NBC Olympics Deploys Tektronix Test Gear to Monitor Sochi Signal Quality

NEW YORK & SOCHI, RUSSIA—Tektronix has been selected to provide video test and network monitoring to NBC Olympics during its production of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, Feb. 6-23.

Beginning with the production at the sporting venues in Russia, Tektronix will provide WFM5200 and WFM7200 Waveform Monitors for on-site camera set up, and verifying gamut signal quality and integrity. NBC Olympics plans to backhaul the contribution quality feeds through several service providers to their facilities in the U.S. To verify the compressed video signal quality at each end of the transmission, NBC Olympics will use Tektronix Sentry family of Video Quality Monitors which have the unique ability to detect QoE artifacts on hundreds of IP video streams on 1G and 10G transmission paths.

"We are pleased to be working once again with Tektronix, and we are confident that their video test and network monitoring equipment will ensure that all the feeds we are bringing into Sochi and sending home to the USA will meet the exacting standards of quality our viewers have come to expect," said Terry Adams, vice president, IBC Engineering, NBC Olympics.

NBC Olympics will further use additional WFM5200 Waveform Monitors in their U.S. facilities for production, post-production and broadcast operations before playing to air. Finally, NBC will use the Sentry Video Quality Monitor at the Cable Network Operation Center to monitor the quality of the satellite uplink feed.

Tom Butts

Tom has covered the broadcast technology market for the past 25 years, including three years handling member communications for the National Association of Broadcasters followed by a year as editor of Video Technology News and DTV Business executive newsletters for Phillips Publishing. In 1999 he launched digitalbroadcasting.com for internet B2B portal Verticalnet. He is also a charter member of the CTA's Academy of Digital TV Pioneers. Since 2001, he has been editor-in-chief of TV Tech (www.tvtech.com), the leading source of news and information on broadcast and related media technology and is a frequent contributor and moderator to the brand’s Tech Leadership events.