MELBOURNE, Australia—Mediaproxy has named Heartland Video Systems as its exclusive partner for the television business in the United States.

The Plymouth, Wisc., -based systems integrator will represent the company’s full range of technologies, including LogServer and Monwall as well as offer them as part of its installation portfolio.

"HVS has an enviable record in U.S. broadcast technology as a systems integrator and trusted supplier. HVS established its reputation in the market and now Dan Whealy is taking the company into the future. We recognized this expertise and knowledge, which makes HVS the ideal partner for us in a vibrant and rapidly developing market,” said Mediaproxy CEO Erik Otto.

Founded in 1997, HVS has established itself as a specialist in NextGen TV with over 60 ATSC 3.0 installations to its credit. In addition to system integration, HVS offers consulting and engineering support services, while also partnering with leading broadcast technology brands and suppliers.

In July 2025, Dan Whealy purchased the company, and it will remain a family-owned business.

Mediaproxy has become the leading developer of compliance and logging systems to major broadcasters and playout facilities. The company's flagship product is the LogServer monitoring platform, which can work with all current terrestrial broadcasting and streaming formats, including ATSC 1.0 MPEG-2 based HD and SD, and ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV 4K/HDR. Mediaproxy's Monwall multiviewer was recently expanded with the introduction of the Monwall Server, which gives capability for producing streams in a variety of low-latency formats and generating mosaics for multi-screen display.

"We are proud to enter into a strategic partnership with Mediaproxy and further the adoption of their innovative solutions throughout the United States television broadcast market," said HVS president Dan Whealy. "Having previously been a customer of Mediaproxy in my role as a broadcast executive, I have seen firsthand the operational value their technology delivers. As broadcasters navigate the increasing complexity of supporting both ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 services alongside streaming and multi-platform distribution, trusted monitoring and compliance tools are more important than ever.”

More information is available on the Mediaproxy and HVS websites.

CARY, N.C.—SmallHD has unveiled its new OLED 16 4K production monitor that combines OLED’s contrast ratio, exceptional color accuracy, customizable dials, Wi-Fi integration and set-ready construction for on-set workflows.

“Our new OLED 16 4K Monitor addresses the need for infinite contrast, true blacks, shadow detail, precise color reproduction, and zero haloing in a form factor able to withstand the rigors of production,” said Matt Eidenbock, product manager for SmallHD.

The 16-inch production monitor offers 3840 x 2160 (UHD) resolution, true 10-bit color (99% DCI-P3 / 97% Rec.2020), and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio for critical exposure control and shadow detail.

“Designed to enhance DIT and DP workflows, it’s lightweight, rugged and comes with professional-grade I/O, multiple mounting points, integrated Wi-Fi functionality, and four multi-function dials that let users customize the way they navigate our award-winning PageOS toolkit,” said Eidenbock.

The monitor is lightweight and portable. Its rugged form factor is an optimal panel size for side-by-side viewing.

The OLED 16 is designed to mount easily on DIT carts, DP stands or at Video Village. The unibody chassis is crafted from aircraft-grade aluminum, and the monitor weighs 10.4 pounds (4.72 kgs). A Smart Rail Connector and 100mm VESA-compatible mount offer multiple mounting points for versatile power and accessory configurations.

The monitor offers professional-grade I/O, including: four 12G-SDI in/out, one HDMI 2.0 in/out, one 4-pin XLR power input, one USB 2.0 (5V / 2.4A), one USB (5V / 1.5A), one USB-C (5V / 1.5A), RP-SMA Wi-Fi antenna connector, 1x RJ45 10Base-T/100Base-TX Ethernet and two 2-pin locking outputs to power external devices like Teradek wireless solutions.

A joystick/wheel, function/menu buttons and four machined dials on the lower front of the monitor offer customizable control over the included PageOS toolkit, including waveform, vectorscope, EL Zone, multiview, false color and LUT workflows.

More information is available on the company’s website.

HACKENSACK, N.J.—Actus Digital has announced that Meteo Consult has successfully deployed the Actus Digital solution for its television network, La Chaîne Météo.

Actus Digital is a LiveU company, and a leading provider of intelligent media monitoring and broadcast compliance platforms.

Meteo Consult is the private meteorological company in France and is part of the Figaro Group. It manages several services, including La Chaîne Météo, broadcast 24/7 on Canal+, multiple websites (lachainemeteo.com, meteoconsult.com, nautisme.com), numerous mobile applications (iOS and Android), as well as an interactive voice service.

Running a continuously updated 24/7 broadcast with a highly streamlined technical and on-air team, La Chaîne Météo required a reliable, automated solution to replace its legacy 15-year-old standard-definition system.

The newly deployed Actus platform has been seamlessly integrated into the network's Active Directory to securely connect with internal servers, and utilizes APIs for automated media extractions.

With the Actus Digital platform now operational, La Chaîne Météo will effortlessly fulfill its mandatory compliance recording requirements. Furthermore, the platform provides a critical new archiving capability for the network, generating a concatenated archive that automatically stores full news bulletins each time the edition is updated throughout the day.

"As a small, multi-skilled team managing a channel with continuously updated content seven days a week, we need reliable, automated systems that run smoothly behind the scenes,” explained Frank Jamois, head of TV Production at Meteo Consult. “Actus Digital perfectly answered our need to modernize our aging 15-year-old infrastructure. It provides us with a robust solution not only for mandatory compliance recording but also for the automatic archiving of our daily news bulletins, which we previously did not have."

Ariel Shukroun, Sales Director at Actus Digital added that “the Actus Intelligent Monitoring Platform is designed to go beyond basic compliance, giving lean production teams the automation, API integration, and reliability they need to focus on content creation rather than technical troubleshooting. We look forward to supporting La Chaîne Météo for years to come."

For more information, visit actusdigital.com.

NEW YORK— Media technology company Amagi has unveiled a major improvements to its CLOUDPORT platform.

“Over the past year, Amagi has prioritized a fundamental shift in how broadcast infrastructure is designed—moving beyond simple cloud migration to re-engineering the core of playout operations,” said Srinivasan KA, co-founder and president—global business at Amagi. “The latest set of upgrades directly impacts uptime, control and scalability for broadcasters operating in high-pressure, always-on environments.”

With more than 250 features shipped in fiscal year 2025-26, the platform now supports over 100 concurrent feeds with 200-player multi-AZ redundancy in a single tenant, enabling large-scale, distributed deployments with consistent performance and built-in resilience.

The latest upgrade introduces Amagi Monitoring, a proactive monitoring platform purpose-built for CLOUDPORT deployments that is designed to anticipate and mitigate operational risks before they impact on-air output.

The tool surfaces missing assets, schedule gaps, ingest failures, audio misconfigurations and delivery anomalies, while delivering customer-level analytics on playout duration and asset processing. Since late 2025, Amagi Monitoring has helped avert over 80% of potential disruption scenarios, the company said.

Security remains foundational to CLOUDPORT, reinforced through continuous platform-wide modernization. The platform has achieved SOC 2 Type II certification for the second consecutive year, ensuring robust controls across infrastructure, access and data protection.

CLOUDPORT is designed for 99.999% availability, with resiliency embedded across network, infrastructure and operational layers.

At the network level, support for SMPTE ST 2022-7 enables hitless protection switching for RTP-based workflows, ensuring uninterrupted playout even in the presence of network failures.

At the infrastructure level, Active-Active multi-region redundancy and multi-availability-zone deployments, supported by flexible deployment models, eliminate single points of failure while allowing broadcasters to align resiliency with operational priorities. The on-premises Disaster Recovery Box ensures localized continuity in the event of extended cloud or network outages, with support for up to 72 hours of survivability.

CLOUDPORT shifts the broadcast paradigm from static control to adaptive, operator-centric workflows, headlined by about 70% faster playlist publishing via new show-level playlist editing and publishing. The platform introduces a horizontal timeline view for proactive conflict management and consolidates multi-channel operations through a unified interface capable of 16-channel synchronized playout. By offering configurable widgets and streamlined control, CLOUDPORT reduces manual intervention and cognitive load, allowing broadcasters to scale regional and variant feeds with greater agility.

CLOUDPORT advances the standards of modern broadcasting by integrating ultra-low-latency JPEG-XS workflows that reduce transmission lag by up to 1.3 seconds, a critical leap for live sports and interactive viewing. The platform further elevates the viewer experience with support for 4K HDR 10-bit video and Dolby Atmos audio, ensuring premium, cinematic fidelity across HDR10 and HLG formats. To meet global accessibility needs, CLOUDPORT now features Google Speech-to-Text V2 for real-time AI captioning and translation, alongside enhanced HTML-triggered graphics automation for precise, production-grade on-air presentation at scale.

The product further strengthens its cloud-native foundation through a deeper integration with AWS, leveraging next-generation compute instances and Amazon EKS to drive superior playout performance. By implementing Karpenter-based autoscaling and migrating to GP3 storage, the platform significantly improves resource efficiency and deployment agility. These infrastructure optimizations enable broadcasters to benefit from cloud-native advancements, improving scalability, performance and deployment agility without introducing architectural complexity.

The latest enhancements are available as part of the ongoing CLOUDPORT 4.x release cycle.

More information is available on the company’s website.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D.—Sencore demonstrated its MRD 8000, AFN Platform and Centra Gateway as well as made the show debut of its VB440 during the 2026 NAB Show last week at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The company also featured its OmniHub 6/16, OmniHub PLAY and TXS 3800—all of which address the real demands of video delivery, distribution and monitoring, Sencore said.

“As server and component costs continue rising, engineers are being asked to do more with tighter budgets. Cost-effective doesn’t mean compromising on capability,” said Seth VerMulm, director of product management at Sencore. “The AFN Platform, MRD 8000 and Centra Gateway are designed for broadcast-grade performance without the overhead of costly server infrastructure.”

Many operators are using aging receiver-decoders never designed for today’s multichannel, multiformat demands, Sencore said. To address this, Sencore featured its MRD 8000, the company’s newest and most capable receiver-decoder, built on a GPU-accelerated platform in a compact 1RU chassis.

The company also featured its AFN Platform for live production and newsgathering. Delivering ultralow-latency encoding and decoding up to 4K/UHD with 12G-SDI, the AFN Platform offers native SRT support to allow engineers to run satellite uplink and IP delivery at the same time from a single, future-proof 1RU chassis.

Sencore highlighted its VB440, a high-density monitoring and analysis platform designed for SMPTE 2110 and IPMX environments. Fully NMOS-certified and capable of monitoring up to 80Gbps of simultaneous streaming, the unit offers engineers the visibility necessary to maintain signal integrity at scale. The VB440 also adds signal generator functionality and lip sync measurements for precise production setup verification.

The company also showed its OmniHub 6/16, a modular, hot-swappable video processing platform available in 1RU and 4RU chassis. The solution is capable of handling dense multi-channel encoding, signal reception, digital turnaround and simultaneous IPTV and QAM distribution from a single system.

Paired with OmniHub PLAY, operators can deliver a fully managed IPTV experience to the PLAY-STB, Sencore’s Android-based set-top box, all controlled from a single web interface.

Sencore also demonstrated its TXS 3800 multichannel transcoder with a new ATSC 3.0 passthrough transcoding mode that increases service capacity to up to 20 services and a new ATSC 1.0 backward compatibility mode that allows engineers to demodulate ATSC 1.0 today and transition to ATSC 3.0 later without a hardware swap.

The company also showed its Centra Gateway, which addresses rising server costs. Centra Gateway handles video stream reception, transmission, conversion and orchestration across multiple protocols and is deployable on-premises or in the cloud.

More information is available on the company’s website.

MELBOURNE, Australia—Mediaproxy will demonstrate its newly unveiled suite of AI-powered tools designed to transform how broadcasters and media organizations track the presence of brands in different forms of content over multiple platforms during the 2026 NAB Show, April 18-22, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The new feature set, which has been integrated into the company’s LogServer compliance logging and analysis platform, is based on advanced machine learning models that can automatically detect logos and visual identifiers associated with companies and products. It allows customers to gain deeper insights into brand exposure and sponsorship performance while also ensuring that the accuracy and integrity of the digital information connected to the content or production does not change during distribution.

Key to the feature is an AI-driven detection engine that identifies brands as they appear across multiple channels and regions. Broadcasters can now streamline reporting and reduce manual reviewing and ensure more comprehensive compliance coverage. The solution scales effortlessly and seamlessly to support high-volume environments where rapid, reliable analysis is essential.

As the media landscape becomes increasingly complex, the ability to identify and track brand elements automatically gives organizations a powerful tool for understanding audience engagement and allows them to verify contractual obligations.

See Mediaproxy at 2026 NAB Show booth W1423.

More information is available on the company’s website.

MELBOURNE, Australia—Atomos announced today that it is acquiring Flanders Scientific (FSI), a global provider of professional reference monitoring. Atomos says the acquisition reinforces its “long-term commitment to precision monitoring across the entire production pipeline, from on-camera capture through to final color grading and delivery.”

The company added that acquiring Flanders Scientific will add expertise in color science and reference display technology with Atomos’ global reach, product innovation, and connected ecosystem and that it can now “deliver a more complete and integrated monitoring solution for filmmakers, broadcasters, and content creators worldwide.”

Atomos already has a broad monitoring portfolio spanning multiple stages of production. This includes on-camera monitoring with the Shinobi range and the Ninja family of monitor-recorders, on-set monitoring with the Sumo range, and rack-mounted solutions for broadcast and corporate workflows with the Shogun AV line. In addition, the previously announced Studio Pro line will complement Atomos' growing reference monitoring capabilities later this year.

With the addition of Flanders Scientific, Atomos now spans the full spectrum of monitoring, from on-camera, on-set, and live production, through to postproduction and final delivery, the company said.

Flanders Scientific will continue to operate as a distinct brand within the Atomos family. There will be no change to its product philosophy, engineering approach, or the high standards that professionals rely on, Atomos said.

“We are incredibly proud to welcome the Flanders Scientific team into Atomos,” said Peter Barber, Atomos CEO. “They have built a reputation for absolute precision and trust in reference monitoring, and that aligns perfectly with where we are taking the Atomos business. This acquisition strengthens our commitment to monitoring at every level, from on-camera through to final delivery, while also accelerating our ability to support the highest tier of professional production and post-production workflows.

"By combining FSI’s expertise with our global scale and innovation, we are creating something truly unique for the industry," Barber added. "Just as importantly, we are committed to preserving what makes Flanders Scientific special. The brand, the philosophy, and the engineering approach will remain unchanged, while gaining the support and reach of the broader Atomos organization.”

Bram Desmet, Chief Executive Officer of Flanders Scientific, said joining Atomos “is a significant, and exciting, moment for Flanders Scientific.”

“FSI was built on the simple premise that professionals responsible for image fidelity deserve tools they can trust,” Desmet said. “That standard has never changed, and it won't. What this partnership gives us is the infrastructure and reach to stand behind that promise for more customers, in more markets, more effectively than we could on our own. I'm excited about what we can deliver together—not just for the broadcast, digital imaging technician, and colorist communities we have always served, but for the broader production world that Atomos reaches every day. The best work FSI has ever done is still ahead of us.”

Both brands will be represented on their respective booths at the 2026 NAB Show. April 18-22 in Las Vegas. Atomos is in Central Hall, booth # C4731, while Flanders Scientific is in North Hall, booth # N1827—although there will be product cross-pollination across the two locations, Atomos said.

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Quality assurance solutions provider Interra Systems has announced that Elite Media Technologies has selected its BATON file-based QC solution for file-based media workflows.

Elite Media Technologies specializes in master-level and international audio QC, SDR and HDR finishing, IMF and DCP packaging, and full-service picture and sound restoration along with distribution and delivery across streaming and broadcast platforms.

“We offer comprehensive master-level and foreign audio quality control services, along with SDR and HDR mastering, IMF and DCP creation, as well as picture and sound restoration,” said Nick Mairose, president and CEO of Elite Media Technologies. “Our mission is to create high-quality media experiences for clients worldwide. After an in-depth evaluation, we selected BATON for its audio and video analysis, scalable architecture and feature set, which align with our commitment to maintaining high standards in content transformation and delivery.”

BATON is used to automate quality control processes for media files, helping ensure compliance and consistency across formats, including SDR and HDR content.

“For more than 15 years, Elite Media Technologies has specialized in creating high-quality content for global distribution across multiple languages and formats,” said Ashish Basu, executive vice president of global sales and business development at Interra Systems. “As a highly respected company in the industry, Elite Media Technologies’ focus on quality makes its adoption of BATON for file-based QC significant for us.”

“We continue to invest in research and development based on customer feedback,” Basu added. “In addition to checking the quality of SDR and HDR content, BATON can support Elite Media Technologies in delivering content to its VOD, SVOD, and OTT distribution clients.”

During the 2026 NAB Show (booth # W2243) from April 19-22, in Las Vegas, Interra Systems will showcase the latest version of its BATON platform, along with its entire suite of QC, monitoring, and analyzing solutions — including ORION for real-time monitoring and VEGA Media Analyzer for deep technical analysis and debugging. Live demos can be scheduled here: www.interrasystems.com/mailer/nab-2026/index.html.

More information about Interra Systems’ solutions can be found at www.interrasystems.com.

NEW YORK—TAG Video Systems said today it is collaborating with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), establishing OCI as a certified infrastructure platform for deploying the full TAG monitoring suite, and will feature the collaboration during the 2026 NAB Show, April 18-22, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.at any scale.

"Our goal is to empower users to deploy their workflows on any cloud platform they choose, seamlessly integrating into their specific cloud or hybrid environments," said Golan Simani, director of cloud and tech operations at TAG Video Systems. "By adding OCI support, we are reinforcing our commitment to staying ahead of the pace of change, continuously evolving to support the new infrastructures and technologies our customers need to succeed."

OCI offers a free egress tier and bandwidth pricing that represents a departure from standard hyperscaler rates. Combined with deterministic network performance and flexible compute built for always-on broadcast workloads, OCI is well-suited to being home to mission-critical monitoring at scale.

"OCI is purpose-built for the performance and cost requirements that media and entertainment organizations demand. Working together with TAG means broadcast teams can now get world-class monitoring and quality control without compromising on infrastructure economics,” said Kip Schauer, who is responsible for media partnerships at OCI Media Services.

TAG's Realtime Media Platform is now deployed and certified on OCI. Work is also underway to bring the full TAG product portfolio to the platform. Broadcasters working with OCI will be able to count on a fully supported, production-validated monitoring stack that integrates natively into their OCI-based workflows.

The TAG Realtime Media Platform on OCI offers:

• End-to-end IP-native signal visibility from ingest to playout on a cloud infrastructure designed for high-throughput media workloads.
• Scalable, flexible compute that adapts to the bursty, always-on nature of live broadcast without overprovisioning or cost surprises.
• A jointly supported deployment path, backed by TAG's integration expertise and OCI's enterprise infrastructure, for broadcasters migrating from legacy on-premises or alternative cloud environments.

See the joint TAG-OCI solution in NAB Show booth W2323.

More information is available on the TAG Video Systems and Oracle websites.

CINCINNATI—GatesAir has announced the global launch of AirWatch365, its managed service for broadcast transmission monitoring and support and said it has introduced AirWatch365 Edge Gateway, an on-premises site appliance that securely connects transmitters and related infrastructure to the AirWatch365 platform.

GatesAir will demonstrate the service and the AirWatch365 Edge Gateway at 2026 NAB Show (Booth C1046), taking place April 19–22 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The combined solution represents a continued expansion of GatesAir’s global services strategy, bringing together cloud-based aggregation with secure, site-level data collection to help broadcasters improve operational visibility, reliability, and support responsiveness.

“At GatesAir, our focus is on providing broadcasters with a reliable and scalable approach to monitoring and supporting increasingly distributed transmission infrastructure,” said Raymond Miklius, Vice President of Technology, GatesAir. “AirWatch365 brings together centralized visibility, structured analytics, and expert support to help ensure consistent, high-quality on-air operations.”

Available through the company’s broader GatesAir Care program, AirWatch365 is a 24/7 Network Operations Center (NOC)-based service that enables broadcasters to outsource monitoring, diagnostics, and support to a dedicated team of GatesAir RF experts. The service continuously collects telemetry, correlates alarms, and applies analytics across multiple sites, allowing engineers to identify and respond to developing issues before they impact on-air performance.

AirWatch365 uses a cloud-based server layer as the central aggregation point, while the AirWatch365 Edge Gateway collects and normalizes operational data from transmitters, exciters, and environmental systems, including key performance indicators such as power levels, temperatures, and signal conditions. That data is securely transmitted to the AirWatch365 platform, where it is aggregated, analyzed, and presented through configurable dashboards.

This architecture enables broadcasters to manage alarms, performance metrics, and reporting across multiple sites, while maintaining local autonomy and fail-safe operation if a site is temporarily disconnected.

AirWatch365 extends beyond basic alarm monitoring by incorporating telemetry, alarm correlation, and analytics across multiple sites. GatesAir support teams continuously monitor system conditions and trends, enabling faster issue identification and more effective response when conditions fall outside of normal operating thresholds.

The system also supports tailored configurations based on each broadcaster’s operational requirements, including customizable dashboards, site groupings, and user-defined alarm thresholds. This approach helps reduce alarm fatigue while ensuring that out-of-tolerance RF, power, or environmental conditions generate actionable alerts.

GatesAir also stressed that AirWatch365 is designed to scale across single stations, regional groups, and multi-market networks, supporting radio and television transmission systems along with associated infrastructure.

The AirWatch365 Edge Gateway establishes secure, outbound connectivity to the cloud platform, aligning with modern IT security practices while limiting access strictly to approved monitored equipment. The architecture maintains local system operation during network disruptions, ensuring continued site performance with data synchronization upon restoration of connectivity.

AirWatch365 is available globally beginning this spring.

For more information on AirWatch365, please visit https://www.gatesair.com/services/gatesair-care.

LAS VEGAS—Studio Technologies is expanding its StudioComm line of products with the addition of the StudioComm Model 794 Central Controller and Model 795 Control Console.

The new system is intended for general audio monitoring applications including use in post-production, ingest, and on-air facilities, and will be shown for the first time during the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas at booth C6808.

“The StudioComm system, built around the Model 794 and companion control consoles, delivers a fully integrated 5.1 and stereo monitoring platform that unifies Dante, analog, and AES3 audio sources for professional broadcast, production, and post-production environments,” says Gordon Kapes, president of Studio Technologies. “We look forward to highlighting this expanded line of StudioComm product offerings at NAB 2026.”

The Model 794 is available in four distinct versions (794-01, 794-02, 794-03 and 794-04) that differ only with their input resources.

The Model 794-01 features Dante audio-over-Ethernet as well as analog inputs and outputs. The Model 794-02 adds balanced AES3 digital audio inputs while the Model 794-03 adds unbalanced AES3 digital audio inputs. The Model 794-04 adds two additional analog inputs. All four 1U rack-mounted Model 794 units work with the Model 795 Control Console, a desktop user control surface that includes multiple pushbutton switches, a rotary encoder, LED indicators, and a digital display. An integral web-based menu system allows numerous system operating features to be configured. Audio performance is excellent, with all processing performed in the digital domain using 32-bit programmable logic.

All configurations also feature two 5.1 (6-channel) Dante digital audio inputs, two stereo (2-channel) Dante digital audio inputs, one 5.1 (6-channel) analog audio input, and two stereo (2-channel) analog line inputs. The Model 794-02 adds one 5.1 and one stereo balanced AES3 digital audio input. The Model 794-03 adds one 5.1 and one stereo unbalanced AES3 digital audio input. And finally, the Model 794-04 adds a second analog 5.1 input and a third stereo input.

Output resources for all systems include two 5.1 (6-channel) Dante digital audio outputs, two stereo (2-channel) Dante digital audio outputs, one 5.1 (6-channel) analog audio output, and one stereo (2-channel) analog audio output. Configurable features include bass management, downmix, and cue mix capability. Each Model 794 version includes three configurable Gigabit Ethernet network interfaces of which two can be used for transporting audio (Redundant Dante) and the third used for accessing the management menu system.

Each system includes a shielded multi-conductor cable with a 9-pin male D-sub plug on each end for linking a Model 794 with a Model 795. The Model 791 Control Console can also be supported. The Model 791 provides a minimum amount of control capability, perfect for locations where control of the monitoring level is the primary focus. The StudioComm system is powered by 100-240 V, 50/60 Hz or an external source of 12 Vdc. Both can be connected for redundant powering.

More information is available at studio-tech.com.

NEW YORK—TAG Video Systems has announced that it will unveil new capabilities across its IP-native Realtime Media Platform at NAB 2026 that will improve visibility into problems, make it easier to solve problems and reduce the number of tools needed to ensure quality control.

New releases include visual service health diagnostics, native audio monitoring, open SDK integrations, and expanded color analysis tools. Together, they give broadcast teams more visibility into their operations while reducing the standalone hardware and software required to run them.

Those improvements will move beyond traditional monitoring solutions that tell operators something is wrong and provide users with tools to show them exactly where to look for the problem and what to fix.

Lens, TAG’s newly announced visual service health analysis feature, organizes monitored sources into customizable visual hierarchies, by data center, content type, signal path, or any structure that matches how an operation works. Color-coded severity indicators show at a glance whether an issue is isolated or systemic, enabling root-cause analysis in seconds rather than minutes. Lens joins TAG’s existing suite of data visualization integrations, adding real-time workflow insight directly within the platform so operators can diagnose issues without switching to external dashboards.

TAG’s data integrations complement Lens by making monitoring data available to over 70 external destinations. Whether teams use Grafana, Elasticsearch, Splunk, or other platforms, TAG’s open data architecture means monitoring insights flow into the dashboards teams already use, so operational decisions are based on real data, not gut feel.

Expanded QC Station capabilities deepen that visibility at the stream level, with real-time waveforms, vectorscopes, histograms, and HDR validation across Rec.709, Rec.2020, and DCI-P3 color spaces, all accessible directly within the multiviewer mosaic.

Another major theme for the company at the show will be solutions that allow one platform to replace many tools.

More specifically, it noted that every capability announced at NAB 2026 replaces something that previously required standalone hardware or separate software.

QC Station’s color analysis replaces dedicated hardware analyzers and standalone test signal generators with a single software-based workflow. New native Dolby E decoding eliminates the need for dedicated external decoders, giving engineers real-time visibility into multi-channel audio program configurations directly within the same interface they use for video monitoring. Kantar watermark detection removes the need for separate watermark monitoring systems. This verifies watermark presence and integrity at every stage from live production through playout and distribution, ensuring measurement accuracy and contractual compliance.

TAG’s new Software Development Kits (SDKs) extend this consolidation beyond TAG’s own probing points. Third-party platforms can integrate directly with TAG’s monitoring infrastructure, aggregating data from multiple sources, including external and unsecured locations, into a single workspace. TAG and Witbe’s integration is a flagship example: Witbe’s real-device testing data and TAG’s in-network stream monitoring are brought together, giving operators a consolidated view of quality across the entire delivery chain.

On the infrastructure side, support for NVIDIA ConnectX-7 SmartNICs enables significantly higher stream density per COTS server, a direct path to lower cost-per-channel for large-scale uncompressed ST-2110 deployments.

TAG Video Systems said that visitors to Booth W2323 at NAB 2026 will see firsthand how these capabilities work together, with deep, end-to-end visibility across workflows and a platform built to scale as operations expand.

NEW YORK—TAG Video Systems has expanded its Media Control System (MCS) version 1.7.0 release with Lens, a visual service health analysis interface that organizes monitored video feeds into hierarchical groups and displays alarm distribution. The new capability provides operators with a centralized view of monitored assets and active alerts across large-scale broadcast operations.

TAG reported that Lens is designed to address a common operational challenge: When multiple feeds trigger alerts simultaneously, operators typically cross-reference data across separate monitoring tools to identify the root cause. Lens provides a unified view of all monitored assets and active alerts with color-coded severity indicators.

Lens organizes video streams into customizable hierarchies to help engineers pinpoint root causes quickly. Operations can structure their facilities by data center location ("US West" → "Rack 7" → specific encoders), content type ("Sports" → "Basketball" → individual game feeds), or signal path ("Playout" → "Contribution" → contributor name). Each feed can belong to multiple categories simultaneously, allowing operators to view the same feed through different operational perspectives.

When issues trigger, color-coded severity indicators appear at each hierarchy level, showing whether problems affect isolated feeds or entire categories. Engineers can expand nested hierarchies to drill from high-level overview to specific diagnostics, filter by severity thresholds, and efficiently trace which upstream or downstream systems connect to affected assets. By consolidating alarm data and system relationships into a single interface, Lens significantly reduces mean time to repair (MTTR)—operators can identify root causes in seconds rather than minutes, minimizing downtime across large-scale operations.

"Broadcast operations manage hundreds or thousands of channels across multiple data centers, with each channel having dozens of monitoring parameters," said Michael Demb, vice president of product strategy at TAG Video Systems. "When something goes wrong, every second of downtime matters. Lens gives operators a unified view of system health and lets them drill down from data center-wide to specific sources."

Lens is available now in TAG's Media Control System (MCS) version 1.7.0 and later. More information is available at https://tagvs.com/.

HACKENSACK, N.J.—Actus Digital, a LiveU company, will unveil major new enhancements to its Actus X Intelligent Monitoring Platform at the 2026 NAB Show, April 18-22, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The latest release introduces powerful new capabilities that expand real-time monitoring, improve operational efficiency and further differentiate Actus X from legacy compliance solutions.

Actus X unifies real-time QA alerting, compliance logging and multiviewer monitoring with advanced clipping and AI-driven news analysis in a single, browser-based solution. The monitoring platform gives broadcasters greater control, deeper insight and measurable operational value.

At NAB, Actus X will unveil native support for next-generation monitoring standards, such as ATSC 3.0 with A3SA encryption and multiviewer enhancements that deliver real-time, browser-based monitoring with sub-second latency. The 3.0 monitoring with A3SA encryption support enables broadcasters to monitor NextGen TV services with the same depth, reliability and compliance confidence they expect from traditional broadcast environments.

Enhanced sub-second low-latency performance, combined with new interactive player controls, allows operators to synchronize, pause and replay multiple feeds simultaneously, making it easier to compare on-air coverage across channels and quickly investigate issues in real time.

Automated, customized alert summaries provide clear visibility into the issues that matter most, delivered directly to the inbox with no manual reporting required.

Actus has continued to expand real-time AI analysis, enabling delivery of multilingual speech-to-text, keyword detection, content summarization, facial recognition and advertisement identification, turning compliance monitoring into actionable intelligence for news, legal and digital teams.

Actus Remote Viewer Monitoring (RVM) centralizes monitoring how channels are received at remote sites, enabling broadcasters to verify on-air quality, detect issues early, and troubleshoot problems from the viewer’s perspective.

Actus will also present its roadmap for integrating its solutions with the LiveU IP-video EcoSystem, including a multiviewer with real-time quality control (QC) monitoring and alerts of live feeds coming from LiveU's field units and cloud-based solutions.

See Actus Digital at 2026 NAB Show booth N1740.

More information is on the company’s website.

BOULDER, Colo.—Public Media Venture Group (PMVG) has launched TechBundle, its comprehensive, modernized, low-cost shared technology bundle packaged specifically for local public media station operations.

As public media organizations face increasing financial pressure and complex technology decisions, TechBundle provides stations with a bundle of best-in-class services to manage essential operational services at a low cost, without sacrificing reliability, control or long-term flexibility.

“In today’s rapidly evolving media landscape, stations need tools that reduce cost and complexity while supporting growth,” said Marc Hand, founder and CEO of PMVG. “TechBundle was designed to help local stations stabilize their operations and position themselves for what comes next.”

TechBundle consolidates four essential services into one offering. By combining shared infrastructure, expert support and revenue and audience-focused digital tools, stations can modernize operations without rebuilding from scratch. Services may be purchased individually or with an additional introductory discount when purchased as a complete bundle. PMVG negotiated substantially reduced pricing on behalf of the public media system, creating access to enterprise-level infrastructure at a fraction of the traditional cost.

TechBundle is supported by PMVG’s Solution Advisor model. PMVG will help participating station leaders evaluate options, select the right services and configurations for their needs and plan technology investments strategically.

“Our role is not simply to deliver services,” said Hand. “It’s to help stations make smart, informed decisions that support long-term sustainability and reduce operating costs.”

The TechBundle combines master control, transmission monitoring & maintenance, traffic, and streaming into a unified solution delivered on modern infrastructure and supported by one dedicated PMVG contact.

TechBundle offers includes PMM Cloud, TSG managed encoding and transmission site services, TRAC traffic services and Local Public Light.

PMM Cloud is a centralized, fully managed, cloud-based master control solution built for public media. It features national content delivery, quality control, live local operations and 365/24/7 expert monitoring — with no capital equipment costs for stations.

TSG managed encoding and transmission site services offers comprehensive, proactive monitoring across RF, MVPD, and streaming distribution, including 24/7 technical oversight, on-site maintenance, site evaluations, and signal integrity monitoring.

TRAC offers reliable PBS-focused traffic services delivering clean, compliant logs, automation compatibility, continuity protection and 24/7 response for urgent changes and live events. Service can also include station programming.

Local Public’s Light tier offers local public and dual-licensee stations the full capabilities of its apps, which are designed to mint Passport members and replace lost broadcast-driven audiences and revenue across select platforms, including Roku and the web with optional mobile support, for a greatly reduced price.

More information is available on the PMVG, Local Public, PMM, TRAC and TSG websites.

HUDSON, N.H.—Game Creek Video is a leading provider of mobile production facilities for major sports and entertainment broadcasts across the United States. Known for its state-of-the-art fleet and engineering expertise, the company supports high-profile events for networks such as Fox, CBS, ESPN and NBC. With a commitment to innovation, reliability and top-tier workflows, Game Creek builds and operates some of the most advanced remote production trucks in the industry.

We’re always looking for ways to modernize our fleet, and one of the most transformative steps we’ve taken has been deploying Riedel’s MediorNet FusioN gateways directly behind the monitors inside our trucks.

Frees Up Much-Needed Space
Previously, our monitoring designs were limited to 1080p by hybrid SDI workflows wrapped around centralized gateway racks that swallowed up valuable space and added weight. Those traditional systems also constrained how creatively we could lay out our control rooms.

When we evaluated Riedel’s FusioN platform, especially the compact FusioN 3B, the lightweight form factor immediately stood out. These devices are small enough to mount behind monitors yet powerful enough to manage the SDI-to-IP and IP-to-SDI conversions that drive our ST 2110 workflows. Balancing capability with mobility is essential, and these units offered the best of both worlds.

Placing these lightweight gateways at the edge completely changed how we build and wire our trucks. Instead of routing every monitor feed through large, centralized gateway conversion, we now mount a FusioN device directly behind each pair of screens.

This has two major advantages. First, removing large blocks of centralized hardware frees up significant space in our engineering racks. That reclaimed space gives us more flexibility in equipment layout and helps reduce overall truck weight. Since every pound affects transportation logistics and compliance, having conversion handled by lightweight devices rather than heavy racks is a major operational benefit.

Second, we drastically reduce the amount of cabling required, with no more long SDI runs snaking through the subfloor of the truck to feed every display. That reduction allows the FusioN 3B to deliver UHD to each monitor with only a six-foot run of 12G-SDI per display. This has a massive positive impact on the user-monitoring experience.

The day-to-day impact of this shift is obvious during live broadcasts. As we get into playoff runs toward the end of the football or basketball seasons, production often needs to scale up quickly, with operators requesting additional monitors or other out-of-the-box signal assignments. Because adding monitors now only requires a network link to an additional
FusioN converter, we can respond rapidly without major rework through a central point.

The monitor walls and operator workstations become far more dynamic and almost modular. The FusioN devices manage UHD and HDR conversion right at the monitor, eliminating multiple layers of processing that used to add latency and complexity. Handling conversion at the edge keeps the operator experience smooth.

Small Devices, Big Improvements
In our IP-native trucks, where ST 2110 forms the backbone of the system, this approach is incredibly valuable. The core IP fabric handles routing, but the FusioN devices allow us to drop back into SDI seamlessly whenever needed—whether we’re extending to a crowded courtside announcer table inside the venue or providing a world-class monitoring experience inside one of our mobile units. Leveraging NMOS, we can dynamically scale our broadcast infrastructure to suit the needs of our clients on any given day.

When I look at how our trucks operate today versus just a few years ago, the improvement is dramatic. By adopting these small, lightweight FusioN gateways, we’ve decentralized conversion, reduced cabling, saved space and built more flexible and responsive production environments.

What might seem like a subtle change has fundamentally redefined how we design monitor systems and control rooms. It’s a shift that improves reliability, adaptability, and day-to-day workflow and it pays off every time we roll into a new venue.

More information is available on Riedel’s website.

LISBON—In the runup to ISE in February, video connectivity provider NDI has released NDI 6.3, a major update designed to give professional and enterprise users greater visibility, operational insight and confidence when running NDI at scale.

The release focuses on advanced discovery, monitoring, and control, reinforcing NDI’s role in mission-critical broadcast, Pro AV, live event, and enterprise workflows.

"NDI 6.3 is the final step of the journey we started with the release of 6.0,” said Miguel Coutinho, head of NDI, which is owned by Vizrt. “This latest release establishes NDI into the world of large video installations by allowing monitoring and control of both senders and receivers, no matter the size of the network."

NDI 6.3 will be demonstrated live at ISE in Barcelona between Feb. 3 through 6, where Roberto Musso, technical director at NDI, will lead hands-on, demo-first walkthroughs on the show floor. These demonstrations will showcase live sender monitoring and diagnostics across multiple active NDI sources, highlighting how operators can quickly identify and isolate issues in scaled environments.

At ISE, NDI will feature dedicated demo pods with Vizrt, Ross, Science Image, Everet, CDN Live and TSL, while wall displays will highlight partners and users including Panasonic, Obsbot, BirdDog, Magewell, Bolin, Yealink and MMG. Together, these showcases highlight the breadth of the NDI ecosystem and reinforce third-party validation across professional video workflows.

As NDI deployments continue to grow in size, teams need clear insight into how their networks and video sources are performing. NDI 6.3 addresses this need by enabling real-time monitoring of multiple active sources, providing diagnostics for stream health, and helping operators identify issues such as packet loss or jitter before they impact production.

In addition to monitoring and control enhancements, NDI 6.3 expands secure Pro AV workflows through new HDCP compatibility. NDI now supports HDCP-enabled devices built in collaboration with ProITAV, enabling protected content workflows that were previously out of reach for many Pro AV environments, including use cases that require encrypted sources, licensed playback devices, or end-to-end content protection. Working closely with ProITAV, NDI developed the first NDI-enabled, HDCP-compliant encoder and decoder, which is fully integrated with NDI 6.3 for HDCP streams and Non-HDCP- Streams. This hardware solution opens the door to a new device category and new applications that provide a more secure deployment option for partners and customers.

The release also supports Agilex 7 FPGA chipset enablement, expanding hardware support and strengthening the NDI ecosystem for high-performance deployments.

NDI also reported praise from early beta partners for the 6.3 release.

“With NDI 6.3, we’re helping unlock secure, real-world Pro AV workflows that weren’t previously possible,” said Keith Kennedy, Managing Director at ProITAV. “Working closely with NDI, we developed the first NDI-enabled, HDCP-compliant encoder and decoder to support protected content end to end. This gives integrators and enterprise users a practical way to deploy NDI in environments that require encryption, licensed playback, and content protection, without compromising performance or flexibility.”

NEVADA CITY, Calif.—Telestream has introduced ARGUS Version 2.3, which introduces Live Look, a feature that lets operators inspect live and on-demand streams visually and audibly right from the ARGUS monitoring environment.

Designed for rapid validation of service health and quality, Live Look enables real-time video playback and audio confirmation from the ARGUS consolidated dashboard, allowing operators to see and hear exactly what viewers experience and resolve any issues without switching between tools or interfaces, the company said.

ARGUS, Telestream iQ’s centralized video-monitoring solution for video-distribution networks, provides users with a comprehensive end-to-end view of media health diagnostics through high-level dashboards and deep-dive analytics. With ARGUS Live Look, media operations teams can quickly isolate issues, reduce time to recovery, and improve confidence across the entire delivery workflow, it said.

“ARGUS centralizes correlated channel observability across the entire delivery chain and at scale,” Ken Haren, director of product management at Telestream, said. “ARGUS helps operations teams focus on what matters by surfacing precise, timely and actionable insights. With the launch of ARGUS v2.3 and the new Live Look capability, teams can now view any monitored stream in real-time directly in the ARGUS dashboard, enhancing diagnostic confidence and speeding up escalation decisions."

Live Look addresses the need for visual confirmation at scale, which is especially valuable for organizations managing hundreds of linear or over-the-top channels across distributed operations. From verifying audio presence to confirming editorial intent when silence or anomalies are detected, Live Look provides immediate insight without leaving the ARGUS environment. This, combined with Telestream’s monitoring-by-exception approach, allows operators to focus on addressing true deviations rather than watching every feed.

ARGUS v2.3 also offers updates that streamline management, improve security and optimize monitoring performance, including enhanced single sign-on (SSO)-enabled user management, automated lineup import/export and improved audio packet identifier (PID) monitoring. Telestream ARGUS v2.3 with Live Look is available immediately.

More information is available on the company’s website.

Wohler has said it has added three Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) connections to its new iVAM2-MPEG monitor.

The enhancements to the monitor include CALLER and LISTENER modes, monitoring of encrypted SRT streams, and the ability to select STREAM-ID for multistream endpoints. The advanced MPEG stream analyzer is now also directly available via the front panel in addition to the web interface, Wohler said.

With the update, the iVAM2-MPEG now supports both CALLER and LISTENER modes, enabling operators to initiate or accept SRT connections according to workflow. The unit can also monitor encrypted SRT streams, giving customers confidence when observing secured contribution and distribution feeds, the company said.

For workflows that carry multiple SRT streams over a single IP/port, operators can now select and monitor the desired stream using its STREAM-ID, reducing setup friction and simplifying multi-program confidence monitoring. The integrated MPEG stream analyzer is now available on the front panel, it said.

The iVAM2-MPEG has long supported viewing and selecting packet identifiers (PID) tables on the web interface. Providing this capability on the front panel gives operators a structured, at-a-glance view of parsed MPEG tables and programs and allows the direct selection of specific audio, video or subtitle packet identifiers (PIDs) for decoding on the fly, without having to pivot to the web UI, it said.

“These enhancements and improvements reflect our focus on delivering best-in-class solutions for real-world broadcast and production needs,” Amol Natekar, vice president of engineering, said. “Dual-mode SRT, encrypted stream monitoring and STREAM-ID selection combined with a front-panel MPEG analyzer help operators connect faster, monitor securely and make the right selection immediately—without extra configuration overhead. We remain committed to continuously improving usability and capability across Wohler solutions.”

All features are available as a free software download.

More information is available on the company’s website.

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Interra Systems today unveiled ORION stream recording support and seamless integration with BATON Media Player, a combination that lets broadcast engineers and operations teams perform frame-by-frame debugging of monitored streams with ease and precision, the company said.

“Our goal with the ORION–BMP integration was to make it easier for customers to move from detection to diagnosis within a single, streamlined workflow,” Anupama Anantharaman, vice president of product management at Interra, said. “By connecting real-time monitoring with frame-level playback and inspection, we’re helping operations teams pinpoint issues faster and resolve them with precision. This enhancement reflects our ongoing commitment to simplifying quality assurance workflows while enabling customers to deliver flawless content across every platform.”

The new recording feature allows users of ORION, the company’s real-time monitoring platform, to capture segments of monitored streams, particularly around error events. Each recording includes a buffer of 5 to 6 seconds before the error occurs and continues until the issue is resolved or for a user-defined duration. Recordings can also be triggered manually, scheduled or initiated during ad transitions, offering flexible options for capturing critical stream data, Interra said.

Integration of ORION with BMP lets users troubleshoot video delivery issues more quickly and effectively. It enables users to move seamlessly from real-time monitoring in ORION to frame-accurate playback and deep inspection in BMP, speeding up analysis of the causes of errors and quality anomalies, the company said.

The ORION–BMP integration delivers significant operational efficiency and confidence in delivering superior video experiences. From within the ORION interface, users can launch BMP with a single click to analyze recorded streams in detail. Errors detected during the recording window are automatically displayed in BMP, allowing users to jump directly to the relevant timestamps and perform frame-by-frame analysis, it said.

The company’s ORION-OTT monitoring solution for OTT workflows already includes BMP integration for debugging VOD assets. Recording support for live streams in ORION-OTT is planned for a future release, Interra said.

More information is available on the company’s website.

DENVER—At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Imagine Communications will introduce the Imagine Monitoring Solution (IMS), a ground-up solution for the unique demands of monitoring video networks.

Imagine says IMS “is the only monitoring solution to deliver full visibility across the entire video chain — from ingest to playout — enabling broadcasters, content originators, and MSOs to detect issues earlier, resolve them faster, and avoid costly outages.”

While the demands on video networks soar, the tools many teams rely on for monitoring are designed for general-purpose IT infrastructure or closed ecosystems, the company said. They are not focused on the intricacies of video networks — especially those that have transitioned to IP networks or are operating content delivery networks. IMS offers video-aware monitoring features that analyze all operational aspects of the complete video network from a single intuitive user interface. This includes in-depth data analytics that provide intelligent network analysis to identify processing trends and predict potential issues before they occur.

“The video network-specific nature of IMS separates it from the generic IT monitoring tools available on the market today,” said Dan Walsh, senior vice president, product management, at Imagine Communications. “Our new offering gives our customers access to the latest in video network monitoring, with end-to-end observability of all devices running in the network — regardless of device manufacturer.”

IMS gives users a live view down to the individual components of the video signal path, enabling faster issue isolation and real-time troubleshooting to minimize issues that could adversely affect the resulting video content delivery. Customers get started quickly with curated, prebuilt device profiles and can create fully customized dashboards tailored to their operational workflows. The combination of profiles and customization enables precise, user-defined alerting with flexible severity levels, escalation paths, and notification schedules — reducing noise and helping teams focus on the most relevant issues.

IMS is made for cloud, on-premises, and hybrid video processing and delivery environments. As part of Imagine’s commitment to industry collaboration and interoperability, IMS supports open APIs and standard protocols and easily plugs into existing ecosystems. Customers can continue to leverage existing IT monitoring tools while migrating to and enabling complete video network visibility with IMS.

“With IMS, Imagine is enabling media companies to move from reactive troubleshooting to proactive performance management,” Walsh added. “Customers will benefit from operational savings, reduced training and maintenance overhead, and a deployment model with simple, competitive pricing options, including usage-based subscription pricing.”

Imagine Communications will be in Stand 1.B73.

HAYWARD, Calif.—Wohler Technologies will showcase its newly launched iVAM2-MPEG SRT during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center.

The 2RU unit can decode MPEG SRT, MPEG2, H.264 or H.265 HEVC transport streams at bit rates up to 35 Megabits per second. It parses out MPEG transport streams and presents operators with PID (packet identifier) tables, allowing for independent selection of audio and video PIDs for decoding and monitoring, the company said.

Overlays on the video display allow for monitoring of closed captions and subtitles embedded in the MPEG transport stream. The unit supports audio monitoring for AAC, Dolby Digital+ and MP3. The iVAM2-MPEG SRT has two 4.3-inch LCDs for an easy-to-operate touchscreen interface complemented by a built-in web server, which enables operators to configure presets, upgrade the unit and view audio meters remotely, it said. Wohler has also released two new 1RU 12G-SDI monitors: the iVAM1-SUM16-12G, with a 7-inch touchscreen; and the iAM1-MIX8-12G, with a 7-inch touch and tactile knob interface. Both monitors provide 12G-SDI and 3G-SDI support.

The company has also added four GPI/O capable AV monitors: the iVAM1-1-G, iVAM2-2-G, iVAM-SUM16-G and the iAM1-MIX8-G. These new monitors provide 4x GPIs and 2x GPOs that can be enabled via a software license key.

Wohler is also introducing an optional 12G SDI re-embed feature to re-embed 16 audio channels chosen from any connected audio source in the 12G SDI BNC output. Available on the iAM1-12G and iVAM1 and iVAM2-12G monitors, the feature is available via software activation, it said.

See Wohler at IBC2025 Stand 10.B12.

More Information is available on the company’s website.

MELBOURNE—Mediaproxy, a major supplier of IP compliance monitoring and multiviewing solutions, has announced a major update to its Monwall multiviewer platform.

The latest release introduces two important new features: Instant Replay for live incident review and the ability to monitor HTML content directly within mosaic outputs. These enhancements further strengthen Mediaproxy’s commitment to providing innovative tools that address the evolving needs of modern broadcasters and media operators, the company reported.

Both features will be on display in the company’s stand (Stand 5.D76) at IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 in Amsterdam.

“We are proud to be once more leading the way with innovative features,“ Mediaproxy CEO Erik Otto said in a statement. “Being able to have high-quality instant replay within our ecosystem of monitoring tools will significantly reduce the time it takes to investigate and clear on-air incidents. The addition of HTML data panels in both our interactive server-side multiviewers further underlines our commitment to solving real-world problems for customers today.”

More specifically, the addition of Instant Replay into Mediaproxy’s Monwall multiviewer is designed to help broadcast operators and engineers instantly review incidents that occur during live broadcasts. This function is specifically designed to streamline incident investigation, enabling users to quickly and efficiently assess and address issues without interrupting ongoing operations.

With Instant Replay, operators can leverage a web interface as well as a physical control surface to rewind mosaic outputs for immediate incident analysis. The intuitive interface ensures that live monitoring is not sacrificed while reviewing previous footage, allowing for parallel viewing of both real-time and historical media. This capability is vital for control and monitoring rooms where time is of the essence, especially during critical broadcasts where quick resolution of on-air incidents is paramount, the company reported.

Moreover, the Instant Replay functionality is built to scale across multiple mosaics, supporting comprehensive review workflows in environments with numerous displays. Broadcast teams can now conduct frame-level analysis across all monitored sources, ensuring that no detail is missed. This granular control is paired with high-quality playback, delivering exceptional clarity and precision for effective incident resolution, the company said.

Another significant enhancement to Instant Replay is the option to access the same mosaic outputs via a low-latency web browser interface. This extension allows operators and engineers to work remotely without compromising on speed or functionality, addressing the growing demand for flexible, location-independent broadcast management. Whether in a traditional control room or a distributed remote setup, users can enjoy the full benefits of Instant Replay with minimal latency, contributing to faster response times and more robust broadcast oversight.

Mediaproxy said its new HTML content monitoring feature allows operators to add HTML PIPs (picture-in-picture) to any mosaic output or the interactive multiviewer client. With this capability, broadcasters can now track any web dashboard—including those displaying metrics, analytics or live status information—alongside traditional broadcast feeds.

HTML monitoring is not limited to static dashboards. The feature also enables the integration of sites with dynamic video content such as YouTube, Hulu, Roku, Fubo, etc., directly within the multiviewer. This solves a significant challenge faced by broadcasters today: the need to monitor both traditional and web-based content sources in a unified interface. Mediaproxy’s solution streamlines operations by bringing all relevant information—whether from legacy broadcast systems or contemporary web platforms—into a single, interactive display.

For broadcasters managing OTT, FAST, and hybrid workflows, the ability to visualize web content alongside live video feeds is now more critical than ever. Mediaproxy’s HTML monitoring unlocks new possibilities for proactive management, compliance verification and operational efficiency, reinforcing its position at the forefront of media monitoring innovation, Mediaproxy said.

For more information, please visit: www.mediaproxy.com.

CLAREMONT, N.C.—Network connective solutions provider CommScope has announced that it is working with DvSum to offer the ServAssure NXT AI platform powered by DvSum.

The solution combines DvSum’s CADDI (Conversational Analytics for Data Driven Insights), a self-service analytics technology for Call Center and Network Operations, with CommScope's ServAssure NXT network monitoring solution to create an enhanced, AI-based tool for advanced triage and proactive analytics, network optimization, and fault management, the two companies explained.

“CommScope’s alliance with DvSum enhances the ServAssure NXT solution by introducing cutting-edge, AI-based analytics to the platform,” said Craig Coogan, CTO and vice president of product and strategy, access network solutions, CommScope. “By leveraging DvSum’s AI capabilities, the ServAssure NXT platform enables service providers to more quickly pinpoint and resolve subscriber issues. This solution provides real-time insights into subscriber service and network performance, enabling service providers to manage their operations more effectively. These capabilities can drastically reduce call center triage times, saving time and money while also improving the customer experience.”

As part of the alliance, DvSum’s CADDI analytics technology is seamlessly integrated with the ServAssure NXT platform’s diverse data repositories and data sources. In this platform, CommScope’s ServAssure NXT platform collects and normalizes key performance information about the network and end subscribers. This information is then analyzed by CADDI to provide key information about the customer experience and network health.

“The integration of DvSum's groundbreaking CADDI technology into the ServAssure NXT platform will help approach a zero-call, zero-fault environment," said Aashish Singhvi, CEO of DvSum. "The enhanced ServAssure NXT platform can now harness advanced AI that swiftly detects and resolves customer issues and network anomalies in real time. We see this enhanced platform as a game-changer in several areas of network analysis, bringing new insights into metrics, risks, and troubleshooting that weren’t possible before.”

Current customers of the ServAssure NXT platform have the option to install the ServAssure NXT AI powered by DvSum solution to enhance the platform’s already robust network management and analytics capabilities. CommScope also offers this solution as a bundled option for new installations.

For additional information see https://www.commscope.com/.

NEW YORK—TAG Video Systems said it will show upgraded capabilities of its Realtime Media Platform that empower media companies to take control of their operations. reduce complexity, accelerate decision-making and ensure exceptional video quality at scale during IBC2025, set for Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center.

“Our focus at IBC is to show what happens when monitoring and data come together in real time,” Kevin Joyce, TAG’s zero-friction officer, said. “We’re not just displaying video—we’re delivering clarity, control, and the agility customers need to stay competitive.”

More specifically, visitors to its stand 1.C31 will experience enhanced QC tools including Waveform scopes and HDR test patterns, intuitive layout and tile control with TAG’s Operator Console, and real time integrations with partners like Witbe, Nevion, Techex and DataMiner that promote simplicity, increase responsiveness, and ensure exceptional video quality at scale, the company reported.

During the show, its booth will also feature four interactive demo pods, each controlled by TAG’s intuitive Operator Console. Each of these demo pods will enable visitors to explore real-world scenarios, including latency and HDR validation, audio issues, and error detection. Teams can switch layouts, interact with sources, and monitor signals in real time, all visualized across large wall monitors for a hands-on experience.

Visitors will also be able to see the capabilities of its Realtime Media Platform with new features that elevate both its integrated QC Station and Operator Console. These solutions allow engineers and operators to easily validate signal integrity, troubleshoot more efficiently, and maintain consistent quality across live and on-demand workflows.

During the show, TAG will also be unveiling:

• Waveform Scopes in QC Station—Operators can now visualize luminance and chrominance within a live mosaic using familiar scope views such as Waveforms, Histograms and Vectorscopes. These tools help ensure consistent brightness, color balance and signal levels across multiple sources, critical for live production and compliance monitoring. This addition deepens the diagnostic power of QC Station while keeping everything embedded in the platform.
• Channel Solo and Full Video Playback in Operator Console—two new functions give operators more hands-on control with the ability to isolate and listen to a single audio channel and play back full video streams for immediate review. These enhancements make the Operator Console even more effective for real-time troubleshooting, validation, and daily workflow confidence.

In addition, TAG will be offering demos with various technology partners. These integrations illustrate TAG’s commitment to openness and interoperability, enabling smarter decisions and better alignment between operations and business objectives, the company reported.

TAG described those demos as follows:

• “Witbe—Validate true viewer experience by combining TAG’s monitoring with automated testing from source to screen.
• “Techex—Leverage IP/cloud transport with TAG’s visualization layer for agile broadcast delivery.
• “Nevion—Streamline signal transport and orchestration via integrated workflows with Nevion’s VideoIPath.
• “Skyline DataMiner—Centralize operational insight by feeding TAG metrics into broader service management systems."

TAG Video Systems is the global leader in software-based integrated IP probing, monitoring, visualization and analytics solutions.

More information is available here.

TAG Video Systems is working with Gencom Technology, a provider of media technology solutions across New Zealand, Australia, and the Pacific Islands, to provide monitoring solutions and technologies in the Oceania. region.

The two companies said that the combination of TAG’s Realtime Media Platform and Gencom’s deep regional expertise will allow them to deliver technical solutions and services offering enhanced visibility, operational agility, and control across modern media workflows.

“Oceania’s media sector is moving quickly toward IP and hybrid architectures,” said Paul Maroni, vice president of sales APAC at TAG Video Systems. “Gencom’s deep regional expertise makes them the ideal partner to help broadcasters future-proof their operations with TAG’s powerful and flexible platform.”

“Our clients need more than just monitoring—they need actionable insights, confidence in their operations, and responsive local support,” added Keith Bremner, director at Gencom Technology. “By combining TAG’s technology with Gencom’s engineering and service capabilities, we’re helping broadcasters enhance reliability and streamline operations from day one.”

The two companies reported that the partnership will help industry players in the region who are under increased pressure to boost efficiency, maintain uninterrupted service, and quickly adapt to changing demands from their customers.

TAG’s fully software-based platform addresses these challenges by empowering media organizations with the ability to probe, monitor, and analyze their entire media pipeline—from ingest through delivery — all within a single unified interface, the company reported.

With major broadcasters and service providers in the region already undertaking IP transformation projects, the collaboration between TAG and Gencom aims to help clients gain real time visibility into their operations, streamline IP workflows, and improve service quality so they can respond more quickly to change and scale with confidence as the industry continues to evolve, the companies said.

Gencom Technology is New Zealand’s leading provider of integrated technology solutions and professional services for the media industry.

TAG Video Systems provides oftware-based integrated IP probing, monitoring, visualization and analytics solutions.

More information is available at https://www.tagvs.com/

NEW YORK —TAG Video Systems, a major provider of software-based IP media probing, monitoring, visualization, and analytics, and swXtch.io, a provider of cloud-based multicast networking, announced that they are collaborating to provide advanced cloud-based media monitoring for broadcasters and content creators.

As part of the collaboration, they are integrating swXtch.io’s unique cloud capabilities with TAG’s software-based multiviewer.

The combined solutions can monitor any IP stream, including 2110 and JPEG XS, with on-premises-level performance. This brings high-accuracy stream monitoring to workflows, simultaneously reducing costs and lowering latency while delivering real-time insights into stream health and quality.

“We are thrilled to deepen our technical collaboration with TAG Video Systems,” said Patrick McCoy, head of product at swXtch.io. “Together, we are enabling broadcasters to embrace cloud adoption with confidence, unlocking unprecedented agility, efficiency, and innovation in media monitoring.”

“Our collaboration with swXtch.io is driven by a shared commitment to providing broadcasters with the most advanced and flexible tools for media monitoring,” added Michael Demb, vice president of product strategy at TAG Video Systems. “By combining our expertise, we empower customers with coherent, scalable, and cost-effective cloud and hybrid monitoring solutions.”

The two companies described the key benefits of the joint solution as follows:

• Optimized Cost Efficiency: Reduces bandwidth consumption and latency through streamlined multicast replication.
• Seamless Cloud Monitoring: Provides real-time, scalable, and reliable visibility into multiple streams.
• Broad Format Compatibility: Supports a diverse range of industry-standard formats and protocols.
• Enhanced Flexibility and Scalability: Empowers broadcasters to efficiently manage complex cloud-based workflows.

These capabilities were recently showcased at the AWS JPEG XS Interop event, where TAG's cloud-based multiviewer seamlessly monitored JPEG XS multicast streams originating from an on-premises network. The demonstration underscored the readiness of broadcasters to adopt cloud workflows without compromising on performance, cost, or flexibility.

For more information, visit TAG Video Systems and SwXtch.io.

LEEDS, U.K.—Nugen Audio has launched a new speech intelligibility plug-in, DialogCheck and offered up quotes from technologists working at places like Netflix praising the product.

The solution offers a mono, stereo and multichannel dialog clarity meter and provides an objective measure of speech audio intelligibility.

Nugen Audio reported that DialogCheck is ideally suited for use in film, television, radio, podcasting and game audio production, as well as post-production environments. The company will present the solution at MPTS 2025 (HHB, Stand F40).

“Poor speech clarity is commonly cited as a major source of television audience complaints, making dialog intelligibility increasingly important for audio professionals,” says Dr. Paul Tapper, CEO, Nugen Audio. “As engineers are likely to listen in an acoustically specialized environment compared to where the final mix might be played, it can be difficult for them to judge whether further changes are needed to improve clarity. Nugen Audio DialogCheck provides an objective measure of speech in a portion of the audio file or through an entire project.”

The ability for a listener to understand a piece of dialog is affected by many factors. This includes language, dialect, enunciation, reverb and effects, loudness of speech and background noise, as well as listener hearing ability, listening environment, placement of speakers and supporting visuals, among other elements. DialogCheck enables users to easily evaluate their audio to identify sections of speech that might be difficult for listeners to understand, the company explained.

DialogCheck features more than one-dozen interface tools aimed at supporting engineers in their dialog editing process, such as the integrated real-time bar meter and history graph. Additionally, the distribution view and numerical statistical values provide an overview of the speech intelligibility of the entire program. This information can then be used to guide engineers to correct issues before testing again. Furthermore, the tracking function syncs the views with the audio playback in the DAW, while ‘Macro View’ highlights the current audio section within the wider historical view.

“Dialog intelligibility is where the drama either unfolds or falls flat on its face,” says dubbing mixer and sound designer, Mike Aiton, who has in the past worked on BBC One ‘Panorama,’ The History Channel and ‘Robot Wars’. “With metering savants Nugen Audio, you can ensure that your dialog is actually heard and not just seen.”

DialogCheck also has its benefits for pre-production to assess different mic’ing configurations, performance styles, room set-ups, etc., to ensure that raw production audio is already near to the desirable clarity levels.

Nugen Audio also reported that the "Netflix Team" said: “Understanding dialogue intelligibility across Netflix titles is invaluable, but our mission goes beyond analysis—we strive to empower creators with the tools to craft mixes that resonate seamlessly with audiences at home.”

DialogCheck utilizes the Listening Effort Meter (LE-Meter) developed by Fraunhofer IDMT, which allows sound engineers to visualize listening effort during mixing and conduct post-mixing checks to optimize audio quality. Designed to objectively assess the listening effort of dialog in broadcast material, LE-Meter utilizes automatic speech recognition and psychoacoustic modeling with metrics to evaluate the intelligibility of dialog.

“Our LE-Meter enables the objective measurement and display of speech intelligibility and listening effort,” says Prof. Dr. Jan Rennies-Hochmuth, group leader for personal hearing systems at the Branch for Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology at Fraunhofer IDMT. “Thanks to validations and optimizations using formal listening tests, this provides media producers with a precise tool for analyzing and implementing audio content. For example, difficult sections can be identified automatically for improvement with respect to listening enjoyment and accessibility.”

For more information, visit www.nugenaudio.com.

MELBOURNE, Australia—Mediaproxy, a global provider of software-based IP compliance monitoring and multiviewing solutions, says it will launch several new products and features to its LogServer monitoring platform at the 2025 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 6-9.

In addition to many updates to the LogServer suite, Mediaproxy will introduce Monwall Server, a new product that extends its existing interactive multiviewing applications to provide traditional output streaming. Monwall Server allows for the generation of mosaics and output of various low-latency formats. In addition to conventional multiviewing application, this versatile solution offers customers a highly cost-effective approach to software-based multiviewing and hybrid workflows, significantly reducing the need for more cloud instances, the company said.

Also at NAB Show, a new cloud licensing feature will be introduced, empowering customers to deploy Mediaproxy systems as needed. This approach enables a pay-per-use model, ideal for customers with non-linear programming or those looking to temporarily extend their usage for special events such as live sports. This flexibility also ensures that customers have the option to easily scale their operations temporarily up or down as the need for more monitoring points arises.

Mediaproxy will also highlight its new support for JPEG-XS, which will allow TR-07 streams to be seamlessly integrated into LogServer, ensuring high-quality, low-latency video inputs for broadcast monitoring.

The company will also showcase its support for ATSC 3.0 broadcasts with several additions to the suite of tools. By incorporating A3SA security protocols into the core of its LogServer engine, Mediaproxy is able to provide broadcasters with a cost-effective option to monitor both encrypted to-air and off-air signals.

“We are looking forward to showing a significant number of additions at NAB this year,” says Mediaproxy CEO, Erik Otto. “With customers being under pressure to reduce operational costs, we have engineered solutions that provide significant savings without compromising reliability. We also have some other very new exciting features to show, but visitors will need to come to the booth to find out!”

Mediaproxy will be in Booth W1417 in the West Hall of the LVCC.

In the dynamic world of broadcast media, it is crucial to utilize efficient workflows to maintain quality while managing multiple formats, adapting to new industry standards, and staying compliant with regulations. Meanwhile, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud-based workflows have opened new doors for increased automation based on intelligence-driven content analysis.

With these challenges and opportunities in mind, Actus Digital announces Actus X, the tenth generation of its Intelligent Monitoring Platform that builds on the company’s expertise delivering real-time QA monitoring, advanced compliance logging, and AI-media insight systems to broadcasters, networks, MVPDs, and government agencies.

For those adding ATSC 3.0 now or in the future, Actus is the preferred monitoring solution. For over 20-years, Actus has always integrated support for the latest popular standards into their platform, so whether a broadcaster has ATSC 3.0 from day one or they want a system that will adapt to add or transition channels in the future… the same investment works for 1.0, 3.0, OTT/FAST Channels, 2110, literally any broadcast technology their organization may evolve to.

Advancing Quality Assurance and Compliance
Actus X offers a comprehensive approach to broadcast monitoring with a browser-based interface that allows users to set thresholds and categorize alerts into Problems, Errors, Quality of Experience (QoE), and Quality of Service (QoS), with dynamically adjusting notification workflows for more precise control and improved Quality Assurance.

Real-time monitoring with prioritized alerting ensures that broadcasters can quickly detect and respond to signal degradation, transmission errors, or compliance violations, minimizing disruptions and maintaining the highest on-air quality.

Actus MV Contains Ground-breaking Must-See-To-Appreciate Multiviewer Technology
Multiviewers have been fundamental in master control rooms for decades but are often hindered by rigid layouts and limited multiviewer-heads due to heavy processing requirements. Actus MV eliminates traditional multiviewer constraints with unlimited, easily-customized layouts and no-charge multiviewer heads. This is made possible by an engineering approach that minimizes resource requirements for multiviewer generation… and delivers access and control of the same or unique multiviewer configuration and views to each individual user.

Interactive multiviewer-wall capabilities allow clicking to hear any tile, rewinding from live within Penalty boxes, and stepping through round-robin probepoints/channel carousels. Advanced data-visualization shows SCTE trigger details, Nielsen SIDs, download bitrates for OTT streams, TS Analysis, Loudness data, and more. Actus MV flexibility supports all popular baseband/TV/OTT formats and enables smooth operation across any number of locations with unlimited access to any number of custom layouts.

AI-Driven Insights for Smarter Decision-Making
The role of Artificial Intelligence has expanded to play an important role in media monitoring. Actus X integrates AI-powered analysis to extract meaningful insights from content.

News teams can leverage the same investment made for engineering to analyze news coverage in real-time to monitor breaking stories and identify new advertisers, while government agencies can monitor live news and direct-camera footage to identify security threats and political narratives.

What Actus X Means for the Future of Broadcast Monitoring
Everyone is being asked to do more with less so broadcasters must invest in tools that simplify complexity and enhance efficiency, moving toward greater automation, cloud-based solutions, and AI-powered workflows.

Actus X is a value leader, providing affordable standalone appliances that piece together seamlessly and expand capabilities that extend value throughout an organization by utilizing any combination of this six-product platform.

It allows users to invest in one or several of the components they need today, with scalability to add additional features they may need in the future, including from: 1) Quality monitoring and compliance logging with QA Compliance Logger, 2) a flexible interactive Multiviewer in Actus MV, 3) OTT monitoring and analysis in OTT StreamWatch, 4) Clipping and content repurposing (with automation if desired) on Actus Clip Factory Pro, 5) Centralized post-STB monitoring with Actus RVM (Remote Video Monitoring), and 6) effective AI-powered content analysis with Actus AI Media Insight.

With the unveiling of Actus X at NAB 2025, Actus raises the bar and sets a new standard for intelligent broadcast monitoring.

About Actus Digital
Since 2005, Actus Digital intelligent monitoring systems have been trusted by broadcasters and those monitoring media. Beyond its renowned QA Compliance Logger, Actus offers: Actus MV (interactive multiviewer), Actus AI Media Insight (AI-powered content analysis), Clip Factory Pro (content repurposing for social/OTT/VOD), OTT StreamWatch (OTT monitoring), and Actus RVM (remote post-STB monitoring).

With over 2,000 installations worldwide, its browser-based platform serves broadcasters, regulators, and government agencies. Actus Digital provides turnkey on-premises, software/VM-based, and SaaS solutions, for traditional linear television broadcast as well as OTT/FAST/IPTV channels.

The platform monitors, analyzes, and records content 24/7 from any combination of any input types, including traditional inputs as well as the newest protocols, such as ATSC 3.0, SMPTE 2110/2022-6, and all popular streaming protocols. Actus has an open API and its systems are integrated with top technology partners worldwide, further extending Actus effectiveness and value.

Actus Digital ensures best-in-class service and prioritizes customer satisfaction with 24/7 support from offices in the US, Europe, UAE, and Asia.

Delivering high streaming quality can be more challenging than ever given the wide range of devices and operating systems that video service providers are expected to flawlessly support. As providers look to streamline the quality-assurance process (QA) and deliver outstanding streaming quality, AI-powered video testing and monitoring is transforming workflows. With AI video testing, video service providers can efficiently evaluate video compression, test real-time live content and assess video quality without needing reference streams. AI-driven video testing is supplying providers with valuable insights to improve streaming quality, build brand awareness and drive viewer retention.

The Challenges of Video Testing and Monitoring
The video streaming landscape is rapidly evolving, posing complex challenges for video service software development. In the past, software development followed a more linear approach, with a new release every few months in a controlled update path. Today, agile development has dramatically increased the frequency of updates, requiring weekly—and sometimes even daily —new releases across various platforms and systems. Unlike traditional cable or satellite systems, where stability in encryption and broadcasting minimized the need for frequent updates, streaming video requires constant adaptation.

Modern streaming services are expected to perform identically well on a multitude of devices and operating systems backed by various cloud environments, all of which are constantly evolving. Even the simplest of video app features relies on seamless integration between multiple layers: the application running on the device, which runs on a proprietary operating system, often with multiple cloud-to-cloud service integrations. Each of those components has its own lifecycle and can be updated at any time.

To look at just one set of devices, smart TVs in 2024 run on more than 12 different operating systems, with LG even shipping new updates only for its most recent models and keeping older models on a different software version. Hisense provides five different operating systems for its TVs in addition to the Vidaa operating system it developed in-house. Providers need to find a way to test how their service works on all of these devices and operating systems to deliver optimal quality.

The complexity of testing increases as service providers launch partnerships. Providers like Verizon now offer packaged subscriptions to third-party streaming services like Peacock, which means they must ensure seamless performance not only for their own platform but also across partner applications. A third-party app failure could harm the provider’s brand, pushing users away. As partnerships look to become an even larger part of the ever-shifting market, QA teams face immense pressure to maintain functionality and reliability across a wide range of devices and services.

How AI is Transforming Testing and Monitoring
AI plays a crucial role in transforming the QA testing process by enabling scalable, efficient testing that meets the demands of fast-paced software development. Through automation, AI, and machine learning, companies can test complex systems at a level that would be impossible with manual testing, saving valuable resources and time in an industry pushing for profitability.

An example of AI’s usefulness is in enhancing how video quality is measured and optimized during the encoding process. Netflix’s open-source VMAF model, for instance, allows compression algorithms to evaluate video degradation by comparing the original and compressed versions of a video stream, identifying how much quality was lost. However, because VMAF is computationally heavy, providers often opt for lighter, customized versions, such as pVMAF, which is computed on multiple encoding profiles, to help select the best bit rate quality balance.

This approach relies on the availability of reference streams, which are usually unavailable for live sports or user-generated content. Viewers at home also don’t have a reference stream to assess video quality—they just evaluate the performance themselves. AI algorithms can be programmed to reliably perform this non-reference-based quality assessment on real devices, allowing video service providers to maintain quality control at scale, testing without sacrificing speed or accuracy.

The Role of AI in Testing Live Streaming Events
Real-time AI testing can help providers prevent disruptions during high-traffic live streaming events. The field of research includes anomaly detection and issue prevention, especially on the field of multi-CDN delivery. Providers may choose to disable computationally expensive features, such as targeted ads or additional security layers, to preserve scaling capabilities.

Results From AI-Enhanced Video Testing and Monitoring
AI is also being used to enhance the quality and reliability of targeted ads by reducing failure rates in Dynamic Ad Insertion, which directly impacts revenue. By analyzing and monitoring slate occurrences—instances where an ad fails to load properly—AI helps identify patterns, working collaboratively across development, ad generation and ad provider teams to improve ad placement success.

AI insights have also guided providers toward a balance between visual quality and network efficiency. Delivering “good enough” video quality on mobile networks—consistent with user expectations and competitive standards—enables service providers to avoid excessive data consumption that could cause disruptions or resolution drops. For instance, streaming a video at a 4K resolution consumes seven times the amount of bandwidth as the industry standard of 1080p, when it does not necessarily provide a viewing experience that is seven times better. Optimizing this balance ensures a smoother viewing experience, improving engagement without sacrificing reliability on mobile networks.

Relying on AI-Powered Video Testing and Monitoring
AI is an essential tool for meeting the complex demands of video streaming, allowing QA teams to scale testing and monitor performance in real time. Since streaming platforms and partnerships evolve frequently, traditional testing methods can’t keep pace. AI-driven testing adapts to these rapid changes, simulating user experiences across various devices without requiring deep integration into each app or operating system. Rather than trying to develop new testing technology from scratch, relying on powerful AI-driven testing and monitoring technology allows talented teams to put their time and effort back into their video service. This agile, user-centric AI-powered technology prepares providers to tackle emerging trends and anticipate future challenges, enabling them to focus on enhancing service quality and user satisfaction.

NEW YORK—Witbe has announced that Mitchell Seaforth Cable TV (MSCTV), a Dublin, Ontario, Canada-based provider of solutions to telecommunications companies, is using Witbe’s monitoring technology as a virtual Network Operation Center (NOC).

"Video quality is a fundamental pillar of success at MSCTV,“ MSCTV General Manager Michael Hawkes said. “Our partnership with Witbe ensures that we can meet and exceed our customers' expectations for an exceptional linear viewing experience. Witbe's technology will play a significant role in ensuring that the features and content of our pay-TV services are validated, tested and presented to our customers with outstanding quality.”

Witbe's proactive monitoring technology automatically monitors any video service running on a physical device plugged into a Witbox, the company's signature testing robot. MSCTV is using the Witbox+ to efficiently test TiVo white-label video apps running on actual set-top boxes. With Witbe's virtual NOC technology, service providers can remotely control their local field-testing devices and supervise service from any location.

“Our proactive monitoring technology gives providers a reliable eye on their video service at all times,” Witbe CEO Mathieu Planche said. “We’re pleased that our live-TV monitoring technology is assisting MSCTV as they oversee many different linear TV applications, giving their team the tools to identify and resolve any potential video errors quicker than ever before.”

MSCTV is also using Witbe’s widely adopted Channel Change technology to automatically monitor the live availability of all linear channels on a video service. Providers that use this technology receive immediate alerts whenever channels are unavailable or experiencing an issue, helping teams resolve errors before viewers even notice them. Alerts and KPIs are also displayed live in the virtual NOC for active users to verify instantly. All monitoring data is then compiled in Smartgate, Witbe's observability platform, where results can be analyzed across all devices, regions, and software versions.

Additional information about Witbe's live TV monitoring technology and its Witbox product line is available at www.witbe.net.

If you google “multiviewing,” a mere 847,000 search results pop up. TAG Video Systems is right up there, on the first page. Which is great. However, although TAG is known for its exceptional ultra-low latency multiviewer adaptable to every media workflow, multiviewing is only one small component of the TAG Realtime Media platform—a comprehensive toolset that manages and elevates media performance across operations at any scale, setting TAG in a class of its own. TAG’s unique differentiators enable broadcasters and media companies to unlock significant operational efficiency and flexibility, so we’ve picked a few, outlined below. If you’d like a more detailed description of all tools, features, functionalities, resources and integrations that TAG offers, just click on tagvs.com.

Content Matching

Content Matching is TAG’s unique and award-winning process that ensures content is delivered in real time to its intended destination without errors or discrepancies. Content Matching identifies potential issues and confirms signal integrity, leading to increased broadcaster confidence and a high-quality viewer experience.

Content Matching creates a unique fingerprint for video streams to match them across the entire media distribution path. It accurately identifies and correlates audio and video uniqueness regardless of the resolution, bitrate, or framerate, thus enabling a match between two or more points in the workflow. This technology notifies users when the first content inconsistency occurs allowing them to get to the root cause of problems faster and troubleshoot more efficiently. Workflow complexity is dramatically reduced, allowing operators to work more efficiently by reducing “eyes-on-glass” while ensuring consistent delivery of quality content.

Content Matching can be applied to the most requested applications including frame-accurate latency measurement, SCTE ad insertion, AV alignment and audio channel drift validation.

Integration of Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM)

TAG’s platform is designed to deliver an unparalleled viewer experience by combining advanced Quality of Experience (QoE) and Quality of Service (QoS) tools. Based on Content Matching Technology, TAG now supports straightforward, reference-based QoE measures like Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM), an industry-leading algorithm that mimics human visual perception to assess video quality in real time. SSIM is seamlessly integrated with TAG’s Content Matching technology allowing for precise comparisons between reference (e.g., source at acquisition) and other points along the workflow (e.g., before/after encoders/packagers). This standardized evaluation simplifies quality assurance across workflows, ensuring a consistent and high-quality viewer experience.

However, TAG’s commitment to quality goes beyond SSIM. The platform also includes comprehensive QoS features that monitor video and audio parameters, signal loss, jitter, latency, and compression artifacts. Together, these tools provide operators with a comprehensive view of stream quality, ensuring both visual and technical fidelity throughout the entire media workflow.

TAG Bridge

TAG Bridge solves two major problems. It helps reduce the bandwidth needed to deliver uncompressed video from the receiving device to a remote location for multiview generations, and it eliminates the need to process the same source multiple times.

This technology is designed to handle various transport methods, such as 2110 uncompressed video or compressed MPEG TS streams, and many others.

TAG’s Bridge removes the complexity of routing the same stream across multiple locations ensuring efficient resource use with minimal bandwidth and compute requirements. This proprietary technology enables an operator to receive a source once - including video, audio and metadata, analyze it for quality, compliance and errors, pre-scale it to the destination tile size and display it directly on any TAG system, anywhere, regardless of input source, size or format. Compute resources are drastically reduced, and a minimum amount of network bandwidth is consumed, freeing up capacity for the customer.

Managing HDR in Live Broadcasting

High Dynamic Range (HDR) technology is redefining the visual standards of television, offering unprecedented brightness, contrast, and color that dramatically enhance the viewing experience. Across Production, Playout or Distribution, multiple HDR formats are here to stay and co-exist for a while. All have different color volume characteristics, many formats include metadata, and SDR will be present in many places. All these need to be managed correctly end-to-end to ensure that the viewer’s TV makes the right choices in displaying them, and that they arrive with appropriate quality and accuracy. They may traverse many codecs and transports; they may incorporate multiple HDR formats in their composition and provide HDR and SDR versions for some time to come. Monitoring this complexity requires adaptive, flexible, and data-driven tools that provide a comprehensive view of all elements in real time, which can accommodate any combination of source characteristics and provide probing/monitoring /alarming, visualization and rich content data from network to essence in one solution.

TAG Video Systems empowers broadcasters with the tools they need to navigate the HDR transition without dependency on expensive, dedicated hardware. By enabling the integration of multiple HDR formats into a single HDR multiviewer mosaic, these solutions offer an accurate visualization of all sources regardless of type, full monitoring of all metadata and behavior. This allows broadcasters to ensure the highest quality standards while also exploring new opportunities for content monetization through enhanced viewer experiences.

Zero Friction® Licensing

TAG ‘s Zer0 Friction® is an agile licensing model that fits both CAPEX and OPEX budgets, unlocking a world of possibilities with every TAG functionality at your fingertips, in every application and workflow. Zer0 Friction allows dynamic sharing across functions, workflows, and locations maximizing efficiency and adaptability in real time. This level of flexibility ensures that customers can adapt quickly to changing requirements, using the same TAG license to visualize a production in one location today and monitor an OTT data point in a different location tomorrow.

Empowering Customers
TAG is known for its multiviewers, but that’s just a part of the TAG story. The TAG Realtime Media Platform empowers customers to adapt to the rapid changes in content delivery workflows while ensuring consistent quality and operational efficiency. TAG provides the tools to scale operations efficiently and adapt to new challenges. This article gives a summary of some of those tools, unique to TAG—but for more details visit tagvs.com.

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Interra Systems has announced significant updates to its ORION content monitoring suite, which provides comprehensive monitoring of linear/IP and live/VOD streaming content. The latest enhancements, which are designed to meet the evolving needs of media companies, with a particular focus on improving the quality of OTT streaming, will be shown at IBC 2024. 

"Our passion for video quality, innovation, and responsiveness to industry needs drives us to continuously enhance the ORION family," said Anupama Anantharaman, vice president, product management at Interra Systems. "We have consistently improved the ORION monitoring platform by adding features and intelligence to ensure better monitoring status and provide root cause analysis for faster troubleshooting, and proactive measures that minimize quality-related issues. We're excited to show our customers at IBC2024 how these latest enhancements not only meet the evolving requirements of OTT content delivery but also set new standards for monitoring efficiency and reliability."

Interra reported that ORION now offers comprehensive support for the IPv6 protocol, ensuring robust and future-proof monitoring capabilities. 

Another standout feature is the ORION suite's smart framework that has been developed for efficient root-cause analysis, allowing faster identification and resolution of issues to ensure uninterrupted streaming quality. 

Additionally, the company said, ORION now includes end-to-end ad insertion monitoring, including a comparison of externally supplied ad scheduling information with dynamic ad insertion (DAI) markers received in the content and alerts for DAI marker propagation issues in the media workflow. The latest version of ORION also features the industry's first all-frame decoding and deep-dive analysis for high-priority channels.

ORION provides automated alerting and quality status reports for group-level KPIs, enabling valuable insights into overall performance. This feature allows media companies to maintain the highest standards of content delivery. Additional enhancements to ORION include support for Docker-based installations to simplify deployment and management. The product suite also offers checks for low latency affecting the viewer experience, along with improved combinational checks for detection of freeze/black with or without audio silence.

Interra explained that these updates significantly elevate the ORION Suite's monitoring capabilities. They are designed to help streaming service providers deliver a consistently high-quality user experience, which is critical in today's ultra-competitive video streaming landscape where quality is a key differentiator for success and viewer retention. ORION provides industry-leading monitoring density and is capable of managing both small and large numbers of streams. This is complemented by a flexible pay-as-you-go licensing model, offering media companies the adaptability they need to scale their operations efficiently. ORION's unparalleled reliability and advanced feature set makes it the go-to solution for major broadcasters and media companies worldwide.

Interra Systems will demonstrate the latest evolution of its ORION product suite at IBC2024 at stand 7.C11, Sept. 13-16, in Amsterdam. 

More information about Interra Systems solutions can be found at www.interrasystems.com. 

MELBOURNE—Mediaproxy has announced that it has been officially certified by the ATSC Security Authority (A3SA) to provide decryption for NextGen TV broadcasts in the U.S. as part of its LogServer compliance monitoring and Monwall multiviewer systems.

The certification means that broadcasters can now implement comprehensive software-based tools to monitor and analyze ATSC 3.0 streams for compliance purposes that are not tied to or reliant on bespoke hardware devices. The ATSC 3.0 standard delivers high levels of encryption to ensure content accessed through broadcasters' websites is more secure, which in turn protects the viewers. By incorporating A3SA security protocols into the core of its LogServer engine, Mediaproxy is able to provide broadcasters with a cost-effective option to monitor both encrypted to-air and off-air signals. 

"Mediaproxy is a long-standing member of the ATSC, and we have hundreds of TV stations in the US that rely on our technology," commented Mediaproxy chief executive Erik Otto. "Because of this we saw it as our responsibility to not only provide a comprehensive software-based toolset around ATSC 3.0, but also a seamless way to deal with decryption. Over nearly 25 years, Mediaproxy has established a reputation for pioneering new compliance and monitoring technologies and this new, extremely exciting development is the latest in a long line of such achievements. Without precedent, we have worked closely with the A3SA over the past 12 months to make this happen. The result is a simple software-based and cost-effective path forward for broadcasters offering NextGen TV services."

For to-air and hand-off monitoring, an on-premises LogServer system is able to simply take the encrypted STLTP (Studio to Transmitter Link Transport Protocol) output of the packager directly from the stream. This guarantees confidence in what is sent to the transmitter straight from the local IP network, the company reported. 

In off-air monitoring situations, it is possible to use inexpensive and familiar integrated receiver/decoders (IRDs) that do not provide decryption but do have outputs of the encrypted IP streams through DASH/ROUTE (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP/Real-time Object delivery over Unidirectional Transport). This enables ATSC 3.0 compliance on IRDs for streaming platforms such as HDHomeRun, with LogServer handling the DRM aspects for all channel sources, Mediaproxy said. 

The new ATSC 3.0 security feature is also available on Mediaproxy's ever-expanding Monwall hybrid multiviewer, which accommodates low-latency monitoring of both encrypted outgoing and return signals. Alongside the features on Monwall and LogServer, Mediaproxy has developed an extended toolset for advanced IP packet and table analysis of live broadcast streams or PCAP (packet) captures, which can be accessed via easy-to-use user interfaces.

For more information please visit: www.mediaproxy.com. 

MUNICH—Rohde & Schwarz will highlight infrastructure solutions that have been updated to leverage the latest software architectures and techniques at IBC 2024, Sept. 13-16, at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center.

“Leading broadcasters in Europe and around the world tell us their critical issues are operational efficiencies, interoperability and security,” said Thorsten Sauer, vice president of Rohde & Schwarz Media. “Those issues have to be addressed whilst also delivering against the business needs for revenue optimization, compliance and viewer experience.

“That is why we continue to innovate, to bring the right functionality into systems running efficiently on standard hardware,” said Sauer. “We push our development teams to adopt the best new technologies, which delivers real benefits for our users, including unique capabilities.”

The company’s Gallium and StreamMaster automated playout environment can now run under the latest versions of Windows or Linux. It leverages the latest .NET 6.0 technology to provide cost-efficient cloud deployment and a PostgreSQL backend, an advanced open-source relational database, the company said.

This enables broadcasters and service providers to build playout automation and delivery systems from a single channel to hundreds, whether on premises, as a multi-site operation or hybrid cloud, and controlled securely from any location via a web browser, the company said.

Gallium can keep track of the legal limits on advertising minutes, providing graphical, detailed indications of the status to assist users to remain in compliance with regulations. The configurable Gallium software also allows practical operational workflows through tight interworking. It supports the Telestream DIVA API, for example, to manage very large libraries seamlessly. Gallium and StreamMaster also support direct control of the Nevion VideoIPath media orchestration layer, it said.

The company also will feature the latest developments in its PRISMON software-defined, networked multiviewer and monitoring platform. Already delivering high channel density, the adoption of PCI 4.0 gives the platform an even better price-performance ratio on COTS hardware, the company said.

Fully implemented in software, PRISMON provides agility and capacity. The company is continuously updating the platform. For example, PRISMON has been updated to support the latest NDI, SRT, NMOS and SMPTE ST2110 standards, Dolby Atmos encoded streams and watermarking and signaling schemes. 

See Rohde & Schwarz at IBC 2024 Stand 7.B21.

More information is available on the company’s website.

Wohler Technologies has announced the availability of a new module option for  iSeries Audio and Video monitoring products. This new module, OPT-RMOC-12G, makes it possible to migrate a 3G-SDI capable monitor to a 12G-SDI (4K) capable monitor, the company said. 

The module Includes a single BNC as well as a SFP cage for a 12GSDI or ST2110 (@1080p) input and works with most 1U & 2U iSeries in-rack monitors. Installed in the option card slot, OPT-RMOC-12G is capable of monitoring 16 channels of audio (iAM & iVAM Series), plus a single video input on iVAM Series. Both audio & video are selectable from a choice of sources connected directly to the card, or inputs connected to the in-rack monitor.

Wohler has a history of building scalable, modular and future-proof products, and this development continues that tradition, the company said. 

Wohler monitors support all industry-standard baseband and IP formats including Dante, Ravenna and AES67. Support for ST2110, 2022-6/-7, Analog and MADI are included. Broad support for Dolby formats including ATMOS, DD+ and Dolby-E are included, as well as MPEG-H and AES. Monitors are available in audio only or audio and video capable versions.

A notable key feature is the fact that this new module also adds Remote Monitoring capability for use with Wohler’s new MAVRIC Cloud-based monitoring solution. MAVRIC is a software-based solution that enables the ability to look at Video, listen to Audio, see Audio bars, levels and Loudness all through a Web browser, and is accompanied by a Mobile Application for Apple/Android. This application unifies teams by centrally providing Alerts and Communications (voice, video or chat) inside MAVRIC.  

The Wohler team will be demonstrating MAVRIC at IBC & NAB NY this fall. 

More information about Wohler is available at www.wohler.com.  

In the high-stakes world of premium and sports event broadcasting, the expectation for quality viewing experiences is even higher, and the margin for error is minimal. Each live stream represents a pivotal moment where the success of the event hinges on flawless execution, presenting a technical challenge to video service providers to make sure this is achieved every time.

This is especially true at the contribution or ingest stages, where raw feeds are first encoded and transmitted using SDI, SDI over IP, or ST 2110 standards. Effectively monitoring these feeds ensures issues can be identified and resolved before they affect the viewer's experience. This is where rigorous quality assurance is a critical requirement — transforming potential pitfalls into standout successes.

The contribution stage is distinct from the later stages of production and distribution because it deals directly with the raw, original content. The effectiveness of the processes in the contribution stage plays a decisive role in maintaining the integrity and quality of the final broadcast, influencing everything from live TV broadcasts to live streamed events.

Why Monitoring at the Contribution Stage is Essential for Live Events
Monitoring video at the contribution stage is critical for several key reasons. First and foremost, it allows for the early detection of issues related to video quality, audio synchronization, and signal integrity. Catching and correcting these issues before they propagate through the distribution chain is crucial for ensuring the quality of the broadcast, especially for live events where there is no opportunity for post-production correction.

Furthermore, contribution feeds often need to adhere to strict broadcast standards and legal requirements. Monitoring helps ensure that the content meets the necessary specifications for aspect ratio, resolution, frame rate, and color space, as well as regulatory compliance for audio levels and closed captioning. In addition, identifying and resolving issues early in the broadcast chain reduces the need for costly corrections downstream or, worse, after distribution to end users. This protects broadcasters from reputation damage, and prevents a potential decline in viewership and subscribers.

New standards, technologies, and delivery platforms are also driving innovation in media streaming. Adopting standards such as SMPTE ST 2110, which allows for the separation of video, audio, and metadata in live production, provides more flexibility and efficiency in the handling and monitoring of broadcast feeds.

Additionally, high dynamic range (HDR) content has necessitated the evolution of monitoring solutions to support higher-quality video feeds. The shift from SDI to IP-based workflows in live production has been significant too. IP offers scalability and flexibility that SDI cannot match, enabling broadcasters to manage and monitor streams more effectively over large and geographically dispersed networks.

Additionally, cloud-based delivery and monitoring solutions have become popular due to their scalability and the ability to remotely monitor feeds from any location. Each of these new developments plays a crucial role in modern broadcasting, and requires diligent planning and monitoring for content readiness and delivery.

Guidelines and Steps for Monitoring Live Events at the Contribution Stage
Production and broadcast centers are the central points where the encoded streams are received from an event location, such as a sports venue or concert hall. This transmission often relies on high-quality, low-latency links because any delay or loss of data can degrade the live viewing experience.

Initial Setup and Requirements Definition
The monitoring process begins by establishing the core requirements critical to the success of live streaming. This includes ensuring high reliability and quality of the stream to prevent degradation under varying network conditions. Low latency is crucial for real-time broadcasts, especially during live events, to avoid delays. Modern viewers have little patience for delays and expect real-time action, particularly when engaging with social media during sports events.

During this stage, security measures are put in place to protect the stream from unauthorized access and maintain content integrity. Today, multi-platform streaming is standard, with content being broadcast simultaneously on various live streaming and video hosting platforms worldwide. Assuring compliance with regional and platform-specific broadcast standards is also critical.

System Configuration
Next, the monitoring probe and its management interface are integrated into the streaming infrastructure (e.g., a virtual private cloud (VPC), which is configured to monitor feeds that utilize JPEG-XS, SRT and RIST protocols for error recovery and security enhancement. These protocols are applied to contribution encoders and monitoring systems to synchronize operations, enhancing both security and latency.

The network settings are optimized for live streaming, including firewall configurations, bandwidth provisioning, and the establishment of failover mechanisms to ensure uninterrupted service. Monitoring for signal strength is important as weak signals can lead to pixelation, dropped frames, and an overall poor viewing experience.

Operational Monitoring
Once the system is live, the monitoring dashboard is used for real-time monitoring, providing insights into bitrates, packet loss, latency, and overall stream health. Continuous monitoring of the video and audio feeds for clarity, stability, and synchronization is key. This involves checking the resolution, frame rate, and bitrate against predetermined standards to ensure they meet the broadcast quality requirements.

Broadcasters can set up alerts to notify the technical team of any anomalies or security breaches, allowing for immediate response. In addition, they can conduct continuous compliance and quality checks to adjust settings and ensure the stream adheres to set standards.

If the infrastructure involves the new ST2110 standard, broadcasters should continuously check the stream presence, availability, and Precision Time Protocol (PTP) to monitor for correct timing across all media flows, ensuring that all elements play back in sync. In addition, it is equally important to monitor the network bandwidth and throughput to ensure the network can handle the high bandwidth requirements of uncompressed video and audio streams typical in ST 2110 workflows.

Network congestion can lead to packet loss or increased latency. Since ancillary data such as subtitles and metadata are sent as separate flows in ST 2110, monitoring their integrity and synchronization with the main audio/video streams is essential.

Error Management and Optimization
With a centralized dashboard that consolidates data from every point in the workflow, broadcasters can monitor video quality network-wide in real-time. If issues are detected, the monitoring system will help broadcasters identify and locate the error source, streamlining root cause analysis and troubleshooting.

Errors can be caused by network issues, encoding, or protocol failures. Detailed logging and reporting capabilities facilitate root cause analysis, helping to pinpoint the underlying issues affecting stream quality or security. Following these steps, broadcasters can make real-time adjustments to rectify any deviations, ensuring the stream returns to normal parameters.

Post-Event Analysis
After the event is over, the monitoring system collects the data and user feedback to evaluate the performance of the stream. This analysis helps identify any recurring issues and assesses the overall user experience, pinpointing areas of improvement.

Conclusion
Monitoring at the contribution stage is a critical requirement for live events, especially sports streaming. By implementing cloud-based monitoring solutions that support operational monitoring, error management and optimization, post-event analysis, and more, broadcasters and media companies can ensure high-quality, secure, and reliable streaming of live events. This proactive approach to quality assurance helps maintain a strong reputation in the competitive streaming market and ensures outstanding viewer satisfaction.

NEW YORK—U.S. rural all-fiber-optic network provider Paul Bunyan Communications has selected Witbe’s proactive monitoring technology to monitor channels remotely that run on its PBTV set-top boxes (STBs) and ensure customers across multiple states receive a high quality of experience (QoE).

"After talking to Witbe's friendly and extremely knowledgeable team, and seeing the quality of their products, we knew we weren't going to find another company that would hold a candle to them," said Grant Hicok, lead video system engineer at Paul Bunyan Communications. "We place great value on working with partners who understand our challenges and know their own products, and Witbe definitely meets that criteria."

Witbe monitoring technology automatically monitors any video service while it runs on a physical device plugged into the company’s Witbox, which evaluates the picture and sound quality of the service (QoS) just like a human would. When live service quality dips or is interrupted, the team at Paul Bunyan Communications receives immediate alerts to help them resolve errors before customers notice, the company said.

Monitoring data is then compiled in Smartgate, Witbe's observability platform, where teams can analyze the results across devices, regions and software versions, it said.

Paul Bunyan Communications also uses Witbe's Remote Eye Controller (REC) software to access and control any device remotely that’s plugged into a Witbox. With Witbe's REC, teams can collaborate and virtually monitor PBTV STBs across the regions in which they operate, it said.

"Our robust, proactive monitoring technology was designed to help providers keep a reliable eye on their video service 24/7," said Witbe CEO Mathieu Planche. "Witbe's technology is just as effective and dependable for providers focusing on the specific needs of local markets as it is for global players.”

More information is available on the company’s website.

At first glance, the rise of ad-supported streaming video could feel like a return to familiar TV models. Traditional broadcast television was always supported by advertisements. Netflix’s bold emergence in 2007 seemed to signal that the internet would be different. For OTT television viewers, a monthly subscription meant premium content with no advertisements.

The media landscape today looks different than it did then. In 2023, Netflix, along with top streamers Hulu, Max, and Disney+, began offering a cheaper subscription tier for viewers who didn’t mind watching a few ads, a model that Peacock launched with years ago. 

At the same time, ad-supported services like Freevee and Tubi began rising in popularity and critical reception, while free advertising-based streaming television (FAST) channels caught on by adopting a cable-like set schedule. Today, as sports streaming breaks new viewership records and social media video apps like TikTok continue to define culture, it’s clear that internet video means watching ads.

Behind the scenes, video service providers know that streaming ads are an entirely different process than they were on cable, with personalized ads being selected and triggered in the moment. It’s a new technical challenge to navigate. As the popularity of ad-supported streaming video rises, so do the expectations of audiences for a perfect viewing experience. When ad insertion can directly lead to streaming issues, that’s easier said than done.

How Ads Are Inserted into Streaming Video
Streaming ads are generally “dynamically inserted” into the content they’re accompanying, instead of being packaged together in advance like on cable TV. The ads come from a different origin server than the rest of the content, which is pulled from its source to a video player that inserts the ads in real time.

The most common way to achieve dynamic ad insertion (DAI) involves using SCTE-35 ad cues. These cues are added at appropriate spots in the content. When the video player reaches a cue, it triggers an “ad pod,” or a group of ads playing in a row. The cue contains information on how long the pod will last and how many ads should fill it. 

With that information, the video player pulls the required ads to fill the pod all from different sources, often personalized to the preferences or general location of the viewer. DAI is complex, and the level of required technological interaction leads to errors more often than it ideally should.

The Errors Involved with DAI
Streaming ad issues happen frequently. Anyone who has watched ad-supported video is familiar with them. Common errors include ads starting early, late, or not playing in full before they are cut off; significant buffering before or during the ads; a single ad being repeated multiple times in an ad pod; and ads playing with an entirely different audio or picture quality than the content itself.

The most severe ad issues involve slates, which commonly appear on FAST channels. Since FAST runs on a set schedule with frequent ad breaks, slates often fill the regularly scheduled intervals. Slates can include countdown timers to the content continuing, or a static image promising a return to the programming. 

With DAI, these slates can appear entirely blank — convincing the viewer that the slate has crashed — or, even worse, crash the stream immediately. Witbe’s independent research has observed that up to 30% of all FAST viewing sessions are affected by an ad insertion error.

The Path Forward for Video Service Providers
The impact that ad insertion errors have on streaming video is significant. So, how can they be fixed? The answer is important to video service providers, who depend on revenue from third-party advertisers. 

If viewers are unable to watch the ads due to streaming errors, providers are unable to sell those ad impressions (i.e., views) — and often, those viewers don’t return in the future. On the other hand, if advertisers experience their ads not being properly aired, they can withhold payment or quit working with a provider.

Of course, there is no single mistake that leads to ad insertion issues. The errors that reach viewers could have been introduced at several different stops in the video delivery pathway. However, there is a single way to discover the issues affecting viewers at home: ad monitoring.

How to Monitor Streaming Ad Performance
It’s a common mantra in internet delivery: verification is key. Streaming performance cannot be improved until it is reliably verified. The same is true for ad performance. Since the ads are dynamically inserted, the errors they cause are often dynamic too: they might not appear the same way across different types of devices. 

Accordingly, service providers interested in ad monitoring should do it on the same real devices and networks that their viewers use. Witbe has observed several ad errors that are only visible through real device monitoring, including ones caused by the interaction with other services on the same device.

Scaling up testing across all the combinations of device models and operating systems their service runs on can only be achieved through automation. Automated testing can evaluate ad performance by specific criteria, including the duration of the ads played; the video and audio quality of the ads; the total amount of buffering involved; the appearance of any slates, particularly blank ones or black screens; and any time the stream crashes, among others. 

Once providers have this data, they can use it to resolve the errors themselves, as well as share successful results and video recordings with advertisers when necessary.

The Benefits of Real Device Ad Monitoring
Dynamically inserted ads are essential for providers, but they currently pose a direct threat to the mission of delivering superior streaming quality. The only way to truly verify and resolve ad errors is by monitoring them on real devices and networks. 

When reliable ad monitoring leads to consistently delivering a strong ad-supported video performance, providers build positive brand awareness and increase their ability to secure ad revenue. When dealing with DAI, real device monitoring is a must.

In an era where change is the only constant in the media and entertainment landscape, standing still is equivalent to stepping back. Broadcasters and media companies don’t have the luxury of “wait and see;” they’ll be left in the dust. They must be agile and prepared for every geographical, technical, financial or operational transformation their viewers or the industry can throw at them. 

As the media industry evolves, the challenge lies in consistently delivering high-quality content. Solutions today need flexibility built in to purchase and operation models, enabling workflows to elevate and adapt content delivery systems efficiently. These software-based tools are key in adapting to industry shifts while ensuring outputs remain reliable and viewers get an unbeatable quality of experience.

Simplifying Complexity in IP Workflows  

The transition to IP-based workflows represents a significant leap forward but comes with a complexity that can be daunting. How can business models help reduce this complexity that is rooted in the technology itself? Media companies need comprehensive tools that span across their operations and can handle different requirements whether it is handling a wide variety of media formats and integrations or tackling different methods and objectives. Solutions today need to offer fluidity and allow media companies to achieve more with a single product while maintaining agility and the ability to adapt.

TAG’s Zero Friction approach makes all features and functionalities of the TAG realtime media platform available through a single, flexible license that provides the ability to monitor, visualize, record, process and perform deep analytics in real-time across various platforms and formats without the constraints of specific hardware, location or purpose. Everything required to deliver incredible quality without compromise is embodied within each license of this single platform. This approach breaks through traditional boundaries, allowing for licenses to be moved or shared along with a more fluid and adaptable workflow, and it reflects TAG's commitment to simplifying complexities inherent in IP workflows.

Adapting to Rapid Industry Changes 

In a domain driven by relentless innovation, 100% software hardware-agnostic solutions are required. Software provides an agile and scalable framework that enables media operations to keep pace with quick and constant change. Operationally, teams are always equipped with the latest tools and capabilities to effortlessly maintain quality based on the operation's needs at any point in time.

 Beyond regular upgrades enabled by software, better infrastructures are introduced as media companies choose software solutions that can easily switch to better hardware, newer cloud instances or flawless hybrid environments based on the evolving needs of the business. TAG’s Zero Friction approach enables users to enjoy new software developments and functionalities with no additional charges and seamlessly transition from on-prem to cloud and hybrid environments, all within the same platform, interface and license.

Business Enablement: Focusing on Core Business Goals  

Aligning the media workflow to business objectives is a challenging task, as technical and resource constraints create a path full of compromises. Vendors need to provide not only frictionless, comprehensive solutions, but also smart ones that enable media operations to achieve more within their limitations. Being a resource-heavy industry, enabling lighter, optimized and more sustainable media workflows is no longer optional.

TAG’s Zero Friction business model allows operations to match cost to their actual consumption and achieve 100% efficiency. Being able to use the platform’s variety of functionalities within the same license, share licenses between teams and locations and purchase in Capex or Opex, enables significant resource savings without compromising quality at any scale. Additionally, being able to optimize workflows based on TAG-collected data and insight allows media operations to make informed decisions about current and future changes. 

Wrapping Up 

Adopting Zero Friction® is about leading the way in a changing media landscape. This approach isn't just about choosing a licensing option; it's about ensuring that you can consistently deliver quality content and stay ahead of the pace of evolving content delivery workflows. It's about giving you the tools to scale your operations efficiently and adapt to new challenges. With Zero Friction®, you're ready for what's happening now and what comes next, driving your progress toward tangible results and sustained success. 

Schedule a meeting with TAG at NAB. 

About TAG Video Systems

TAG Video Systems is the global leader in software-based integrated IP probing, monitoring, visualization and analytics solutions. TAG enables broadcasters, content creators, and service providers to streamline operations, cut through the complexity of IP media workflows, and keep infrastructures ahead of shifting technology and demand with Zero Friction® agility. The TAG platform empowers users with innovative toolsets to ensure video quality, improve overall efficiency across all media workflows, and provides invaluable business and operational insights.

NEW YORK—TAG Video Systems has announced plans to show what the company is calling its “most far-reaching capabilities to date” during the 2024 NAB Show. 

During the show, TAG’s booth at W1655 will feature a comprehensive monitor wall that will showcase efficient, agile, and innovative solutions for all major media workflows. 

Highlights include new partner integrations, new intelligent language detection technology, added support for QoE measurements, an end-to-end HDR workflow, and a preview of an intuitive touch panel operator interface that cuts through the complexity of configuring and operating a system. These new technologies will enable TAG users to deliver incredible quality at scale with even more intuitive, automated, and accurate tools, the company said. 

NAB visitors to TAG’s Booth will also experience an interactive deep dive into the far-reaching potential of the Company’s monitoring and visualization capabilities. TAG will demonstrate, in real time, how dashboards can be easily built and customized with well-known open toolsets like Kibana, Grafana, and Kafka to address any level of detail. It will also show how users can maximize the full extent of their data and gain invaluable insight from TAG’s Realtime Media Platform, the company said. 

The company also reported that its end-to-end HDR workflow capabilities already extend beyond standard HDR visualization. During the show, it will be showing HDR up-conversion and down-conversion to facilitate combined SDR and HDR workflows. This increase in functionality supports deep real-time HDR end-to-end metadata monitoring providing users with a higher level of agility to achieve incredible HDR quality.

The company will also be showing a number of integrations with best-of-breed technology partners, including: 

• Amagi - TAG’s recent partnership with Amagi delivers more accurate and effective monitoring through TAG’s advanced all-software and cloud native technology. This integration, shown at a major industry event for the first time, implements TAG’s monitoring by exception capabilities and leverages its easy-to-use APIs to efficiently monitor and control a substantial number of channels enhancing the reliability of Amagi’s FAST and broadcast streams.
• Dataminer – NAB attendees will also see a demonstration that seamlessly incorporates support for TAG’s platform into Skyline’s Dataminer media management platform. This integration simplifies deployment and configuration and increases end-to-end visibility, automation, and user control of large-scale TAG installations. Operators benefit from simultaneous insight into the status of their infrastructure from Dataminer, along with insight into the health of their content and live streams from TAG.

Brand new for NAB 2024 is TAG’s operator interface preview. This new intuitive touch panel interface displays the live multiviewer output as an interactive minimized version on any touch-controlled device. Operators no longer need to waste valuable time searching menus but can access pre-defined, customizable configuration and operational functionality with just a tap on the mosaic, dramatically removing overall complexity and simplifying day-to-day tasks, the company reported. 

In this interface preview, operators will be able to instantly switch between multiple layouts on the entire multiviewer, or just one mosaic, should a change of event, operation or focus occur. Additionally, the operator can switch the content of a tile to a different source, a different channel, or a different stream by simply clicking on the tile. That control extends to audio, allowing the user to select one specific source and play its audio to verify a match, the company said. 

Based on TAG’s unique Content Matching Technology, the company now supports straightforward, perception based QoE measures like Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM). TAG users will be able to numerically compare the video quality before and after the encoder or between any two points in the workflow, and evaluate even the most complex, high-noise levels video based on the SSIM smart algorithm.

In addition it will show automatic subtitles quality monitoring at scale with TAG language detection.

This new TAG technology preview not only identifies the subtitles language but also calculates its quality with dictionary-defined precision. Users will be able to see the caption's language and accuracy based on the relevant language dictionary in percentages, and this will allow them to accurately evaluate quality and compliance without needing to look at the actual subtitles, reducing overall eyes-on-glass.

For more information, please visit https://tagvs.com.

THATCHAM, U.K.—Test and measurement company PHABRIX will exhibit its line of instruments, including the Qx, Rx and Sx Series at the 2024 NAB Show, April 13-17, in Las Vegas.

Together with its parent company Leader Electronics, PHABRIX will demo test and measurement solutions for all broadcast and media applications—whether on-set, studio production, post-production, broadcast QC or for in-house video technology manufacturing facilities, it said.

PHABRIX will highlight new features for its Qx Series of rasterizers and waveform monitors, including the Qx, QxL and QxP models. The series now supports detection and analysis of SMPTE Full Range video standards and can generate video standards in Full Range (FR), Full Protected (FP) Range and Narrow Range (NR) for SMPTE ST 2110 and either FR or NR for SMPTE ST 2022-6 and SDI. The updates also include the ability to verify color content regardless of the specific video format used, it said. 

Other new Rx and Sx Series developments to be featured include:

• The addition of Enhanced Gamut Monitoring to the Rx Series rasterizers for 2K/3G/HD/SD signal generation, analysis and monitoring.
• The Sx Series of handheld instruments, including the Sx TAG hybrid IP/SDI and analog generation, analysis and video/audio monitoring device.

“With broadcast and media companies delivering greater amounts of content, via more platforms and formats than ever before, it’s vital that they can rapidly analyze and diagnose faults in time-critical situations,” said PHABRIX CEO Martin Mulligan. “The PHABRIX range – led by the Qx, Rx and Sx Series – provides them with all of these capabilities, and as the latest software update demonstrates we always strive to be one step ahead in adding the new features our customers will require next.”

See PHABRIX at NAB Show booth C5521.

More information is available on the company’s website.

SAN FRANCISCO—Wohler Technologies has announced that it is adding to their successful i  VAM range of products with the release of the 2U iVAM2-12G 16 channel audio/video monitor.

The company said that the i VAM2-12G is designed to build on the success of their iVAM1-12G launched mid-2022. It is available for immediate shipment. 

“With the release of the iVAM2-12G, we’re responding to customer requests and extending our reach from 1u to 2u for those users who would like or who need larger screens and improved audio monitoring. This highly configurable AV monitor incorporates our latest technology as well as options for monitoring the latest signals including hitless SMPTE 2022-7,” explained Kim Templeman-Holmes, vice president of sales and marketing. 

The new iVAM2-12G can monitor and meter up to 16 channels of 12G-SDI audio and video, plus 2 channels of analog audio in a compact 2U format. With 64 presets and utilizing dual touch screens, operators may toggle between video, meters, loudness measurement and menus. A HDMI output allows additional external monitoring of the currently selected video source, while analog XLR, headphone and selected 3G-SDI outputs are also included as standard.

For added flexibility, upgrade options are available on the rear panel for monitoring AES3, MADI 64 (incl a fiber option), SMPTE 2110, and SMPTE 2022-6. A rear panel option card slot offers the user the choice of upgrading with either an AoIP card which can accept either Dante or Ravenna card options (both offer SMPTE 2110-30 and hitless SMPTE 2022-7) or an additional 8 channels of analog inputs and outputs, the company explained. 

The dual 4.3” touch screen front panel utilizes mature design philosophies from previous iAM Series products, while physical front panel controls provide access to main volume, balance, and auxiliary controls to supplement touch controls. Individual audio channels may be summed, soloed, or muted by touch or mechanical control, the company said. 

A front mounted USB port is provided for software updates to support new and emerging technologies and a network interface allows for remote management, while APIs allow for easy integration with 3rd party controllers. 

Wohler is pitching it as the perfect solution for any application that requires a unit for monitoring an evolving range of professional signals.

More information about Wohler is available at www.wohler.com. 

NEW YORK—Amagi will add TAG Video Systems’ advanced monitoring platform to its suite of cloud SaaS offerings bringing monitoring capabilities to content owners publishing on FAST channels as well as those deploying on broadcast platforms.

TAG’s solution seamlessly integrates into Amagi cloud and SaaS technologies, expanding their scope of operations with support for new delivery protocols, enabling new business models and enriching Quality of Service (QoS) for customers, TAG said.

"Our collaboration with Amagi demonstrates the adaptability of the TAG platform, easily integrating sophisticated monitoring capabilities into a wide scope of formats and delivery protocols,” said Ziv Mor, TAG chief growth officer. “We're confident that our combined efforts will give Amagi’s customers the tools they need to keep up with the industry’s most advanced technologies, keep them ahead of the competition and drive their business strategies."

The initial launch of the integration leverages TAG’s APIs to allow Amagi to monitor a large number of streams for key customers, TAG said.

"We are excited to collaborate with TAG Video Systems, a true industry leader known for its excellence in real-time media performance monitoring,” said Srinivasan KA, Amagi co-founder and chief revenue officer. “This partnership aligns perfectly with our commitment to delivering the highest level of service to our customers. TAG’s advanced all-software and cloud native technology will allow us to offer our clients more accurate and reliable services. and exceed their expectations."

TAG and Amagi are poised to explore deeper integrations and develop solutions for the media industry, TAG said.

More information is available on the TAG website.

BAYSIDE, Calif.—Streaming and podcast solutions provider StreamGuys has launched its second-generation SGreports solution, a log processing and content analytic toolset for live streams and podcasts, the company said today.

Part of the company’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions suite for monitoring and analytics, SGreports offers an improved user experience through improved data aggregation and presentation as well as quicker access to streaming analytics, StreamGuys said.

The company has initially made the latest generation of the solution available to small and mid-sized clients and plans soon to make it available to larger enterprise accounts, it said.

With SGreports, broadcasters and media companies can access metrics to understand how audiences are interacting with streaming content. They then can use that data to make smart business and programming decisions. SGreports presents visualizations on user dashboards to help them, for example, quickly filter and compare data on program streams and podcast episodes, it said.

In its previous iteration, users manually parsed data through the solution’s filter options to build reports. While the process of exporting data was straightforward, the data aggregation process could become time consuming as the number of sources of metrics grew, the company said.

“Broadcasters with varied streaming portfolios often have specific reporting needs that weren’t easily services by the prior iteration of SGreports,” said Robert Minnix, head of product, StreamGuys.

“SGreports now offers a more cohesive environment to aggregate data from different subsets to achieve a singular view, as opposed to managing data across many dashboards. The simple explanation is that users have a more consumable view of everything in one place, which is especially useful for larger media networks and market-based streamers who have a lot of ground to cover. We have now centralized all this data to a single pane of glass.”

As before, SGreports allows users to have flexibly in drilling down for greater detail and the ability to customize their views for maximum efficiency. However, it now offers a more responsive user interface with greater visually distinctive metrics and with improved speed, it said.

More information is available on the company’s website.

TEL AVIV—TAG Video Systems has announced that it is presenting its award-winning Content Matching technology at NAB Show New York. During the show TAG will also be demonstrating integration with Beamr’s 5 HEVC encoder, and showcasing its comprehensive toolset designed to maximize user’s own data to develop new, or improve, business opportunities. 

These latest advances are designed to provide a quicker, clearer, more complete picture of content health and status, add another layer of confidence for users, and enable content owners and broadcasters to offer a higher-quality viewer experience with full HDR visualization, the company reported. 

Visitors to NAB Show New York will see TAG’s Content Matching in action driven by its unique fingerprinting mechanism that identifies and detects similar content across two different streams regardless of resolution, bitrate, or framerate, to ensure correct and uninterrupted delivery. This new technology dramatically reduces workflow complexity and eyes-on-glass and enables media companies to deliver quality content with fewer resources and more confidence. 

TAG will also highlight its technical collaboration with Beamr that integrates the Beamr 5 HEVC encoder into TAG’s Realtime Media Performance platform. The solution optimizes the bandwidth required to transport UHD and supports end-to-end High Dynamic Range (HDR) to deliver a stunning viewer experience with full HDR visualization. 

In addition, during the NAB Show New York, TAG will demonstrate how easily custom dashboards and visualizations can be created to suit each user’s exact requirements.  

By combining TAG’s Multichannel Monitoring (MCM) system’s deep probing and analysis capabilities with the Company’s MCS data aggregation and management toolset, dashboard visualizations can be easily built with well-known open toolsets like Kibana, Grafana and Kafka to address any level of detail in any media workflow. Representative visualizations for various workflows and applications will showcase the depth and flexibility of displays enabled by the MCS, including application-specific functions such as MPEG-TS and OTT delivery, audio analysis, SCTE Triggers and more, the company said. 

For more information, please visit https://tagvs.com .

MELBOURNE, Fla.—Three years into a successful enterprise-wide rollout of Qligent’s Vision, Sinclair Broadcast Group is expanding the deployment by applying Qligent’s QoS, QoE and compliance monitoring toolsets to its growing network of ATSC 3.0 digital TV channels and services. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group has already deployed Qligent’s Vision ATSC 3.0 solution in 14 markets and 28 channels where the media company offers live ATSC 3.0 broadcasts. In the future, the rollout will expand across all Sinclair markets as they launch new ATSC 3.0 channels and services.

“Qligent’s approach ensures that we can build on our existing tools without requiring a wholesale program change to execute,” said Mike Kralec, senior vice president and CTO, at the Sinclair Broadcast Group. “We have an ATSC 3.0 monitoring system that looks very similar to our ATSC 1.0 system, which minimizes disruption. It’s a very efficient way to achieve greater visibility into our ATSC 3.0 system while also minimizing new capital expenditures.”

Vision ATSC 3.0 provides broadcasters with an intuitive workflow to monitor and analyze ATSC 3.0 data from the origination point forward. Its software helps broadcasters visualize and optimize multi-layer data streams and several data points associated with vendor equipment throughout the ATSC 3.0 ecosystem. Qligent provides users with multiple perspectives of compatibility and health of the ATSC 3.0 signal path, with all pertinent details centralized to a dashboard where users absorb overall performance, the company reported. 

Current Qligent Vision installations require only a licensed software update to activate Vision ATSC 3.0 in the same system, adding support for ATSC 3.0 standards content formats and typically without scaling the existing installation. Qligent Vision ATSC3 is also available as a standalone installation that can be added to customer servers for new installations or in parallel with existing software. Operators can then cost-efficiently monitor and analyze QoS, QoE and compliance for ATSC 1.0, ATSC 3.0, and OTT signals both on-premises and in the cloud through a common Vision dashboard, the company said. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group will leverage the depth and scale of their enterprise Vision system in Vision ATSC 3.0 to optimize both ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 performance through a single pane of glass approach, the companies said. 

This will provide Sinclair with a unified view of all content delivery across markets and channels. The ability to observe, record, and analyze all signals in a single system will allow Sinclair to operate more efficiently by leveraging common monitor-by-exception rulesets, with the ability for users to quickly identify and resolve any content delivery issues that occur in their live environments. In addition, using one unified enterprise platform across all delivery standards means less training, simplified root cause analysis, and faster time to resolution, Qligent reported. 

Like Sinclair’s enterprise Vision solution, the Vision ATSC 3.0 configuration at Sinclair provides consolidated and distributed access to address varied needs across the organization. That includes enterprise-wide access from Sinclair’s network operations center, and local station access for regional engineers. 

Moving forward, both Qligent and Sinclair Broadcast Group said they anticipate extending Vision’s reach deeper into Sinclair’s on-prem and cloud ecosystems.

“ATSC 3.0 efficiently enables a higher-density network of TV channels and services supported through datacasting,” said Brick Eksten, CEO, Qligent. “Vision ATSC 3.0 will provide Sinclair Broadcast Group with the monitoring and analysis capabilities they need for local ATSC 3.0 transmission networks as their content encryption and datacasting requirements grow.” Eksten adds that Vision ATSC 3.0 will support all QoS, QoE and compliance monitoring for Sinclair’s channels delivered to viewers.

“Vision helps us optimize content presentation for our diginets while making it easier to manage unique channels in markets where we do news and local ad insertions,” added Kralec. “As we send more file-based information through our ATSC 3.0 ecosystem, Vision ATSC 3.0 gives us a foundation to do much more with our monitoring infrastructure.”

BOSTON, Mass.—At NAB Show New York, Actus Digital has announced that it will showcase a wide range of products and new technologies that include a new browser-based multiviewer with enhanced penalty box and monitoring-by-exception features, as well as new OTT monitoring capabilities and advanced content monitoring with AI-driven video and audio analysis.

“NAB Show New York is one of the key exhibitions for us,” explained Actus senior vice president Ken Rubin. “The show serves as an essential platform, enabling us to showcase our innovations, meet our large customer base in the US, hear from our customers about future transformations and needs, for us to be able to adopt these in our coming versions. NAB also allows us to connect with industry leaders and stay at the forefront of the media and entertainment landscape.”

Actus’ OTT monitoring solution, OTT StreamWatch guarantees around-the-clock quality assurance and integrates compliance logging, thorough OTT stream monitoring, and aircheck recording for native HLS and other OTT ABR streams. 

It’s adaptable for standalone deployment or seamless integration into the Actus Intelligent Monitoring Platform, offering customers a centralized interface for enhanced convenience, the company said. 

The platform offers essential AI-driven features that greatly boost efficiency, accuracy, and insight extraction from audio and video data. Actus Digital’s AI-powered broadcast monitoring provides broadcasters with information on all audio and video content, automated alerts, and a holistic view of channels, eliminating the need for manual checks. The platform further streamlines information distribution through advanced editing and export options, personalized metadata, and automated translations, facilitating quick and informed decision-making for broadcasters, the company said. 

Another highlight for the Show is remote video monitoring (RVM) within the Actus Intelligent Monitoring Platform. Designed as a quality assurance solution for multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), Actus RVM enables MVPDs to troubleshoot audio and video issues in real time, verify timing and accuracy of regional ad-insertion, and to access hundreds of post-Set Top Box channels across geographically dispersed headends and hub sites.

Attendees can schedule a meeting here.  

SINGAPORE—IP network transport solution provider Caton Technology has announced a partnership with TAG Video Systems that makes TAG’s monitoring solutions available through the Caton Cloud Alliance, a program that encourages third parties to add value and functionality to live transmissions by tightly integrating with Caton Cloud via its APIs.

Caton will demonstrate how the TAG Video Systems multiviewers can be integrated to monitor audio and video quality at the destination, on stand 1.F36 at IBC 2023, RAI Amsterdam (September, 15 to 18).

Caton provides the Media XStream video transport service to broadcasters and users that includes connectivity through the Caton Cloud using AI-based intelligent routing, which provides unparalleled reliability of six nines or better.

As part of the service, Caton provides full visibility of the network metrics so engineers can see the paths and the capacities used. The new partnership with TAG will enhance those monitoring capabilities by offering a flexible multiviewer solution that can accept signals from multiple points and is cloud-native, Canton reported. 

It will also incorporate the new TAG Content Matching Technology, which provides a means of comparing any point in the workflow against a user-defined reference. The supervising engineer can see at a glance the audio and video quality at the receiver and be notified of any issues in the transmission, the companies said.

“With Caton Cloud, our customers can call up the highest quality transmission, from anywhere to anywhere, using the public internet,” said Michael Yang, senior vice president at Caton Technology. “We extend our services using published APIs, and through the Caton Cloud Alliance we make it very easy to integrate additional services upstream and downstream. Perceived signal quality is obviously of vital importance to our users, which is why we welcome TAG Video Systems as our first technology partner.”

“We have a comprehensive suite of solutions for monitoring, probing and data driven analytics, which further inform the visual and audible monitoring through our multiviewer displays and system UI,” added Michael Demb, vice president of product strategy at TAG Video Systems. “It is a natural fit for Caton and its transformational approach to IP content delivery, and we look forward to continuing collaboration and more business success.”

Caton Technology and TAG Video Systems are already working with broadcasters and content owners on implementing video and audio monitoring alongside network monitoring, as part of the service-based Media XStream offering. For more information visit catontechnology.com