As broadcasters continue the transition to digital, the television production process is increasingly conducted in an all-digital domain — from the initial camera shot to the display in the consumer’s living room. Compressed digital content is stored as large media files on server networks and produced in a wide variety of file formats, standards and compression algorithms. In such a demanding, fluid environment, quality control operators are under more pressure than ever to guarantee the integrity of digital files before playout and ensure content is reaching viewers in top quality.

QuiC™ Media Analysis Server is a fully automated, file-based test and measurement server platform that verifies the quality of compressed digital content. With QuiC, broadcasters have a more efficient, consistent and cost-effective method of analyzing a long list of parameters in many different formats — before the content is distributed.

Unmatched Speed, Flexibility and Reliability
The use of compression technology to maximize file storage space and reduce broadcast bandwidth requirements has created a challenging, budget-busting nightmare for quality control departments. Today, quality control personnel must screen all program content in real time. However, quality control operators are not infallible and have varying skill levels — sooner or later, critical content errors will be missed. QuiC eliminates the potential for human error or oversight, as it can automatically detect, report and repair audio and video content files within the server network without human intervention, providing measurable, improved quality standards.

Unique in the marketplace, QuiC uses the Microsoft Windows® XP operating system in conjunction with dedicated measurement hardware modules to perform the processing of the files — faster than real time. And, since the quality control process progresses so fast, broadcasters have tremendous flexibility in managing their digital assets.

With QuiC, the content verification process can be initiated manually via the intuitive graphical user interface (GUI), or QuiC can be set to automatically process files by time or position in the queue. For example, the system can be configured to immediately test any new media file that enters the network, whether via ingest or transfer.

Scalability through optional parallel processing (QuiC MA 1100 SLV) allows QuiC to meet any network’s quality control requirements by reducing throughput time; for example, 10 hours of content could be processed in only two and half hours.

Well-suited for Variety of Environments
QuiC is designed for use in any workflow environment, from production to broadcast operations to satellite and cable distribution networks.

QuiC is installed via a Gigabit Ethernet interface on your server network, and files to be tested are copied to the QuiC server via standard FTP (File Transfer Protocol). When used at ingest, audio and video content files can be delivered to a folder or a “drop box”, which creates an analysis queue. Controls are provided to modify file priorities within the analysis queue. QuiC accepts mixed HD and SD content without the need for conversion or reconfiguration.

Harris’ NEXIO™ server provides a flag that allows a file to be placed automatically in the analysis queue upon ingest or change (edit). This automated functionality enables a means for unattended queing of files to QuiC, greatly increasing the system’s usefulness.

Following analysis of a media file, QuiC tracks the file’s status and creates a database of test results along with any changes made to the file. This information is then encapsulated in the header of the file’s MXF wrapper. This information can be read in an easy-to-understand summary screen by extracting data from the MXF at any time. When used with a Harris NEXIO™ server, the file header is flagged with a “Ready for Air” or “Not Ready for Air.”

In addition to the file manager summaries, QuiC also presents information in intuitive displays such as “QuiC Check” which provides a summary of overall file performance, “QuiC Status”, which is a list of files ready for air, as well as user comments for each alarm that provide insights for editors as they repair faulty clips.

File Correction - Not Just Analysis
QuiC Media Analysis Server, not only performs Quality Control analysis, and reports alarms, it can also repair identified defects, found during the Quality Control analysis process. By utilizing hardware-based legalizer technology, QuiC Media Analysis corrects out-of-spec baseband audio and video content, without requiring the file to be returned to the content provider for re-editing.

The Advanced View Stations provide traditional test and measurement views of waveform, vector displays and include an audio level meter, gamut and picture display all on one monitor screen. Operators are able to access files from the mass storage servers and the file content can be copied to QuiC - where it can easily be viewed and controlled through a convenient Scrub controller. Alarmed frames are referenced to time code which is displayed on a time line. The Advanced View Station provides full resolution decoded video and high quality audio outputs for the operator’s critical evaluation, including closed captioning support.

Broadcasters can conveniently Quality Control all commercial spots during ingest, reducing lost revenue due to “make goods”. Operating faster than real time, even rush jobs can be Quality Controlled prior to air.

Future-Proofed Scalability
The QuiC server system hardware is highly scalable, and additional servers can be added to the primary system to increase analysis throughput times. Two kinds of View Stations are provided. The View Station is created with software, allowing a remote view of the primary QuiC server’s database. The Advanced View Station option can also be added to provide traditional views of waveform, vector, audio level meter, gamut and picture display — all on one display device. Additionally, the View Stations provide decoded, uncompressed serial digital video and audio outputs of the file content, allowing for signal comparison and further monitoring.

The multi-box feature allows QUIC to provide analysis from external drop boxes (folders) provided in any server network that permits Windows® compatible folders. This enhancement provides a configuration wizard which can create rules for external drop folders. Rules include default analysis profiles and priorities per folder. Profile association allows individual folders to be used to analyze files to specific criteria. For example, one folder may be used for ad content which is analyzed for detailed loudness and video parameters, while another folder may be used for news content that only needs to be checked for encoding artifacts and presence of color-bar, freezes or black frames during program. You can build new workflows using QUIC's multi-box feature. You can move files from the "failed out box" of one analyzer to an "auto-correct" inbox of a second analyzer automatically without 3rd party media handler intervention. This feature allows QUIC to automatically analyze, report the results of passed content, and move the files to a correction server that may correct video level, audio level or loudness attributes of the content without manual intervention. Corrected QUIC files can now be moved to any designated outbox with or without the .QUIC extension in order to be compatible with common traffic and automation systems.