38 Sunday 09.09.2012


theibcdaily


Managing customer experience in a multiscreen environment


Embrace an IP video monitoring strategy to successfully manage the complexities of OTT and multiscreen, urges Huw Price-Stephens, strategy & business EMEA, Mariner


Many IPTV operators have inadequate tools to effectively monitor their service environment and deliver the highest possible QoE to subscribers’ television screens. Yet technology isn’t slowing down. Today’s consumers are increasingly demanding video content on a growing number of IP-connected devices, including smartphones, tablets, and PCs.


This makes it critical for IPTV service operators to find a reliable service monitoring strategy that allows them to manage IPTV regardless of device or network and make TV service a point of competitive differentiation while delivering superior, realtime customer care.


While monitoring multiscreen services primarily entails managing a rigorous and complex set of content delivery requirements, connected devices continue to increase in diversity and functionality, and


tablets are defining a new consumer expectation for high-quality content on second screens.


This means that not only do service operators need to take into account the plethora of viewing platforms, network types, content formats,


Opinion


encapsulation strategies, and bitrates involved in delivering and monitoring multiscreen services, but they must also increasingly ensure that subscribers are receiving the clearest quality video content across all devices. At Mariner, we believe the sooner an operator adopts an effective IP video monitoring solution, the better equipped they will be to handle the exploding complexities of value- added services like multiscreen and OTT. An effective


monitoring solution is increasingly regarded as desirable and valuable in a traditional IPTV environment, but it becomes absolutely essential as the domain of IPTV, multiscreen and OTT becomes more blurred. As the environments converge and consumer expectations increase regarding reliability, quality and functionality, the variety of technologies and techniques employed creates an even greater need for a holistic approach to monitoring across all IP video services.


By embracing a unified IP video monitoring solution for an increasingly complex service domain, operators reduce operational costs by dramatically increasing the effectiveness of the support infrastructure needed to manage these services. In addition, monitoring can allow optimisation of the quality and consistency of experience for


Huw Price-Stephens: ‘Deep experience in the IPTV world’


subscribers on any device, greatly increasing subscriber satisfaction and reducing QoE- related churn.


By measuring video quality


across multiple devices and networks, today’s IPTV


monitoring solutions provide operators with a realtime depiction of service quality issues from the edge of the network, enabling them to more adequately handle multiscreen service deployment. Armed with greater visibility, operators can quickly and proactively respond to service quality issues to ensure a reliable user experience across all devices. Mariner offers deep


experience in the IPTV world, with its founders having launched the world’s first commercial IPTV deployment in 1999. At IBC2012, Mariner will demonstrate a comprehensive range of performance monitoring and video analytics solutions, including our end-to-end Mariner xVu service assurance platform designed to


successfully manage any IPTV service regardless of the device or network. 14.521


70 million viewers use intelligent recommendation capability


ThinkAnalytics By Ian McMurray


With over 70 million licensed viewers in 16 countries, ThinkAnalytics’ claim that it is the world’s most widely deployed multiplatform television search and recommendations engine is certainly a credible one. According to the company, 20 of the largest service providers in the


world – including SkyB, Virgin Media, ITV, Telenet and UnityMedia – rely on its technology to deliver intelligent search and recommendations from live TV, EPG, VoD and OTT content. Viewers access personalised recommendations on STBs, web and second screens, including tablets, smart phones and Smart TVs. The ThinkAnalytics Recommendations Engine


includes what the company says is the industry’s most comprehensive intelligent search and recommendations platform, incorporating multiple automated techniques that go beyond collaborative filtering for advanced personalisation. The


company says that it was the first to include live TV programming recommendations across multiplatforms including STB,


Best batch (correction) yet?


Nugen Audio By David Davies


The LMB system from Nugen Audio is an offline file-based loudness analysis and correction programme designed for rapid assessment and correction of files for loudness and true peak content to ITU-R BS.


1770/1, ITU-R BS. 1770-02, and EBU R128-based specifications.


With a drag and drop interface and/or specific watched folders, LMB saves operator time by automatically handling the process of checking and conforming files to multiple broadcast criteria. LMB produces detailed post-mortem logs,


includes an in-built graphing facility, and can be fully integrated into an automated system using the optional command-line interface and XML file output logs. Also on display throughout ISE, LM-Correct is an audio suite plug-in designed to offer automatic loudness analysis and correction within Avid edit systems, including Media


second screens, including web, mobile, tablet, OTT and so on. Recommendations are available in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Turkish and other languages. “We can’t expect consumers to recognise value in programming that they don’t know exists,” said Peter Docherty, founder and chief technology officer, ThinkAnalytics. “Nor do we believe they should have to


Composer, Pro Tools and News Cutter.


The plug-in can be used as a one-stop solution for loudness correction, fixing audio that has not been mixed with loudness standards in mind, or in conjunction with a realtime loudness meter such as VisLM to ‘fine tune’ audio mixed to loudness requirements from the outset. LM-Correct can also be used as a final ‘back-stop’ processor, ensuring that


work so hard at getting better recommendations by filling out forms or relying on a ‘lean-forward’, web-type search. We are delivering discovery and recommendations that go way beyond techniques that simply deliver ‘people like you like this’. True personalisation, search and social recommendations are what we really deliver via Intelligent Navigation.” 1.D93


Versatile loudness analysis and correction with Nugen Audio’s LMB system


finished files are within specification and performing an in-place fix where errors are found. 8.D29


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