Back around the year 2000, Radiant Communications created a solution to monitor video remotely for the CATV and broadcast industries. This solution allowed remote video monitoring of more unmanned locations and saved “Truck Rolls” by being able to perform basic video content audits of unmanned hubs and headends through remote control over an IP network.
Slingbox followed with a residential product that allowed watching TV remotely, and because of the low cost, thousands of boxes were put into commercial CATV/Broadcast/IPTV networks. However, Slingbox had some limitations and was discontinued. That left a great gap in solutions for remotely auditing the channel line ups of unmanned hubs or headend facilities.
Around 2015, “Streaming Technology” showed up on the scene, giving more flexibility to video content delivery. Radiant Communications created new solutions based on video streaming technologies to solve all CATV and broadcast issues. The new RM1100SD or RM1106/1121 HD remote monitoring systems, which replaced the Slingbox application, deliver greater control of remote set-top devices and better remote content viewing capabilities. They allow quality of experience testing, as well as simple channel lineup verification of service.
Complementing the RM1100 series is the RM8000 Remote Monitoring and Analysis Gateway, which allows CATV MSOs and broadcasters to perform real-time monitoring, scheduled capture, continuous capture, and advanced analysis of their video programming by remotely controlling the RM1100 series systems and capturing content samples at the subscriber edge. The samples are scheduled by setting up workflows within the Gateway. Workflows command the RM1000 series systems to tune to specific channels at specific times and capture samples of video content, which are then stored on disk for analysis.
The RM7000 gateway can monitor video streams for SCTE-18 messages and force tune the RM100 series systems to capture the alert content required for proof of FCC compliance at the subscriber edge.
Similarly, the RM8000 Gateway can listen for SCTE-35 messages to capture and store proof of Digital Add Insertion (DAI). The RM8000 also has the capability to intercept, capture and perform analysis on Dynamic Adaptive Streaming media flows delivered via HLS or DASH.
Content samples are stored either on a local disk drive or can be forwarded to Network Accessible Storage (NAS) for later analysis. Advanced video analysis of captured content can be used for detection of anomalies like loss of content, change of video profile, and relative loudness of audio.
RCC Fiber also offers numerous solutions for CATV and broadcasters, such as mpeg-2 video encoders, peg encoders, and much more. Speak to a RCC fiber representative today by calling 1 (888) 412-0124.
