Broadcasters and program distributors are investing heavily in MPEG-2 video compression and digital transmission networks in order to distribute premium video and audio content. With these new delivery systems come a significant maintenance challenge. Since digital networks must carry content reliably from point-to-point in an accurate and timely manner, the signal impairments and errors that can accumulate along the way must be diagnosed and stopped before catastrophic failure can occur.

Preserving signal quality is essential in any effective maintenance strategy. To insure the highest broadcast-quality standards throughout a network infrastructure, new tools and advanced monitoring techniques are needed that can detect and automatically alert operators to potential signal integrity problems before a failure. Simply ensuring that signals are correctly sent does not guarantee that video service quality is maintained successfully to the target audience. Some service information profiles may be modified during the processes of encoding, multiplexing, decoding, re-encoding and re-multiplexing. As a result, service parameters, such as languages or subtitles, may be configured incorrectly. Effective preventative monitoring of digital television networks requires the use of multiple real-time, continuous and simultaneous evaluation check points in the broadcast chain from studio to receiver.

To assist broadcasters facing these challenges, Pixelmetrix offers a series of modular tools to assist companies in deploying, operating, and managing new broadcast technology in the world of convergence.

Obtaining adequate Broadcast Intelligence is the secret. Understanding the full picture requires data collection, analysis and correlation on three axis: time, geography amd protocol layer. Detecting threats to transmission integrity before they reach viewers is necessary to maximize broadcast service quality and minimize incidents of system failure, loss of picture, and loss of audio. Using "human eyes" is one solution but is inadequate — it might be possible to find picture problems through visual inspection but pinpointing which piece of equipment failed is impossible.
Network test and monitoring techniques must be used.

DVStation	Remote	IPTV
Recording	Pod	Consolidator