Loudness

Measure, Monitor, and Manage Loudness with Volicon

It is more important than ever that TV broadcasters, including all standard, cable, and satellite providers monitor loudness in real time as well as provide an affidavit of compliance for their local ad insertions and embedded commercials. Volicon’s expertise in 24x7 recording and innovative features provides proof of compliance with CALM and other regulations.

Featuring intuitive overlay controls within its Web-based interface, the Loudness module allows operators to maintain continuous measurements that identify program loudness and loudness range. Loudness measurements, combined with robust logging that automatically stores loudness metadata, allows users to quickly demonstrate compliance through as-run logs of all the ads aired, as well as key loudness data for those ads. The powerful combination of loudness measurement and logging easily demonstrates compliance with loudness standards.

The Volicon system measures momentary, short-term, and integrated measurements, with adjustable short-form (e.g., 10, 15, 30, 60 seconds) and long-form (days) time frames that make it easy to compare the ad loudness to surrounding content. In the event of a complaint, the Observer Loudness module enables users to quickly view and export the suspect ads A/V affidavits with audio, video, and frame-accurate loudness measurements burned in, facilitating fast resolution of loudness complaints. The system’s fully compliant integrated loudness monitoring not only simplifies the overall monitoring workflow, but also adds value by eliminating the hassle and cost of working with external systems.

With the web-based workflow to monitor and review ad loudness ranges, along with a recorded and exportable A/V affidavit with frame-accurate measurements, the Observer Loudness module enables broadcasters, satellite and cable operators to monitor, troubleshoot and address any loudness complaints quickly and efficiently. By combining the logger, graphing, and A/V viewing with the measurements, operators can quickly diagnose loudness discrepancies, reduce operational costs through quick identification and troubleshooting, avoid costly fines, deter viewer complaints, and provide an overall better quality of experience for viewers.

Fully compliant BS.1770, ATSC A/85, AGCOM and EBU loudness monitoring is available for all for Observer models (analog, SD/HD-SDI and transport stream) and does not require additional hardware or integration with third-party solutions. The Observer® systems are fully compliant with the industry’s latest loudness recommendations and regulations including the newly released SCTE “spot check” (SCTE 197) loudness measurement recommendation and the FCC’s newly revised ATSC A/85 recommended practice. With simultaneous 5.1 and 5.1 downmix measurements, BS.1770-3 compatibility, program log integration, dialog (anchor element) detection and loudness measurement, as well as integrated measurement A/V burn-in, the Observer allows the operator to perform spot checks easily and ensures full compliance with the new ATSC A/85 RP.

Compliance Specifications: