[iptv-users] STB/video stream monitoring

[Frank Bulk]

It's certain not clear to me layer(s) deserve the most attention: L1 & 2,
L4, or L7.  As Kevin points out, some products are better for some layers
than others, and depending on the user of the tool, certain ones are more
attractive than others.  My guess is that head end gurus might like an L7
product, but the largest support group tends to be outside plant techs that
would likely prefer an L1 & 2 product.  I guess I would see a product like
Mixed Signals located more in the head end.  The edge transport doesn't
affect the MPEG content, so I really only would need an L4 product at the
edge to tell me about response times to IGMP joins/leaves, jitter, loss,
etc.

We can't afford a tool to cover each layer.  Since we can use the tool for
L1 & 2 to resolve our copper dial-tone and DSL issues, then it's a L4
"versus" L7 question.

Frank

-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Shymkiw [mailto:kshymkiw at gmail.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 1:15 PM
To: Alex Moen
Cc: frnkblk at iname.com; iptv-users at puck.nether.net
Subject: Re: [iptv-users] STB/video stream monitoring

I have tried Frame Grabber.  Frame Grabber, needs to actually plug into 
a STB, which obviously if your an all IP shop, you would much rather 
just do an IGMP Join into a group, rather then deploy a Decoder, and a 
STB.  Mixed Signals also has much better alarming features, and with 
their new release later this year, will be looking for Jitter in the 
MPEG, etc....  If you would like a contact there, you are more than 
welcome to contact me off list, and I can send you our Mixed Signals Rep. 

As far as the Alarming/Alerting, Mixed Signals on the probe itself can 
be set up to look at 5.1 Audio, and alarm for any channel of the 5.1 
Audio going quiet.  Also alarms on MPEG Freezes, and many MPEG related 
alarms, other than ETR-290 stuff.  Ineoquest is big on MDI Scoring, 
which basically should tell you they are stuck into the Transport Layer 
of IPTV.  Mixed Signals and Symmetricom both, don't use any MDI Scoring, 
since the MDI values are all looking at Transport Layer.

Kevin

Alex Moen wrote:
> Good info.. I am going to look into that too.  Have you tried the iCMS 
> and FrameGrabbers yet from Ineo?  How do they compare?
>
> Alex
>
>
> On Jun 30, 2009, at 12:14 PM, Kevin Shymkiw wrote:
>
>> I have used Ineoquest, and would have to recomend Mixed Signals over 
>> Ineoquest (http://mixedsignals.com/index.php).  Ineoquest is still 
>> looking more into the Transport Layer, rather than the MPEG itself.  
>> Mixed Signals and Symmetricom are heavily into the MPEG encoding, 
>> etc...  We have a large scale deployment of Ineoquest and Mixed 
>> Signals, when I say large scale I mean >$2million, and by far the 
>> Mixed Signals product out performs Ineoquest.
>>
>> Kevin
>>
>> Alex Moen wrote:
>>> Take a look at Ineoquest's iVMS (for transport quality monitoring) 
>>> and iCMS (for video/audio content quality and end-user experience 
>>> monitoring).  We use both of these products, and they can be both a 
>>> lifesaver and a "finger-pointing" resolver.
>>>
>>> http://www.ineoquest.com
>>>
>>> Alex
>>>
>>>
>>> On Jun 30, 2009, at 11:02 AM, Frank Bulk wrote:
>>>
>>>> Is anyone doing any video stream error monitoring/checking from the
>>>> point-of-view of the STB?  I know that there is at least one vendor 
>>>> out
>>>> there, Psytechnics, that has a module it can integrate into the 
>>>> middleware
>>>> of the STB, but I haven't see IPTV middleware vendors picking that 
>>>> up.  I
>>>> know that the Amino 110 writes out some rudimentary stats to the 
>>>> drive.
>>>>
>>>> We track most of our video problems based on the 15-minute PM bins 
>>>> that our
>>>> transport gear's ADSL ports record, but nothing L4 and up.
>>>>
>>>> Ideally every STB would have something Psytechnic-like built in.
>>>>
>>>> Frank
>>>>
>>>>
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>
>