Cheetah Technologies has enhanced its video quality monitoring and management platform and made a number of new features available as part of its V-Factor Stream Probe Advanced (VF-SPa) package. The new system — which was demonstrated at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo in New Orleans — offers cable system operators the ability to monitor both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video streams simultaneously. The company demonstrated the VF-SPa product advancements and other monitoring solutions at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo in New Orleans.
The enhanced VF-SPa platform, version 4.11, is designed to allow operators to deliver the highest-quality video experience to every subscriber. The latest release extends the capabilities of Cheetah’s “Intelligent Decode” technology to MPEG-4, and offers event-based monitoring and network topology features that allow operators to quickly identify and isolate the origin of video issues with the highest impact to subscribers.
Introduced for MPEG-2 services earlier this year, Intelligent Decode technology now enables cable operators to measure MPEG-4 video as it leaves the headend for blockiness, black screen, video freeze and jerkiness.
The Intelligent Decode technology looks at the coded video content to assess the video quality rather than guessing at the impact based on the coding or transport information. Instead it actually looks at the video and then correlates with the remaining MPEG and IP information to provide a comprehensive solution. The Stream Probe family of products combines the ability to objectively measure true video quality while providing standard MPEG and IP analysis, including MDI measurement.
While the Intelligent Decode advances offer cable operators new tools for measuring MPEG-4 streams, the event-based monitoring and network topology functionalities in Version 4.11 provide increased visibility into network events, as well as the ability to take corrective action in ways that best meet the needs of subscribers.
