EtherGuide Ferret
Transport Stream Validation, Monitoring & Logging
To transmit perfect video, audio and data alongside broadcast metadata that describes content and aids in demodulation, digital broadcasters need to keep in mind a, well mind-boggling list of standards and recommendations published by MPEG, ATSC, DVB, CEA, SMPTE and SCTE.
Once the standards and recommendations have been mastered, the choices for measuring compliance are stark. One can license one of several inexpensive 'hackers tools' such as TS Reader, purchase an expensive MPEG-2 packet analyzer that is only truly loved by a PhDs working alone in a cluttered lab, or perhaps an intermediate but still expensive tool that throbs and pulses displays that confuse and hypnotize more often than they inform.
EtherGuide Ferret performs the complicated task of validating and monitoring elementary streams and broadcast metadata so that any person at a digital TV station at a glance from across the room can determine the real-time status. So as to not confuse or distract operators with false alarms, EtherGuide Ferret's displays only update once per second but display status over the previous 60 seconds.
Once an issue has been identified, engineers and technicians can drill down quickly to 'ferret' out the details. With a user interface remarkably similar to that of EtherGuide Emissary, issues and errors are clearly displayed and the errors clearly labeled with references to the sections of the actual standards that have been violated.
Words almost fail here. Let's say that Event Information tables -- which are required by FCC regulations -- are missing in the transport stream. Here is how that condition is signaled by EtherGuide Ferret:
By referring to this display one can determine at a glance how much of the total bits permitted for PSI and PSIP tables is being utilized:
If Event Information tables were missing, the EIT bar would be flashing full scale in red. This particular display can accommodate conditional access tables, and the PSIP-E (enhanced PSIP) for Enhanced VSB transmissions. | 
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| This display shows that over the previous 60 seconds, the quota for Extended Text tables was exceeded frequently. With a click of the mouse, this display will show a histogram for the MPEG-2 Program Association Table, Program Map table(s), and if present, the Conditional Access table(s). Also indicated is the minimum, average and maximum number of bits per second over the previous 60 seconds for each type of table section. |
These displays are only a few regions of one screen -- the main display screen -- of EtherGuide Ferret.
More than a pretty (inter) face
Were EtherGuide Ferret just a fancy real-time monitoring device, it would have earned a dedicated display monitor in a control room. EtherGuide Ferret's capabilities go well beyond the handu user interface.
Tested standards
EtherGuide Ferret tests transport streams in real time for internal consistency and compliance with the following standards:
- ATSC A52c -- Digital Audio Compression (AC-3)
- ATSC A53c -- Digital Television Standard
- ATSC A57a -- Content Identification and Labeling for ATSC
Transport
- ATSC A/65 -- Program and System Information Protocol for
Terrestrial Broadcast and Cable
- ATSC A/81 -- Direct-to-Home Satellite Broadcast Standard
- CEA-608 -- Line 21 Data Service
- CEA-708 -- Digital Television (DTV) Closed
Captioning
- MPEG-2 (ISO/IEC 13818-1) -- Generic Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio: Systems
- MPEG-2 (ISO/IEC 13818-2) -- Generic Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio: Video
- ISO-20925 -- International Serial Audio-Visual Number (ISAN)/Version Specific International Serial Audio-Visual Number (V-ISAN)
EtherGuide Ferret is the first ATSC-centric real-time transport stream validation, monitoring and logging system that harnesses the agility of the Programming Metadata Communications Protocol (PMCP) with the ATSC A/78 Transport Stream Validation recommended practice to transmit transport stream status to other devices in the transport chain.
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