In many countries, TV stations are now providing both analog and digital TV simulcast services. Therefore, TV stations need to simultaneously monitor their analog and digital signals. This application case illustrates an example which contains the following test requirements:
- Receive and monitor multiple analog and multiple digital TV services;
- Decode the DTV signal and display both analog and DTV programs on a video wall, using Multiviewer display;
- Support remote access to the monitoring system and check the signal status;
- It is best to use a single system to support local and remote monitoring.
In order to use least equipment to complete the monitoring task efficiently, Mividi provides the following testing solutions:
- Use a signal converter to convert analog signal to digital TV signal, thus all down-stream process can be completed using digital TV processing equipment;
- Converted digital signal transport stream is sent to an IP switch connected to the Mividi Integrated Multiviewer System (IMS120)；
- Use a demodulator to convert RF signal to base-band transport stream signal outputs from an IP interface, which is also connected to the Switch;
- Use IMS120 to provide comprehensive transport stream analysis on all input signals. In addition, IMS120 will also decodes all programs and display the programs in the video wall. The IMS120 provides necessary features to divide the video wall display so that all programs can be displayed in 1 – 2 TV monitors;
- The IMS120 also supports remote operations so that all test results can be viewed in a regular Windows 10/11 PC, including video thumbnails.
Figure 1 shows the architecture block diagram of the design.The benefit of using Mividi Integrated Multiviewer System (IMS120) in this application is that it includes multi-image display, audio loudness analysis, and comprehensive transport stream monitoring in a single small platform. Therefore, it significantly decreases the cost of monitoring and trouble-shooting digital TV broadcast and saves a great amount of rack space.
The IMS120 can simultaneously analyze multiple streams received from one or more IP input interfaces. The system can support high bandwidth test and therefore reduce the cost of testing each transport stream. It supports remote operation and is very scalable. Since the software runs on standard Windows 10/11 based PCs, it is easy to maintain and upgrade in the future.
Figure 1: Architecture block diagram.