Introduction

Purpose

Welcome to the Volicon Media Intelligence Service (MIS) Observer 8.1 User Guide. This document will provide the details and instructions necessary to guide you through MIS operation. It addresses specific MIS functions, including the use of bookmark media clips; proving FCC compliance, advertisement verification and general media management.

Definitions and Acronyms

8VSB	8-level vestigial sideband modulation - used for ATSC over the air broadcast
AC3	Dolby Digital Audio Codec 3 - compression used by ATSC
AFD	Active Format Description - metadata describing format i.e. 4:3 or 16:9
ARL	As Run Logs - used to extract program schedule
ASI	Asynchronous Serial Interface - used to carry MPEG-TS
ATSC	Advanced Television System Committee – set of standards for US digital television
Bookmark	Short program segments marked on the MIS server to facilitate auditing and sharing
CALM Act	Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation – FCC requirement for audio loudness
CEM	Content Export Module – optional software package to export program clips to social media sites.
Clear QAM	Clear Quadrature Amplitude Modulation – non encrypted Cable video distribution
CC/TT	Closed Captioning/ SMPTE Timed Text - Protocols used to add text description of the audio
Component video	Analog video with separate Red, Green, Blue channels using three RCA connections
Composite video	Analog video over a single RCA connection
Dialnorm	AC3 metadata used to control playback gain
DPI	Digital Program Insertion – metadata that allows downstream insertion of commercial or short programs.
DPI – In Point	Entry point to switch to a different stream
DPI – Out Point	Return to normal stream
DVB	Digital Video Broadcasting - international suite of digital television standards
Encoder	MIS observer function that receives and processes media signals
Fault Clips	Portions of audio or video stream that fails to meet MIS quality thresholds
SD/HD-SDI	Uncompressed standard or high definition video serial data interface
GPI	General Purpose Interface Metadata - used for broadcast automation
HDMI	High Definition Multimedia Interface – digital interface used to transport audio and video short distances
IP	Internet Protocol – used to send digital data from one computer to another
Metadata	Data-about-the-data - Additional information carried by the program used to describe program details
MH	Media Hub – internal MIS Observer component
MPEG	Motion Picture Expert Group - international organization that sets audio and video compression and transmission standards
MPEG-TS	MPEG Transport Stream - a standard container for audio, video, Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP)
Multiview	MIS feature that allows you to configure multiple channels and monitoring widgets into a single display screen
NAVE	Nielsen audio video encoder – psychoacoustic symbols inserted in programs to facilitate automatic viewer tracking
NTP	Network Time Protocol – Internet standard used to synchronize computer real time clocks
OTT	Over the top program delivery using Internet protocols
PID	Packet identifier: a unique 13-bit value used to identify elementary streams of a program in a single or multi-program Transport Stream
Probe	Observer Ingest server housing one or more encoders
PSIP	Program and System Information Protocol – method used to transport program metadata such as: sub channels, program guide, and content ratings
S-Video	Separate Video – Variation of composite video that separates luminance (black and white) from chrominance (color) to enhance video quality
Services	A/V program content with the associated metadata
SMPTE	Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers – creates numerous technical standards
STB	Set top box - device used to make programming available to customers
Storyboard	Sequence of video frames to assist visualization
VANC	Vertical ANCillary data space in digital streams
W3C	World Wide Web Consortium - sets standards to advance use of the world wide web
XDS	Extended Data Services – analog NTSC metadata