TLS TVC-15 User manual

Broadcast Watermark Analyzer
& Monitor
Installation and Users Guide
For product P/N: 2001-00367
Soware Version 2.0
Manual V2.0 • January 2018
p/n 1490-00170-002

TVC-15 Installation and User’s Guide Version 2.0 • January 2018
TVC-15 Installation and Users Guide
© 2018 TLS Corp. All rights reserved.
About 25-Seven Systems®
25-Seven Systems specializes in audio technologies and products that address the unique
problems of radio broadcasters, networks and content providers. The company was launched
in 2004 by a group of veteran broadcasters with extensive audio experience and a significant
portfolio of intellectual property. 25-Seven joined The Telos Alliance® in 2012. Its products are
designed and built in the United States.
NOTICES AND CAUTIONS
The installation and service instructions in this manual are for use by qualified personnel only.
To avoid electric shock, do not perform any servicing other than that contained in the operating
instructions unless you are qualified to do so. Refer all servicing to qualified personnel
This instrument has an autoranging line voltage input. Ensure the power voltage is within the
specified range of 100-240v. The ~ symbol, if used, indicates an alternating current supply.
This symbol, wherever it appears, alerts you to the presence of uninsulated, dangerous
voltage inside the enclosure – voltage which may be sufficient to constitute a risk of
shock.
This symbol, wherever it appears, alerts you to important operating and maintenance
instructions.
CAUTION: HAZARDOUS VOLTAGES
The instrument power supply incorporates an internal fuse. Hazardous voltages may still be
present on some of the primary parts even when the fuse has blown. If fuse replacement is
required, replace fuse only with same type and value for continued protection against fire.

TVC-15 Installation and User’s Guide Version 2.0 • January 2018
WARNING:
The product’s power cord is the primary disconnect device. The socket outlet should be
located near the device and easily accessible. The unit should not be located such that
access to the power cord is impaired. If the unit is incorporated into an equipment rack, an
easily accessible safety disconnect device should be included in the rack design.
To reduce the risk of electrical shock, do not expose this product to rain or moisture. This
unit is for indoor use only.
This equipment requires the free flow of air for adequate cooling. Do not block the
ventilation openings on the rear and sides of the unit. Failure to allow proper ventilation
could damage the unit or create a fire hazard. Do not place the units on a carpet, bedding, or
other materials that could interfere with any panel ventilation openings.
If the equipment is used in a manner not specified by the manufacturer, the protection
provided by the equipment may be impaired.
“USA CLASS A COMPUTING DEVICE”INFORMATION TO USER WARNING:
This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio-frequency energy. If it is not installed
and used as directed by this manual, it may cause interference to radio communication.
This equipment complies with the limits for a Class A computing device, as specified by
FCC rules, part 15, subpart j, which are designed to provide reasonable protection against
such interference when this type of equipment is operated in a commercial environment.
Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause interference. If it
does, the user will be required to eliminate the interference at the user’s expense. Note:
objectionable interference to TV or radio reception can occur if other devices are connected
to this device without the use of shielded interconnect cables. FCC rules require the use of
shielded cables.
CANADA WARNING:
“This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class A limits for radio noise emissions set out
in the radio interference regulations of the Canadian department of communications.”
“Le présent appareil numérique n’émet pas de bruits radioélectriques dépassant les limites
applicables aux appareils numériques (de Class A) prescrites dans le règlement sur le
brouillage radioélectrique édicté par le ministère des communications du Canada.”
CE CONFORMANCE INFORMATION:
This device complies with the requirements of the EEC council directives:
n93/68/EEC (CE MARKING)
n73/23/EEC (SAFETY – LOW VOLTAGE DIRECTIVE)
n89/336/EEC (ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY)
Conformity is declared to those standards: EN50081-1, EN50082-1.

TVC-15 Installation and User’s Guide Version 2.0 • January 2018
Trademarks and Licenses
TVC-15, Voltair, and 25-Seven are trademarks of TLS Corp. All other trademarks are the
property of their respective holders.
All versions, claims of compatibility, trademarks, etc. of hardware and soware products
not made by 25-Seven which are mentioned in this manual or accompanying material are
informational only. 25-Seven makes no endorsement of any particular product for any
purpose, nor claims any responsibility for operation or accuracy. We reserve the right to
make improvements or changes in the products described in this manual which may affect
the product specifications, or to revise the manual without notice.
This document and its content are copyrighted by 25-Seven and TLS Corporation and
may not be copied, reproduced, or distributed in any form without expressed wrien
permission.
Certain libraries are licensed to You under the terms of the GNU General Public License,
Version 2 (“GNU GPL”). Telos is not allowed to sub-license these libraries to You as You are
deemed to have Your own direct license from the original licensee. Telos does not modify
these libraries in any way. Telos hereby offers to You, upon Your request and for the actual
costs of materials and shipping, all source code and object code files for all such GNU
libraries contained in the Soware. Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Soware Foundation, Inc.,
59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA. Everyone is permied to copy and
distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
Updates
Features and operations of TVC-15 are determined largely by soware. 25-Seven Systems
strives to provide the most stable and feature-rich soware available. We encourage you to
check for soware updates from time to time by visiting our website or by contacting us
directly.
Feedback
We welcome feedback on any aspect of our products or this manual. In the past, many
good ideas from users have made their way into soware revisions or new products. Please
contact us with your comments or suggestions.

TVC-15 Installation and User’s Guide Version 2.0 • January 2018
We support you…
By Phone/Fax
You may reach our 24/7 Support Team in emergencies by calling [phone]. For billing
questions or other non-emergency technical questions, call [phone] between 9:00 AM
to 5:00 PM USA Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.
By Email
Non-emergency technical support is available at [e-mail].
By Web
The 25-Seven Web site has a variety of information that may be useful for product selection
and support. The URL is hp://www.Telosalliance.com/25-Seven
SERVICE
You must contact Telos Alliance before returning any equipment for factory service. We
will need your unit’s serial number, located on the back of the unit. We will issue a return
authorization number, which must be wrien on the exterior of your shipping container.
Please do not include cables or accessories unless specifically requested by the Technical
Support Engineer. Be sure to adequately insure your shipment for its replacement value.
Packages without proper authorization may be refused. US customers, please contact
25-Seven Technical Support at [phone]. All other customers should contact local
representative to make arrangements for service.
WARRANTY
REGISTER YOUR PRODUCT
Telos Alliance Radio Division has an industry-leading five-year warranty.
As a company, we are commited to our products and the pursuit of
providing beer quality to our customers.
Find the Warranty online at www.telosalliance.com/warranty.
25-Seven Systems | The Telos Alliance
1241 Superior Ave. Cleveland, OH 44114 USA
[phone] | [e-mail]
[phone] (24/7 technical support)

VI | TABLE OF CONTENTS
TVC-15 Installation and User’s Guide Version 2.0 • January 2018
Table of Contents
Background and Overview ....................................................................1
Electronic Measurement and Your Ratings...................................................................... 1
How Watermarking works................................................................................................. 1
TVC-15 Benefits.................................................................................................................... 3
About 25-Seven, Watermarking, and You.........................................................................6
Benefiting From TVC-15...................................................................................................... 7
Monitoring & Analysis of Station Encoding ....................................................................7
Controlling Voltair Enhancement in Real-time ...............................................................9
TVC-15 Operator Features ................................................................................................ 10
INSTANT GRATIFICATION .....................................................................17
TVC-15 Quick Hookup Guide .............................................................................................17
TVC-15 Operation................................................................................21
Front Panel Controls..........................................................................................................21
LCD Screen ......................................................................................................................... 22
Jog wheel and Escape buon ........................................................................................... 23
TVC’s Function Screens .................................................................................................... 23
Main Screen ....................................................................................................................... 24
System Screen.................................................................................................................... 24
Network Screen ................................................................................................................ 27

TABLE OF CONTENTS | VII
TVC-15 Installation and User’s Guide Version 2.0 • January 2018
Clock Screen ...................................................................................................................... 29
Adaptive Enhancement screen........................................................................................30
Status Screen ......................................................................................................................31
Adaptive Enhancement [AE] ...............................................................33
Use TVC-15 with your Voltair for optimum watermark enhancement....................... 33
How Adaptive Enhancement “thinks” ............................................................................ 35
AE Signal Path ................................................................................................................... 36
TVC-15’s Adaptive Enhancement Screen........................................................................ 38
Browser-Based Remote Control...........................................................46
Logging in .......................................................................................................................... 47
Functions and Access Levels............................................................................................48
Additional Control Functions..........................................................................................49
Installation .........................................................................................53
Rear panel connections..................................................................................................... 53
Troubleshooting and Updates .............................................................55
Technical Specications.......................................................................56
Warranty.............................................................................................57

BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW | 1
TVC-15 Installation and User’s Guide Version 2.0 • January 2018
Background and Overview
Electronic Measurement and Your Ratings
Broadcasting is a numbers business. Your success depends on what kind of audience you
aract and hold. Audience size and composition is measured primarily by reports from
private ratings agencies, and for most broadcasters, there’s a direct link between those
reports and a station’s revenue.
How Watermarking works
Ratings agencies base these reports on listener panels, where each panelist represents
many people in a market. In electronically measured markets such as the top 48 markets in
the USA, panelists wear portable devices called meters. These meters register unique digital
codes broadcast by each cooperating station. Thousands of these codes can be created in
the course of an hour. In theory, whenever a panelist hears a station—on their car or home
receivers, in a store or restaurant, or even from the next cubicle—the meter hears the
station’s code, and the ratings system registers the listening.
The codes themselves sound something like a fax signal, and aren’t pleasant to the ear… so
they’re deliberately ‘masked’ under louder sounds in the programming, in a process called
watermarking. Masking is a psychoacoustic phenomenon that keeps us from hearing
certain combinations of sounds, even though electronic meters can still detect them. But
there are more than a hundred possible digital code symbols used by the meter based
system, and each requires slightly different characteristics in the masking sound.
A proprietary watermarking encoder provided by the ratings agency sits in your air chain,
and looks for masking opportunities where it can embed hidden codes. When it hears a
potential mask for a current digital code symbol, it generates the symbol and mixes it with
the programming. Unfortunately, masks are evanescent, appearing and disappearing as
your content changes… sometimes, many times per second. So the number of codes you can
broadcast is also constantly changing, depending on your programming. Some content is a
lot beer at supporting watermarks than others. Silence doesn’t support them at all.
nGot a talk show with a musical introduction? Chances are the intro will have more
encoding opportunities than the talk.
nRunning a sports show or drama? Scenes with just play-by-play or dialog probably
won’t be encoded as well as those with crowds or other busy backgrounds.
nPlaying a commercial or promo? Our research indicates a sung jingle usually encodes
beer than a dry voice-over… even though the spoken words might be more important
to the selling message.

2| BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW
TVC-15 Installation and User’s Guide Version 2.0 • January 2018
Furthermore, masking requires the code symbol to be significantly soer than the masking
audio. As your content gets soer, the encoding hardware has to make the codes soer.
Environmental noise around the listener can interfere with those soer codes, even if
your listeners don’t mind the noise: Humans are very good at tracking meaningful voice
or music in a noisy environment. Meters, unfortunately, aren’t as smart: It’s possible that
a watermark signal, sent by the encoder at levels where it wouldn’t be annoying in a quiet
environment, doesn’t get detected by panelists’ meters in the real, noisy world.
Bottom line
The viability of your station’s watermarks is constantly varying, depending on your
programming, the panelists’ environments, and other variables. Changes can happen as
quickly as individual syllables in an announcer’s voice, or traffic noises on the highway.
Having good tools—ones that help you understand the entire electronic measurement
ecosystem—is essential to your station’s competitive picture.
What can be done?
25-Seven put years of research and testing into the technical issues with watermarking,
and our groundbreaking Voltair processor works with your station’s encoder to enhance
watermarking codes as they’re being generated. Voltair’s enhancement can be varied
by the station to accommodate different programming styles, and controlled by station
automation for different dayparts.
Many stations have found Voltair effective to help make their electronically derived ratings
a beer match for the audiences they know they’ve got, and more reliable during hard-to-
encode programming.
But to really manage this kind of problem, you have to be able to quantify it.
Both Voltair and hardware provided by ratings agencies include ways to measure how
encodable a program stream is. Voltair’s can be particularly helpful, with a minute-by-
minute front panel display of code reliability, techniques to reduce randomness when
calibrating Enhancement seings against ratings reports, and optional downloadable
history reports and Excel graphs of a station’s coding activity.
But neither system can give you moment-by-moment measurements of how well each
element in your programming supports watermarks.
And neither system takes this information to the next level, actually adjusting
enhancement levels in real-time to compensate for the wide variety of sounds that keep a
radio station interesting.
You need to understand the entire electronic rating system. You need tools that can quickly
and precisely measure how it works. And you need efficient ways to apply this knowledge
so it can optimize your station’s product.
That’s why we developed TVC-15.