Jun 18, 2007

Volicon Observer RPM Enables Proactive Multichannel Monitoring and Maintenance at Service Electric

“Before adopting the Observer RPM system, we relied on staff review of channels and calls from subscribers to identify issues with channels, particularly those with fewer viewers. The Observer RPM has found problems in the middle of the night, before we get calls and before our service center is open, so we’ve been able to work proactively in maintaining maximum uptime for our channels. We’ve noticed a significant decrease in calls, and I’d estimate that 95 percent of the time, our Volicon system is addressing outages before our customers are even aware of them.”

Volicon, a leading provider of media monitoring, recording, archiving, and streaming solutions, today announced that Service Electric Cable TV, the first community cable provider established in the United States, is using the Observer RPM multichannel monitoring system to maintain a high quality of service for more than 400 cable channels. The Observer RPM system scans the cable operator’s analog and digital (SD and HD) map throughout the day and night and, after a preset time of outage, alerts network operations
center (NOC) staff to any problems with video or audio.

“Before adopting the Observer RPM system, we relied on staff review of channels and calls from subscribers to identify issues with channels, particularly those with fewer viewers,” said Jeff Kelly, chief engineer at Service Electric Cable TV. “The Observer RPM has found problems in the middle of the night, before we get calls and before our service center is open, so we’ve been able to work proactively in maintaining maximum uptime for our channels. We’ve noticed a significant decrease in calls, and I’d estimate that 95 percent of the time, our Volicon system is addressing outages before our customers are even aware of them.”

The Observer RPM automates the channel-scanning process, operating unattended as it scans hundreds of video channels continuously — and multiple channels simultaneously — to verify the presence of video and audio and to detect problems such as frozen video, black video, loss of video signal, and low-level audio. Service Electric Cable TV elected to deploy the Observer RPM to make monitoring of its growing channel count more efficient. With the addition of a digital simulcast, the company has doubled its channel capacity, and the Observer RPM offers a costeffective means of catching signal problems long before they become an issue for viewers.

An advanced desktop video monitoring solution, the Observer RPM system provides Service Electric Cable TV personnel with intuitive interfaces and capabilities for comprehensive video and audio quality assurance. Because the Observer RPM system is integrated with Service Electric Cable TV’s DPS Telecom network alarm monitoring system, NOC staff receives all alerts through the facility’s existing alarm system. Each problem is recorded and reported to the operator via e-mail or cell phone alarm for review and analysis.

The Observer RPM has the capacity to stream a questionable TV channel over the Internet, allowing an operator to view the video/audio on a standard MS Windows®-based PC from any location. Users have total video control with the ability to search, retrieve, view, analyze, annotate, share, and export video from the desktop.

Events

Events
HDWorld Booth 1157 October 15-16 2008

Volicon’s Observer HD is the industry’s premier High Definition content monitoring solution for Broadcasters.

Observer …

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Awards

awards
Volicon Observer wins TV Technology STAR Award @ IBC 2006

Volicon, a leading provider of advanced solutions for monitoring broadcasts, logging, archiving, and streaming of digital video, …

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About Volicon

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About Volicon

Company Profile

Volicon is the leading supplier of broadcast monitoring systems used by broadcasters and cable …

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