Tektronix Enhances Sentry Digital Content Monitor With New Reporting Capabilities

Sentry Now Supports SCTE Recommended Practice 168-6 and Closed Captioning Reporting

BEAVERTON, Ore. – 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.

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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 .