Real-Time Monitoring of 3 Gbps Video Content

24 October 2012 – Tektronix announced that the new 10 Gigabit interfaces of its upgraded Sentry and Sentry Verify make them the industry's first real-time video quality monitors capable of comprehensively monitoring up to 3 Gbps of video programming, enabling cable operators and other video service providers (VSP) to quickly identify and diagnose video and audio errors in the 10 Gigabit portions of their networks.

Before the addition of 10 Gigabit interfaces to Sentry and Sentry Verify, the only products suitable for 10 Gigabit networks offered very basic monitoring capabilities, such as noting packet loss, which by itself is not a reliable indicator of quality problems. In addition to combining 10 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces with the industry-leading ability to continuously monitor 3 Gbps of programming content, Sentry incorporates advanced Quality of Experience (QoE) monitoring capabilities that are complemented by Sentry Verify's Quality of Service (QoS) monitoring abilities. Individually or working as part of a comprehensive solution, Sentry and Sentry Verify give VSPs much greater insight into the content, enabling the identification and diagnosis of video and audio errors that can impact viewers' quality of QoE.

"These upgrades to Sentry and Sentry Verify are the latest examples of our listening to our customers and developing the specific solutions they need to ensure the best possible video and audio quality for their viewers," said Eben Jenkins, general manager, Video Product Line, Tektronix. "The advanced monitoring capabilities of Sentry and Sentry Verify provide cable operators and other VSPs with the unprecedented wealth of information they need to deliver digital video services with optimum quality on a 10 Gigabit network."

Sentry and Sentry Verify complement the other members of the growing Sentry family, enabling cable operators and other VSPs to comprehensively monitor the programming at all key points of their networks. From content ingestion, to transcoding and ad insertion, to multiplexing and QAM modulation, Tektronix Sentry family of content monitors enable service providers to identify subscriber-affecting video and audio errors at all critical points and steps in the video delivery process.

About Sentry

Sentry is an award-winning line of comprehensive content monitoring solutions for cable, telecom, IPTV and other video service providers. Sentry enables the early detection and diagnosis of video and audio issues (i.e., video freeze, macro-blocking, loss of audio, etc.) whenever or wherever they occur in the network, so service providers can deliver services with excellent quality, thus ensuring an optimal QoE for subscribers. Sentry accomplishes this insight through its unique combination of an unprecedented visibility into network anomalies at the IP and content layers, scalability to monitor every program in the network, and its real-time, 24/7 operation.