Tektronix has added a number of upgrades to its Sentry and Aurora live and VOD cloud video monitoring solutions, which will be demonstrated live at the IBC2018 show in Amsterdam in September.
The upgrades include machine learning picture quality analysis, dynamic ad insertion monitoring and HDR support.
"Our customers are committed to providing a fantastic end user experience, preventing them from having to deal with problems ranging from Twitter tirades to quality-driven subscriber churn," said Charlie Dunn, the general manager of Tektronix' Video Business. "Whether it's in the first five seconds of the program or the critical moment of a game, a poor streaming experience can cost you viewers. Our customers must be able to monitor the quality of content at multiple points to quickly correlate and troubleshoot issues before viewers notice. That's exactly what Sentry delivers."
The company's Sentry live stream monitoring solution now has TekMOS picture quality analysis. Sentry is designed to automate live stream monitoring on cloud and cable networks. It performs quality assessment and compliance checks, a range of video and audio analysis. With the addition of TekMOS, Sentry can provide a picture quality rating on multiple live video streams concurrently. TekMOS is a non-reference picture quality analysis algorithm designed to generate a mean opinion score (MOS) using machine learning techniques. TekMOS scores can be viewed through graphical displays or extracted using an API along with reasons for not achieving a perfect score.
Sentry also now provides dynamic advertising insertion analysis with programmatic control for OTT streaming content. Sentry monitors that ads are correctly placed within the ABR stream and playing back with the same quality as other content.
The company's Aurora file-based QC system now supports Amazon Web Services (AWS) workflows and Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), and can validate 4K-HDR content. Aurora offers a range of automated QC tests for cloud based workflows and is intended for large enterprise deployments with large volumes of premium content.
Tektronix has also introduced cloud-based pricing options for live and VOD quality assurance, including subscription based, per video stream, and on-demand options. The new pricing options are intended to allow operators to scale their monitoring costs as their networks and workflows evolve.