Cobalt Digital SPOTCHECK Transport Stream Compliance Monitor User Manual

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AUDIO LOUDNESS MANAGEMENT

Programming thumbnails with date-time and as-runID provide ready correlation between loudness measurement records andp r ogramming

Clearly displayed session loudness plot continuously displayed for all programming. Where loudnessdeviates from dialnorm by more than 2LU , segment is highlighted.

On-screen mode selections including ATSC A/85and EBU R128 measurement. Instant selection of audio sub-programs.

Select plotting to show Dialnorm, TruePeak, and/or Loudness Envelop (min/max instantaneous LUFS)

Select spot segmenting to correlate toas-run data. Where as-run is not available, programming can be segmented intoregular user-selected Short or Long intervals.

Selecting a date on the Reports calendar shows a report for the day, with segments grouped into loudness too high, too low, or complying.

A list of segments is displayed, with direct correlation to loudness, airtime, and as-run data for each spot or segment. Reports can be set up to sort by loudness, time, as-run code or other criteria.

Reports can be automatically e-mailed, triggered to send at several severity level choices.

SPOTCHECK® 〉〉 TRANSPORT STREAM COMPLIANCE MONITOR

SpotCheck® provides easy to use, no-guesswork, automatic A/85 and EBU R128 loudness measurement and access to all audio loudness records. Because SpotCheck® monitors an IP, ASI, or a trans-

mitted over-the-air MPEG stream at the transmit (emission) encode point, SpotCheck® measures and logs loudness for all programming emanating from the facility.

Segments can be searched using date – time with the intuitive display of loudness plots along with date-time-stamped thumbnails of the actual corresponding programming, or can be queried and correlated with the facility as-run automation list. SpotCheck® readily pinpoints any segments that are out of CALM A/85 or EBU R128 compliance, and conversely helps in documenting compliance should an erroneous complaint appear.

Options allow even more transport stream/programming analysis. Option QUALITYCHECK checks for the presence of CEA708/608 closed-captioning, as well as the string content text, and also can detect transport communication errors as well as frozen/black frame and audio silence, with Alert Manager sending these alerts to your designated personnel as simple e-mails. Option AIRCHECK provides easily managed lo-res proxy downloads of user-selected transport stream segments that can be sent and viewed over e-mail to recipients with common smart devices and media players.

Easy to use web user interface provides for easy setup and use. Requiring no breakout from the MPEG stream and not affecting the emission stream in any way, SpotCheck® provides an easily integrated, facility-based, superior solution for loudness records and compliance veriﬁcation.

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AUDIO LOUDNESS MANAGEMENT

Interface/

FEC

Interleave

Packet Splitter

Codec Extract/ Decode

Loudness

Measurement

Video

Thumbnails

Logging

Audio

ASI

Interface

Loudness Measurement Data

Audio

As-Run Data

Video Thumbnails

HTML5 Web User Interface

SpotCheck

Data

Correlation

Storage

OTA

Interface

As-Run

Database

Import

•

See Ordering Information for physical port capacity and IP, ASI, or OTA model designations

SPOTCHECK® 〉〉 TRANSPORT STREAM COMPLIANCE MONITOR

〉〉 FEATURES

Automated 24/7 loudness measurement and logging for every programming segment sent as emission. Full CALM and EBU R128 compliant logging and record access.

Straightforward display of actual loudness plot and clear OK/non-compliant tagging of programming segments – no tedious lists or spreadsheets to analyze

Automatically accounts for program loudness, dialnorm, and DRC effect on audio – no interpretation of readings or loudness metadata needed

Cobalt Support Network feature provides, where desired, a direct VPN connection between your SpotCheck unit and our engineering support

Easy data search by date/time range and as-run data allows rapid and no-hassle pinpointing to any programming segment

Support for sending loudness alert emails to multiple personnel. User-deﬁned multiple-level severity escalation.

Full compatibility with MPTS and SPTS streams

Direct GigE MPEG, ASI, or OTA interface. No complicated external breakout of signals.

Three year warranty with extension options available

Robust product support – upgrades and enhancements ﬁeld-installed via ﬁrmware upload from our Support web page

Set desired span by dragging the cursor edges

Clicking the + icon in the plot upper-left corner opens a cursor-defined region in which average LKFS, true peak, and loudness range (LRA) over a sel e c t e d span is displayed.

This tool can also download a transport stream interval set by the cursor boundaries.

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AUDIO LOUDNESS MANAGEMENT

Navigating in thumbnail / loudness plots could not be easier.

• Zoom-out (more segments/time span displayed) or zoom-in (less segments/time span displayed but with greater detail) simply by rotating scroll wheel on mouse. Use Zoom presets to go to preset spans of 10 seconds to maximum. Zoom span level is always displayed in upper corner of plot.

• Navigate to most recent or earlier segments simply by dragging mouse left or right. Use buttons onbottom of plot to jump to earlie

r or later panes, or to go to very beginning or very end of plotting.

Zoom preset buttons

Current zoom span level

Jump go-to buttons

SPOTCHECK® 〉〉 TRANSPORT STREAM COMPLIANCE MONITOR

Transport Ma nager Video Streams Grid and Vide o Streams List show all progra ms and status /details within a transport stream. Click ing on a program op ens a streaming thumbnail display showing status and real-time per-channel audio levels and detail s.

Each audio subprogram display has a Session tool in which a loudness session can be sta rted and run for any interval to provide an instant evaluation of program loudness. Independent sessions can ber unon any audio subprogram within a stream.

• Pressing Reset starts the session timer. At this p oint, session moving-average momentary LUFS, true peak, and LRA is displayed.

• Pressing Reset again clears thesessio ndata and starts a new session. A session can be run idefinitely short as desired.

, or as

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AUDIO LOUDNESS MANAGEMENT

SPOTCHECK® 〉〉 TRANSPORT STREAM COMPLIANCE MONITOR

Option QUALITYCHE CK detects transport communi cation er rors as wel l as fro zen/black fr ame and audio si lence. It also checks f or the presence of CEA708/608 closed-c aptioning.

At the mom ent an error occurs, the error displa y row highligh ts in red (th en fa des to the nor mal backgrou nd color afte r a few sec onds). Th is is us eful for real-time monito ring and pi npointing trouble shooting of transpor t streams or programs ex periencin g problems.

Presence of CEA708 and/or CEA608 packets is indicated by the yellow (CC) 708 or (CC) 608 bands just above the thumbnail images. Zooming in tighter displays the closed-captioning text (which can be copied and pasted into a text file if desired).

QUALITYCHECK Alert Manager allows transport and program error notification to be f orwarded as e-mail t o SpotCheck users by simply d ragging the error notifica tion int o the user’s mailbox.

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Page 5

+ (1) SPOTCHECK-LICENSE-AUDIO-FULL

+ (1) SPOTCHECK-LICENSE-AUDIO-SUBPROGRAM

+ (1) SPOTCHECK-LICENSE-AUDIO-LITE

SpotCheck-1000-IP

Includes one SPOTCHECK-LICENSE-AUDIO-FULL.Provides complete programanalysisforone program(onevideo PIDplustwo audio PIDs)

Adds complete programanalysisfor second program.2(onevideoPIDplustwoau dioPIDs)

Adds an additional audio subprogram(oneaudio PID)to program .2

Adds basicprogramanalysisforthirdprogram.3 (one videoPID plusone audio PID).Omits as-run support forthisprogram.

Program .1

(1 vidPID,2audPIDs)

Program .2

(1 vidPID,3audPIDs)

Program .3

(1 vidPID,1audPID basic analysis)

SpotCheck®Licensing

Adding licenses toS potCheck®allows scalableprovisioning abovethestandardcapacityas showninthisexample.

SPOTCHECK® 〉〉 TRANSPORT STREAM COMPLIANCE MONITOR

〉〉 SPECIFICATIONS

Physical

SpotCheck-1000 Power: 120/240 VAC, 50/60 Hz, 200 W (max) Size: 1RU Depth required: 24 in (61 cm) minimum SpotCheck-2000 Power: 120/240 VAC, 50/60 Hz, 350 W (max) Size: 1RU Depth required: 24 in (61 cm) minimum

Transport Interface

SpotCheck-IP: GigE (1000 Base-T) via RJ-45 SpotCheck-ASI: ASI, 75Ω BNC input SpotCheck-OTA: 8VSB (RF), female F-connector input See Ordering Information for port complements and other information.

Loudness Measurement

ATSC A/85 –24 LKFS, EBU R128 –23 LUFS

Formats Supported

Transport: MPEG over IP or ASI, UDP, RTP, SMPTE 2022, FEC wrappers Multicast: Supports IPV4 multicast and IGMPv2 multicast management

Audio Codecs Supported: Dolby® Digital (AC-3), Dolby® Digital Plus (E-AC-3) Video Codecs Supported: MPEG2

As-run import: Imports as-run data from common automation systems via Windows Share or drop/drag into program as-run folders

Control/Monitor Interface

HTML5 web browser via dedicated 10/100/1000 Ethernet port.

Storage Capacity (per SpotCheck® Unit)

SpotCheck-1000, SpotCheck-2000 12 months

〉〉 ORDERING INFORMATION

SPOTCHECK®-1000-IP ATSC A/85 Compliance Monitor for IP Transport Streams. 1 Con-

trol IP Port, 1 Media IP Port. Includes one license of SPOTCHECK-LICENSE-AUDIO-FULL. Maximum capacity of four programs. 12-month analysis storage.

SPOTCHECK®-1000-ASI ATSC A/85 Compliance Monitor for ASI Transport Streams - 1

Control IP Port, 1 ASI Input Port. Includes one license of SPOTCHECK-LICENSE-AUDIOFULL. Maximum capacity of four programs. 12-month analysis storage.

SPOTCHECK®-1000-OTA ATSC A/85 Compliance Monitor for OTA Transport Streams - 1

Control IP Port, 1 RF Input for over-the-air reception. Includes one license of SPOTCHECKLICENSE-AUDIO-FULL. Maximum capacity of four programs. 12-month analysis storage.

〉〉 ADDITIONAL PROGRAM LICENSES

SPOTCHECK®-LICENSE-AUDIO-FULL Complete program analysis for one program (1 video

PID plus 2 audio PIDs). Each optional additional license adds complete analysis for one program.

SPOTCHECK®-LICENSE-AUDIO-LITE Program analysis for one program (1 video PID plus

1 audio PID), but omits As-Run support. Available for all SpotCheck®-1000 and SpotCheck®-2016.

SPOTCHECK®-LICENSE-AUDIO-SUBPROGRAM Adds an additional audio subprogram (one

audio PID, such as DVS or SAP) to a FULL or LITE program license. (Available only in conjunction with an already-provisioned SpotCheck®-LICENSE-AUDIO-FULL or SpotCheck®-LICENSEAUDIO-LITE program license.)

SPOTCHECK®-LICENSE-QUALITYCHECK Adds CEA 708/608 presence detect and stream/

program quality checks. (Option is available on a unit basis (one license (max.); adds QUALITYCHECK to entire unit, with all transport streams accommodated).

SPOTCHECK®-LICENSE-AIRCHECK Adds transport stream lo-res proxy download. (Option is

available on a per-program basis).

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SPOTCHECK®-2000 ATSC A/85 Compliance Monitor for IP Transport Streams - 1 Control IP

Port, 5 Media IP Ports (ASI support available using option OPT-ASI; 1 ASI port max.). Includes four licenses of SPOTCHECK-LICENSE-AUDIO-FULL. Maximum capacity of 16 programs. 1RU. PSU redundancy. Dual power RAID hard drive conﬁguration. 12-month analysis storage.

OPT-ASI Adds a 75Ω BNC ASI input and setup interface to any SpotCheck model.

OPT-OTA Adds an RF OTA input and setup interface to any SpotCheck model.