Tektronix, Inc. released Spectra2|VQM (Video Quality Measurement) monitoring solution for the diagnosis and analysis of streaming video transmitted over Internet Protocol (IP).

Spectra2|VQM is the first portable monitoring solution with support for multiple-level Quality of Service (QoS) scores and video industry standard, non-proprietary Forward Error Correction (FEC) analysis that carriers and cable networks can use in the emerging video over IP opportunity.

Spectra2|VQM monitors video streams transported over RTP and MPEG2-TS (transport stream) protocols and supports measurement of multiple concurrent standard-definition (SD) video streams as well as high-definition (HD) video streams. Users can identify the causes of poor digital image quality, such as packet loss, delay or data corruption in the IP transport network. They are able to generate real-time video streaming quality metrics such as presence, accuracy and objective Mean Opinion Scores (MOS) that they can use to diagnose a range of video-related problems at the IP, transport, and content levels. The availability of MOS QoS measurements based on transport and actual uncompressed video content allows users to correlate QoS at both the transport and content levels.

“Network operators can verify that subscribers are receiving what they request, when they requested it and at acceptable quality, by continuously monitoring video transport and content on user-selectable channels,” said Richard Kenedi, Senior Director, Diagnostics, Communications Business, Tektronix.

Spectra2|VQM supports both CoP-R3 and RFC 2733, video industry FEC analysis standards and can perform and analyze FEC algorithms, a technique for improving the reliability of packet transmission over networks which do not provide guaranteed packet delivery. The software can detect codec over-compression and incorrectly configured FEC for fine-tuning bandwidth versus quality. Users can detect perceived video image quality in real time or historically for individual video streams so that they can develop systems and services that match the visual quality that viewers have come to expect from traditional television broadcasts.