IP Video Monitoring System for Broadband

High Performance IP Video Monitoring Systems

Mividi Media Systems has been offering the Mividi TSM100 Video Monitoring System for a while. The TSM100 is a MEPG transport stream and IP protocol analyzer for monitoring the quality of digital video services (QoS) received via IP or ASI interfaces. It performs automatic error check on the IP layer and MPEG TS layer, and analysis of audio and video quality 24 x 7. The new Mividi TSM for Broadband system is derived from the existing TSM100 system. The main purpose for this new product is to support core video network monitoring with a large number of video services and high total bandwidth. The TSM for Broadband will be offered as a turnkey solution, which can support up to 1000 video services and a total bandwidth of 4GB in a single system.

Similar to the Mividi TSM100, the TSM for Broadband also supports IPTV, OTT, DVB and ATSC broadcast streams. It supports MPEG-2, AVC (H.264), HEVC (H.265) video formats, and commonly used audio formats including MP3, AAC, AAC+, AC3 etc. It receives video streams in a dual 10G NIC adapter in multicast UDP or HLS streaming formats.

In order to improve the efficiency, the TSM for Broadband focus on the test on IP and TS layers, but it does not decode all video key frames and full audio streams as the TSM100 system. With the IP and TS layer analysis, it will be able to detect errors including loss of service, IP and TS packet loss, packet jitters and meta-data errors that will result in video decoding errors by decoders. Once errors are detected, the system will send alarms to operators automatically via email, SMS, or SNMP traps.

Why Use TSM for Broadband?

When there are hundreds of video services in the video network, it’s impossible to monitor them manually to verify that all services are available and healthy. Therefore, automated monitoring tools are needed to check the quality of the services and alert operators when any errors occur. The TSM for Broadband provides an efficient tool to monitor a large number of video services in the core IP network for these basic error conditions:

• Are any expected services available?
• Are there IP network problems such as packet loss and jitter?
• Are audio and video PIDs exist, consistent to the metadata, and decodable?

The TSM for Broadband takes video TS input via a dual 10G NIC adapter in one of the following streaming protocols:

• MPEG TS over RTP/UDP
• HTTP live streaming (HLS)
• TS over HTTP

IP Layer Analysis

Media Delivery Index (MDI)

The Mividi TSM for Broadband computes the Media Delivery Index on all IP flows. The MDI includes two measurements: Delay Factor (DF) that measures the IP packet jitter and Media Loss Rate (MLR) that measures the packet loss over time.

Bandwidth Monitoring

The TSM for Broadband will monitor the bitrate of all media flows in the network. Users can create a profile to specify the minimum and maximum bitrates allowed for specific media flows and test if the actual bitrate is within the bands, and send an alarm if the bounds are violated.

HLS Protocol Analysis

The Mividi TSM for Broadband monitors HLS by downloading media segment files as HTTP clients. All HTTP sessions are monitored and a number of media and transfer parameters are monitored and recorded.

• Automatically start streaming analysis on all streaming profiles listed in the master playlist file;
• Analyze playlist file and validate playlist syntax;
• Measure segment file downloading time, compare the downloading time to media time to check video delay;
• Record file name, sequence number and file size, calculate media bitrate;
• Perform synchronization analysis on different profile and elementary streams.

Error Logs and Alarms

All detected errors from TS analysis and IP/HTTP layer analysis are saved in database files. Error can be exported in text format, and reports can be generated for error summary and trend analysis. The system can also be configured to generate auto report daily, weekly or monthly.

The system can send error-triggered alarms in multiple ways including email, SMS, audio sound and SNMP traps. The alarm triggers are configurable by users, such as loss of input streams, audio or video components, long stream quality, etc.

All errors and alarms are logged in the database and can be reviewed at a later time. Reports can be generated to summarize TS status over a period of time.

Stream Recording

The system provides a stream recording module. Three different recording methods are provided:

• Automated recording: Provides 24 x 7 recording for selected streams. Once configured, the recording will happen automatically when the system is rebooted.
• Error-triggered recording.
• Manually started recording.

Users can manage recorded files via the recorder user interface by playing recorded files, searching specific recordings, and cleaning the hard disks. Additionally, the system may be linked to an external network storage device for additional file storage space.

The TSM for Broadband can perform comprehensive transport stream analysis on recorded files. It also provides a list of advanced playback functions on recorded files, as well as video file merging and splitting functions.

SNMP Support and API

The TSM for Broadband supports SNMP trap and query. It can send error alarms and computer status via SNMP trap and support SNMP query for transport stream information. In addition, a C# based API with full access to analysis data is also available.

References

• Internet Protocol Television
• ETSI TR 101 290 Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Measurement Guidelines for DVB Systems
• AMERICAN NATIONAL STANDARD ANSI/SCTE 168-6 2010 Recommended Practice for Monitoring Multimedia Distribution Quality
• A Proposed Media Delivery Index (MDI)