Please read the White Paper Copyright Notice

Download
WHP017 169 Kb

BBC R&D White Paper WHP017

All present and correct?
Monitoring the BBC's multi-channel digital TV services
R. Marsden, A. Lipscombe, N. Tanton, T. Ware, D. Woolley* and Y-X Zheng

*BBC Technology Limited

Keywords
digital television, digital text, DVB, monitoring

Abstract
When the BBC launched its digital services in 1998, it tripled the number of its public TV domestic channels and the number of delivery platforms it would be serving directly. It needed to install a means by which it could automatically and remotely monitor that it was delivering its digital content correctly. This paper describes monitoring facilities installed and under development that check the DVB transport streams for correct content as well as compliance with the Measurement Guidelines for DVB Systems published by ETSI as ETR290. The challenge of monitoring intermittent components such as DVB subtitles and Digital Text services is also considered, and a potential solution offered.

This document was originally published in the Conference Publication of the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC 2001) Amsterdam, 13-18 September 2001.