The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) seeks to gain an understanding of the methodologies and technologies available to measure audio and video signal quality. This would allow public broadcasting to establish a baseline quality measurement, specifically for public broadcasting stations’ ATSC 1.0 audio and video signals that are hosted by third parties in NextGen TV agreements. Additionally, it would ensure signal quality for public broadcasting viewers across the United States.
FAQ Topic:
General
FAQ:
Will CPB require MPEG-2 transport stream quality and/or decodability measurements?
Please refer to the answer relating to encoder monitoring.
Would CPB like to monitor the performance of the MPEG statistical multiplexer sourcing ATSC 1.0 transport streams?
Please refer to the answer relating to encoder monitoring.
Does CPB plan to monitor encoder audio/video compression quality?
CPB does not plan on any specific solutions or components to be used currently. CPB’s aim is to gain understanding of the methodologies and technologies available to measure audio and video signal of ATSC 1.0 in a hosted environment to subsequently establish a baseline quality measurement. Our expectation is that the vendors will provide relevant suggestions and information.
Can CPB provide a more specific description of the signal path that will be used to broadcast PBS streams through third parties?
CPB cannot provide more details.
Can CPB describe more specifically how ATSC 1.0 audio/video signals will be hosted by third parties?
To better acquaint yourself with possible scenarios, please refer to publication FCC 17-158 on the FCC website and the Phoenix Host Station Manual that can be downloaded from atsc.org.
What sort of ongoing service would be required to maintain these systems and continually deliver the necessary reporting?
Responses to RFI will help us evaluate that, if relevant.
Is the resulting transmission to be analyzed for encoding quality and program feed glitches or simply the bandwidth and RF measurements?
All are under consideration since we are looking to understand methodologies and technologies available to measure ATSC 1.0 signal quality hosted by third party in NextGen TV agreement.
Is the main characteristic the digital bandwidth allocation or are RF measurements and compliance a concern as well?
The main concern is the ATSC 1.0 audio and video signal that is hosted by third party in NextGen TV agreement.
Is the CPB looking for a hardware- and software-based solution only or would the proposal include staffing an engagement to monitor, report, and correct any issues detected?
From the RFI announcement, CPB is looking to gain an understanding of the methodologies and technologies available to measure audio and video signal quality. Therefore, hardware/software-based solutions are one of the two main components of what we are looking for. Staffing is not considered in this RFI.