video services by quickly identifying, diagnosing and repairing video and audio errors that can degrade viewers’ quality of experience (QoE).

“Keeping our industry-leading Sentry on the cutting-edge is an ongoing effort for us and these new reporting features are the latest examples of our commitment to ensuring Sentry meets the needs of video service providers today and tomorrow,” said Eben Jenkins, general manager, Video Product Line, Tektronix.

The first new reporting capability integrates Sentry’s ground-breaking Video and Audio QoE Scoring System – the industry’s first system to gauge the actual severity of video and audio impairments for subscribers – with the SCTE 168-6 ‘Recommended Practice for Monitoring Multimedia Distribution Quality,’ a popular method for reporting program availability. Integrating SCTE 168-6 support with Sentry’s capability for detecting video and audio errors that are not always caused by dropped packets (e.g., video freeze, black screen, tiling, macroblocking, compression artifacts, loss of audio channel or audio quality issues) enables video service providers to take advantage of a popular reporting methodology coupled with the ability to identify the widest range of QoE-impacting events.

The second new capability enables video service providers to verify that Closed Captioning content has been included with the programming being delivered, which is a regulatory requirement for U.S. and Canadian cable operators. Sentry is well suited to this application thanks to its advanced detection capabilities and its ability to monitor hundreds of video streams simultaneously.
Sentry can generate Closed Captioning status reports, which video service providers can use with programmers, satellite network operators and operations staff to determine where the fault lies when closed captioning data is missing.

The new capabilities for Program Availability reporting and Closed Captioning monitoring are both available in release 5.1 of the Sentry operating software, which is currently available at no cost to existing customers with maintenance agreements.

About the Sentry Monitoring Solution

Sentry is an award-winning, comprehensive content monitoring solution for cable, telecom, IPTV and other video service providers. Sentry enables the early detection, diagnosis and repair of video and audio errors (i.e., video freeze, macro-blocking, loss of audio, etc.) whenever or wherever they occur in the network, so service providers can deliver services with excellent quality, thus ensuring an optimal quality of experience (QoE) for subscribers. Sentry accomplishes this insight through its unique combination of an unprecedented visibility into network anomalies at the IP and MPEG layers, scalability to monitor every program in the network, and its real-time, 24/7 operation.

For more information visit http://www.tek.com/products/video-test/digital-content-monitors.html or call 310.227.8620.

Follow Tektronix on Twitter (@tektronix) and Facebook.

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.

Tektronix is a registered trademark of Tektronix, Inc. All other trade names referenced are the service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

# # #

Tektronix, Tektronix, the leading provider of digital content monitoring solutions, announced today that Telecom Italia Media Broadcasting (TIMB), Italy’s third largest digital television broadcaster, is using the award-winning Tektronix Sentry® digital content monitor to ensure its television programming is delivered with exceptional picture and sound quality.

TIMB has deployed Sentry in its central headend and several other key locations in its network to monitor all of its high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) programming to identify video and audio errors that can impact viewers’ quality of experience (QoE). At its central headend facility in Rome where TIMB aggregates its programming content, Sentry is used to detect errors after the programming has been encoded and then again after it has been multiplexed – two critical steps where errors are likely to occur. Sentry’s advanced detection capabilities enable TIMB to quickly diagnose errors and dramatically speed the time for repair.

“We have always been committed to delivering our programming with picture and sound quality as good as they can be, and deploying the Tektronix Sentry is the latest example of this ongoing commitment to quality,” said Crescenzo Micheli, TIMB’s chief technology officer. “Sentry helps us quickly identify the root causes of video and audio errors across our entire channel line-up, which enables us to fix these errors faster than before.”

“Ensuring that viewers enjoy the best possible viewing experience is a constant effort and TIMB’s use of Sentry as part of its comprehensive approach to quality control demonstrates their commitment to being the best,” said Eric Conley, vice president, Video Network Monitoring, Tektronix. “Sentry’s unmatched ability to identify video and audio errors anywhere in a network makes it an ideal solution for TIMB and other video service providers worldwide as they expand their services.”

TIMB is just the latest company to use Sentry, which is the industry’s premier content monitoring solution and is proven in deployments with nine of the top 10 U.S. cable operators and three of the top five Canadian operators.

Sentry utilizes advanced deep packet inspection technology to give video service providers unparalleled visibility into network anomalies at the IP and MPEG layers at all critical locations in the network. This enables the quick identification, diagnosis and repair of video and audio errors regardless of where they occur in the network; from ingest at the headend through the network edge just before it is delivered to the home.

Sentry is an award-winning, comprehensive content monitoring solution for cable, telecom, IPTV and other video service providers. Sentry enables the early detection, diagnosis and repair of video and audio errors (i.e., video freeze, macro-blocking, loss of audio, etc.) whenever or wherever they occur in the network, so service providers can deliver services with excellent quality, thus ensuring an optimal QoE for subscribers. Sentry accomplishes this insight through its unique combination of an unprecedented visibility into network anomalies at the IP and MPEG layers, scalability to monitor every program in the network, and its real-time, 24/7 operation.

For more information about Sentry visit http://www.tek.com/products/video-test/digital-content-monitors.html or call 310.227.8620.

Follow Tektronix on Twitter (@tektronix) and Facebook.

About Telecom Italia Media Broadcasting
Telecom Italia Media Broadcasting (TIMB) is Italy’s third largest television broadcaster and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telecom Italia, Italy’s largest telecommunications company. The company can be found on the Internet at www.telecomitaliamediabroadcasting.it

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.

Tektronix is a registered trademark of Tektronix, Inc. All other trade names referenced are the service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

# # #

Tektronix, the leading provider of digital content monitoring solutions, today announced that its award-winning Sentry® digital content monitor has won a 2010 Cable Spotlight Product of the Year Award. This is the latest industry award for Sentry, which has been proven in deployments with nine of the 10 largest U.S. cable television operators that use Sentry to help identify, diagnose and repair video and audio errors that impact viewers’ quality of experience (QoE).

The Cable Spotlight Product of the Year Awards are presented by Cable Spotlight, a leading industry website dedicated to cable television technology. The awards recognize the most innovative cable technology products brought to market in 2010.

“Winning this Cable Spotlight award is the latest indication that the industry continues to recognize Sentry as the premier solution for delivering video services with the best possible picture and sound quality,” said Eric Conley, Vice President Video Network Monitoring, Tektronix. “Service providers are expanding their video service offerings and we continually add new features and capabilities to our Sentry family of products to ensure they can deliver these new services with the best possible quality.”

Sentry was awarded a 2010 Cable Spotlight Product of the Year Award in recognition of its significant new capabilities and features, including its unique Perceptual Video Quality capability.

Sentry’s new Perceptual Video Quality capability helps service providers tackle content errors when the program suffers artifacts due to over-compression which is common in motion intensive programs like sports. In addition, the new release includes GOP length statistics, RTP support and new reason codes that help service providers quickly understand the source of an issue.

About the Sentry Monitoring Solution
Sentry is an award-winning, comprehensive content monitoring solution for cable, telecom, IPTV and other video service providers. Sentry enables the early detection, diagnosis and repair of video and audio errors (i.e., video freeze, macro-blocking, loss of audio, etc.) whenever or wherever they occur in the network, so service providers can deliver services with excellent quality, thus ensuring an optimal quality of experience (QoE) for subscribers. Sentry accomplishes this insight through its unique combination of an unprecedented visibility into network anomalies at the IP and MPEG layers, scalability to monitor every program in the network, and its real-time, 24/7 operation. Sentry is proven in deployments with service providers worldwide, including nine of the top 10 U.S. cable operators.

For more information visit http://www.tek.com/products/video-test/digital-content-monitors.html or call 310.227.8620.

Follow Tektronix on Twitter – @tektronix

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.

Tektronix is a registered trademark of Tektronix, Inc. All other trade names referenced are the service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

# # #

Sentry was recognized for its advanced audio loudness monitoring capabilities which enable cable operators to identify loudness issues in programming and commercials. This is particularly relevant as excessively loud commercials have been targeted by the U.S. Congress, which is currently advancing the Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act. The CALM Act will require cable operators and other video service providers to ensure that commercials be no louder than the programs they accompany. Sentry is the only product today that can monitor hundreds of channels in real-time, enabling video service providers to comprehensively and continually monitor their entire channel line-up to identify loud commercials.

The Fierce 15 is the most recent industry accolade for Sentry, which has been recognized in nine award programs so far this year. Sentry is the cable industry’s most advanced content monitoring solution, used by nine of the 10 largest U.S. cable operators to help identify, diagnose and repair video and audio errors that degrade the viewing experience.

“It’s been a fantastic year for our video monitoring solution, being recognized not only in awards programs for advanced audio monitoring capabilities, but also by customers who have come to rely on it as they tackle the loudness issues that have frustrated viewers for years,” said Eric Conley, Vice President Video Network Monitoring, Tektronix. “Our customers know that when they work with us, they are getting the best quality of experience solutions on the market today.”

Read more about Sentry, and the other honorees in this year’s FierceCable 15, here: http://www.fiercecable.com/special-reports/fiercecables-fierce-15-2010.

About the Sentry Monitoring Solution
Sentry is a comprehensive content monitoring solution for cable, telecom, IPTV and other video service providers. Sentry enables the early detection, diagnosis and repair of video and audio errors (i.e., video freeze, macro-blocking, loss of audio, etc.) whenever or wherever they occur in the network, so service providers can deliver services with excellent quality, thus ensuring an optimal quality of experience (QoE) for subscribers. Sentry accomplishes this through its unique combination of unprecedented visibility into network anomalies at the IP and MPEG layers, scalability to monitor every program in the network and its real-time, 24/7 operation. Sentry is proven in deployments with service providers worldwide, including nine of the top 10 U.S. cable operators.

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.

Follow Tektronix on Twitter – @tektronix

Follow the Mixed Signals product line on Twitter — @mixedsignalsinc

CONTACT INFORMATION

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Sentry Deployed in Cable Networks Serving Jamaica and Trinidad

BEAVERTON, Oregon– MobilityWire^® – October 21, 2010

Tektronix, Inc., the leading provider of digital content monitoring solutions, today announced that the company’s Sentry® digital content monitor is being used by several Caribbean cable television networks to ensure the programming services they deliver are as free from video and audio errors as possible. The networks – Flow Jamaica and Flow Trinidad – have each deployed Sentry in their headends to help identify, diagnose and fix video and audio errors that can impact subscribers’ quality of experience (QoE).

“We have always been committed to ensuring that our subscribers enjoy the best possible viewing experience and Sentry enables us to meet this commitment as we expand the services we offer,” said Darren Richer, the CTO of Columbus Communications, which owns Flow Jamaica, Flow Trinidad, Flow Curacao and Flow Grenada. “Our attention to quality is also a key strategy in our successful effort to fight off competition from satellite providers.”

“Columbus Communications and other operators everywhere recognize that more channels, more HD and more on-demand programming are only part of the solution for winning and retaining subscribers in an increasingly competitive market – quality has to be equally good,” said Eric Conley, vice president, Video Network Monitoring, Tektronix. “Sentry helps operators ensure optimal quality of experience for their subscribers as they expand their service offerings, and it enables them to do so with lower operational expenses by eliminating the costly and time-consuming processes traditionally used to troubleshoot errors.”

The award-winning Sentry is the industry’s premier content monitoring solution, proven in deployments with nine of the top 10 U.S. cable operators and three of the top five Canadian operators.

Sentry utilizes advanced deep packet inspection technology to give cable operators unparalleled visibility into network anomalies at the IP and MPEG layers at all critical locations in the network. This enables the quick identification, diagnosis and repair of video and audio errors regardless of where they occur in the network; from ingest at the headend through the network edge just before it is delivered to the home.

Tektronix will demonstrate Sentry and its other QoE solutions in its booths #2127 and #2227 at the upcoming Cable-Tec Expo in New Orleans, October 20-22, 2010.

Follow Tektronix on Twitter – @tektronix.

About Columbus Communications

Columbus Communications Inc. is a diversified telecommunications company whose core operating business is providing cable television services‚ high speed internet access‚ digital telephone and internet infrastructure services (retail) and‚ the development of an undersea fiber optic cable network as well as the sale and lease of the telecom capacity provide by the network (wholesale). It operates in 21 countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.

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.

Follow Tektronix on Twitter – @tektronix

Follow the Mixed Signals product line on Twitter — @mixedsignalsinc

CONTACT INFORMATION

John Giddings

Mobility Public Relations

Work: +1-650-353-4330

Email: mixedsignals@mobilitypr.com

Website: http://www.mobilitypr.com/blog

Mixed Signals Press Kit: http://mixedsignals.mobilitypr.com

Click to add Mixed Signals PR contact info to Outlook

Amy Higgins

Tektronix

Work: +1-503-627-6497

Email: ahiggins@tektronix.com

Website: http://www.tek.com

Tektronix Newsroom: Newsroom

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]]> http://www.mobilitywire.com/mixed-signals/2010/10/21/3137/feed 0 http://www.mobilitywire.com/mixed-signals/2010/10/12/3104 http://www.mobilitywire.com/mixed-signals/2010/10/12/3104#comments Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:01:42 +0000 Mixed Signals http://www.mobilitywire.com/?p=3104

Broadest and Most Comprehensive Video Test and Monitoring Portfolio Showcasing Video, Audio and Content Quality from Lab to the Subscriber

BEAVERTON, Oregon– MobilityWire^® – October 12, 2010

Tektronix, Inc., the leading provider of digital content monitoring solutions, announced the company will feature an extensive range of new and enhanced products and solutions for video, audio and content quality at the SCTE Cable Tech Expo, October 20-22 – booths #2127 and #2227. Highlights for this year’s show include new products and enhancements for picture quality evaluation, VoD asset verification, QoE analysis including audio loudness, and the new Mixed Signals Sentry product family featuring real-time video and audio quality monitoring.

Participation at the SCTE Cable Tech Expo formally marks Mixed Signals integration into the Tektronix family – bringing decades of award winning video and audio test innovation together with cutting edge QoE and QoS monitoring. With a broad set of products, a deep technology base and unparalleled expertise in video and audio quality, the combined power of innovation is driving the roll out of cutting edge technology to address new problems for Cable Operators.

Key new products and enhancements include the following:

Turning Up Audio Loudness Measurement Capabilities
Tektronix has further enhanced its family of products with critical audio loudness capability. Tektronix adds Audio to the VQS1000 Video Quality Analysis Software. Building upon the audio loudness measurement capabilities available across its product portfolio such as Sentry Digital Content Monitor, VoD Asset Verification tool (Cerify), and in Waveform Monitors and Rasterizers for broadcasters, the new software upgrade adheres to the ATSC A/85 Recommendation and ITU-R BS.1770-1/1771 specifications. The upgrade includes capabilities such as an LKFS Audio Loudness Meter, an Audio Loudness Session Display, and trending and alarm reporting information. The VQS1000 is ideal for network analysis tool troubleshooting QoE problems and tracing them back to the underlying QoS root cause.

Rolling Out Updates to Picture Quality Analysis Family
During the Expo, Tektronix will demonstrate the capabilities of the recently introduced PQA600 Picture Quality Analyzer. The PQA600 provides repeatable, objective quality measurements that closely correspond with subjective human visual assessment, and is ideal for comparing and optimizing HD video encoders for picture quality and bandwidth used. Picture Quality Analysis is also critical in evaluating transcoder performance for picture quality degradation.

Delivering Complete Ingest to Edge QoE Monitoring Solution for Cable Operators
The integration of products from Tektronix and Mixed Signals give Cable Operators an unprecedented choice of Video Network Monitoring solutions from one vendor – including the following:
• Network Management Systems
• A wide range of RF interfaces (including QAM, DVB-S2 and 8VSB)
• Comprehensive QoE and QoS monitoring of hundreds of services simultaneously in real time, plus monitoring of EBIF, ad insertion and carousel information
• Detailed troubleshooting of QoE problems traced back to the root cause for repair
This combined product set gives cable operators even more tools to more reliably and cost effectively deliver the best experience possible to their viewers.

Recent Product Awards
Tektronix has been honored as a finalist or winner for several premier industry awards programs acknowledging its innovative products and solutions in Video Network Monitoring. To see a full list of recent awards please view the Awards page on tek.com.

Follow Tektronix on Twitter – @tektronix.

About Tektronix

Mixed Signals was acquired by Tektronix in May 2010. As an industry-leading innovator of digital content monitoring solutions, Tektronix enables video service providers to proactively identify, diagnose and repair picture and audio quality errors that degrade the television viewing experience. 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.

Follow Tektronix on Twitter – @tektronix

Follow the Mixed Signals product line on Twitter — @mixedsignalsinc

CONTACT INFORMATION

John Giddings

Mobility Public Relations

Work: +1-650-353-4330

Email: mixedsignals@mobilitypr.com

Website: http://www.mobilitypr.com/blog

Mixed Signals Press Kit: http://mixedsignals.mobilitypr.com

Click to add Mixed Signals PR contact info to Outlook

Amy Higgins

Tektronix

Work: +1-503-627-6497

Email: ahiggins@tektronix.com

Website: http://www.tek.com

Tektronix Newsroom: Newsroom

Technorati Tags: digital content monitoring | mixed signals | tektronix |video monitoring | video programming

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