Qligent Simplifies TV Monitoring For Philadelphia-Area PBS Station

WLVT-DT turns to on-premises Qligent Point system to monitor IP, ASI and RF streams, providing immediate value within file-based workflow

Qligent, a specialist in cloud-based, enterprise-level media monitoring and analysis, has streamlined the monitoring workflow for WLVT-DT, a PBS television station serving eastern Pennsylvania—including the cities of Philadelphia and Reading —and western New Jersey. The transition to centralized, software-defined monitoring has quickly transformed WLVT’s master control operations and provided immediate value through accelerated problem resolution and compliance monitoring.

Since integrating a Qligent Point system, WLVT has consolidated important signal monitoring responsibilities to a single workstation, eliminating the labor-intensive and bulky approach of component-based legacy monitoring. The Qligent Point system adds value through consolidating compliance monitoring and recording, providing detailed information and insight into audio loudness, closed captioning, EAS transmission and other pertinent video, audio and data events.

“Qligent was easy to integrate and configure within our file-based workflow—we were up and running within 30 minutes—and now allows us to monitor and compare these signal formats on one machine,” said David Guerrero, chief operating officer, WLVT-DT. “Qligent simplifies what was traditionally a complex single monitoring workload. Now it’s easy for any operator, regardless of technical expertise, to quickly determine a signal problem and where it's coming from. We can also remotely analyze and troubleshoot from home or on mobile devices which makes this very powerful—that pays for itself 20 times over.”

Guerrero cites a novice operator’s quick identification of a recent signal performance issue experienced during a weekend as a testament to Qligent’s value. An important part of WLVT’s file-based workflow is its connectivity to PBS’ NRT system. WLVT operators noticed a problem with receiving certain incoming PBS feeds. Using Point, an operator quickly localized the issue to a mistuned satellite receiver five miles from the studio.

“We traced the problem back to the recordings we made in Point from that specific Earth terminal, and fixed the problem in 20 minutes,” adds Guerrero.

Guerrero notes that the move away from component-based legacy monitoring has returned valuable space to master control. The Point system eliminated an MPEG analyzer, audio analyzer, several video-centric monitors, and a port on WLVT’s multi-viewer network.

Qligent Point is a standalone version of Qligent’s flagship, cloud-based Vision platform for the monitoring, analysis and troubleshooting many co-located signals. Point delivers the same depth as Vision, with a focus on deep on-site monitoring, baseline performance and troubleshooting of intermittent issues through extensive trending and recording capabilities. Moving forward, Guerrero is considering an expansion of the system to monitor signals at the transmitter site as well as outgoing feeds to cable and satellite systems.

ABOUT Qligent
Qligent architects complete monitoring and visualization solutions for broadcasters, content distributors, ad agencies, regulators and network operators. Based in Melbourne, Florida, Qligent’s software-defined approach provides an open, vendor-agnostic platform to monitor performance, integrity and compliance of multiple signals, streams and systems across enterprises of any size. Its solutions provide the same consistent quality of content and service across multiple delivery platforms simultaneously.