The Sentry Edge II video quality monitor targets the post-QAM edge of the video network, just before content is sent to subscriber homes. The unit's price, Tektronix says, will allow service providers to buy enough units to effectively monitor the network edge. This ability to monitor QoE is something operators continue to strive toward. Or as one Diamonds judge said, "The closer we get to measuring the customer experience, the better we are."
The Sentry Edge II offers high value QAM monitoring with a four-tuner and an eight-tuner model, both of which have a 1RU footprint. The latter can be managed as a single group of tuners or as two groups of four tuners each. Different sources can be monitored concurrently. For example, two QAM tuners can be parked on channels to investigate a problem, and the remaining six can round robin monitor the rest of the QAMs.Visibility stretches into the transport stream to detect quality by looking for transport stream and RF modulation errors (MER, BER, signal level, RF lock, EVM and constellation) at the edge of the network. In addition, the Sentry Edge II offers what Tektronix terms comprehensive RF measurements, which provide more information for troubleshooting and "exceptionally high" MER accuracy. The higher the MER number, the more quickly a problem can be identified.www.tek.comSee them at Cable-Tec EXPO, Booth 537Return to the BTR Diamond Technology Reviews Elite.
