Features & Benefits

• Detect MPEG and IP Issues
• Historical Reporting and Graphing
• Triggered Alert Stream Capture
• Real-time Detection and Alerting
• Transport Stream Bandwidth Graphing
• Program Group Bandwidth Graphing
• Error Second and Program Availability Reporting

Applications

• Monitor Input to Hub Sites to Detect Issues during Transport
• IP Video Network Impairment Analysis
• QoS Monitoring
• Digital Program Insertion
• EBIF Monitoring
• Program Statistics and Availability Reporting

Sentry Verify monitors and validates MPEG Transport Stream quality at hub sites as an integral part of the source-to-edge monitoring solution.

Sentry Verify™ enables video service providers to accurately determine the health of the MPEG/IP transport network. Sentry Verify provides alerts and generates useful reports in the same fashion as Sentry®.

Verify detects subscriber-impacting events during MPEG-over-IP transport and offers a historical database to assist with troubleshooting and trending analyses. Sentry Verify also offers a multiple alert-trigger capture capability to quickly identify and visualize issues as they arise. Sentry Verify is specially designed for operational staff and is a cost-effective solution for large-scale deployments to hub sites and other remote locations. It provides necessary, accurate, and timely information to assist in the identification of faults within the IP network and has been integrated with industry-leading management solutions to accelerate troubleshooting and root-cause analysis.

Sentry Verify is part of the S2E (Source-to-Edge) monitoring solution, which provides the most comprehensive 24/7 real-time monitoring system with a 60-day historical database, executive reports, and trending analysis capabilities. It can be easily integrated with Medius to provide a seamless monitoring package.

Software Options

AD INSERTION (DPI)

Digital ad insertion technology allows multichannel service providers to offer advertisers market segmentation that broadcast networks cannot. Maximizing this advantage requires integrating a complex system of ad insertion technology into an existing network. Today, an average of 2% of digital advertisements fail to air or air incorrectly due to scheduling, insertion, and other errors. In addition, advertisements often suffer the same audio and video quality issues that plague regular programming. As a result, monitoring and auditing capabilities are critical to successful ad delivery. The Sentry suite of products provides the most complete digital ad insertion monitoring solution by combining real-time monitoring and alerting with historical auditing across the entire channel lineup in all advertising zones. The Sentry product line delivers extensive data that improves digital ad insertion on any platform, allowing engineering teams to ensure proper function of insertion technology by identifying and correcting system errors when they occur. In addition, the ad insertion verification capability allows ad sales groups to provide higher levels of customer service, resulting in greater revenue potential. Using the web-based interface you can monitor digital ad insertion across your entire network. By strategically placing Sentry or Sentry Verify in each of your ad zones, you can monitor and be alerted on all insertion opportunities network-wide, as well as issues that arise from problems.

CAROUSELS TRU2WAY / OCAP/MHP / DSM-CC

The OCAP Monitor is a tool for monitoring tru2way™/OCAP carousels. Digital set-top boxes receive continuous delivery of applications and data from the headend or uplink center. These data and applications are critical for normal set-top box function and service delivery. With the advent of tru2way™ (OCAP) and other carousels, multichannel service providers are introducing a vast array of complex, interactive services to their subscriber base. Monitoring the carousel activity is essential to ensuring the quality and consistency of experience for subscribers. Sentry supplies detailed reports of carousel performance and activity based on their real-time behavior and data output. Service providers are able to identify the root cause of errors and make necessary changes to eliminate issues and guarantee rapid application deployment. The reports show detailed source and file structures and carousel changes in real time while observing streaming metrics such as cycle time, bandwidth utilization, and stream packet continuity. Real-time alerting notifies users of critical situations, enabling them to resolve issues such as outages, cycle-time fluctuations, and unauthorized changes.

EBIF MONITORING

Interactive applications and associated advertising allow you to deliver enhanced capabilities to your subscribers and is a way to monetize advanced digital services in a broad range of digital set-top boxes. eTV content consisting of the applications and metadata is, however, prone to errors during transport, rate-shaping, and muxing. Old video-over-IP metrics such as MDI and Continuity Counter (CC) errors are incapable of detecting any content errors, especially with eTV. The EBIF/eTV monitoring solution breaks down and reports on eTV application data and critical signaling information, so service providers can be assured they are delivering the best possible quality of experience for their subscribers. In addition, a 60-day application-level historical report (available by service and by location) provides critical trending information about eTV delivery. Tailored alerting and dashboards provide proactive eTV monitoring and fast troubleshooting.

SA-BFS MONITORING

Sentry is designed to identify and monitor data carousels within the transport, which enables it to keep detailed information about the real-time and historical status of the Scientific-Atlanta Broadcast Files System (BFS). Similar to the way other application carousels (tru2way, DSM-CC, etc) are monitored, Sentry is able to provide critical information about the status of BFS carousels. Multichannel service providers can set alerts to be notified of bit rate errors, file changes, file cycle times, and if files are missing.