IP Video Stream Analysis and Monitoring - TSM100

A versatile system for monitoring IP video streams

The Mividi TSM100 is an MEPG transport stream analyzer and IP video monitoring system for monitoring the quality of digital video services (QoS) delivered via IP or ASI interfaces. It can simultaneously monitor up to 300 services and perform deep MPEG analysis and video quality check 24 x 7. The system can be used for analyzing MPEG-2, H.264 and HEVC programs delivered over the Internet, as well as head-end equipment that uses IP for video transmission. The TSM100 provides IP layer analysis, MPEG transport layer analysis, key frame decoding, audio loudness measurement and service profiling. The system receives IP encapsulated digital audio and video data via 1 Gbits or 10Gbits Network adaptor. It will monitor all media flows in the network, perform extensive tests on standard compliance and user profile matching, and generate alarms when TS, video or audio errors occur.

The Mividi TSM100 supports DVB and ATSC broadcast standards, supports MPEG-2, H.264 (AVC), HEVC and video formats, as well as commonly used audio formats including MP3, AAC, AAC+, AC3 etc. Additionally, it supports many different OTT video streaming protocols including HLS, MPEG-DASH, RTMP, RTSP, and MMS.

The monitoring system runs on Windows 7, 8, 10 or Windows Server 2008, 2012. It supports a number of error alarm capabilities for unattended monitoring. An optional web server can be used to connect to multiple monitoring servers in different locations for accessing test results and controlling the servers remotely via the Internet.

Comprehensive TS Analysis

The Mividi TSM100 provides comprehensive TS analysis for both DVB and ATSC streams. It supports MPEG-2, AVC, and HEVC video encoding formats, as well as commonly used audio formats including MP3, AAC, AAC plus, and AC3. It can also decode DVB SI and ATSC PSIP metadata tables and perform standard compliance checks on these data.

The system performs detailed TS error checks based on DVB test guideline TR 101 290 and reports all three priority level errors. It analyzes transport stream program structure, measures PID bitrate, performs PCR, and buffer analysis, detects any black and frozen frames, and monitors missing audio and video element streams.

Using the results of streaming analysis, the system will calculate a single value to represent the quality of video streams. Users can easily set an alarm trigger based on the value of overall stream quality.

Error Logs and Alarms

The TSM100 system detects errors on three layers:

• IP transport layer errors
• MPEG transport stream layer errors
• Video and audio data errors

All detected errors are saved in database files. Errors can be exported in text format, and reports can be generated for error summary and trend analysis.

The system provides multiple ways of sending error alarms, including email, SMS, audio sound and SNMP traps. The alarms can be triggered by errors selected by users, such as loss of input, audio or video components, black or frozen frames, 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.

UDP Stream IP Layer Analysis

Media Delivery Index (MDI)

The Mividi TSM100 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 TSM100 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 TSM100 monitors HLS by downloading media segment files as an HTTP client. 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.

DASH Analysis

The Mividi TSM100 monitors MPEG-DASH streams by downloading media files and decoding video, audio and subtitle streams as a client.

• Parse Media Presentation Description (MPD) files and perform basic syntax analysis;
• Automatically perform analysis on all media components listed in the MPD files;
• Measure segment file downloading time, compare the downloading time to media time to check video delay;
• Continuously decode all media segments, including video, audio and subtitles and monitor for decoding, frame and subtitle errors;

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: A number of errors can trigger stream recording. The recording length and the number of recordings by repetitive error can be pre-configured.
• Manually started recording.

All media are recorded in transport stream format. A remote user interface for managing recorded files is provided for playing recorded files, searching specific recordings, and cleaning the hard disks. Additionally, the system may be linked to a file storage server in order to support high bandwidth data recording.

The TSM100 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 TSM100 supports SNMP trap and query. It can send error alarms and computer status via SNMP trap and support SNMP query for transport stream information. An SNMP MIB is included in the TSM100 software installation. In addition, a C# based API with full access to analysis data is also available.

References

• ETSI TR 101 290 Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Measurement Guidelines for DVB Systems
• Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Specification for Service Information (SI) in DVB systems
• ATSC Recommended Practice: Transport Stream Verification
• AMERICAN NATIONAL STANDARD ANSI/SCTE 168-6 2010 Recommended Practice for Monitoring Multimedia Distribution Quality
• A Proposed Media Delivery Index (MDI)