The playout PC's screen
SilDe reads the playout machine's screen, with an audio device of your choice. No extra hardware needed.
SilDe
STANDALONE
Know something is wrong before the first viewer calls.
SilDe watches and listens to what actually goes out, and raises the alarm on black, silence, a frozen picture or a lost signal. Part of Telvi, but just as usable on its own next to any other playout system.
- Watches forBlack, silence, freeze, signal loss
- SourcesScreen, capture card or stream
- Runs onWindows 10 or 11
- LinkTelvi Server, or standalone
What SilDe watches
Four ways a broadcast breaks.
A playout system showing green doesn't mean a picture is going out. SilDe measures the signal itself, so it also catches the failures that never raise an error.
01
Black
Measured on the average brightness, not the brightest point. A black picture with only the station bug or a timecode in the corner is still black, so it gets reported.
after 3 seconds by default02
Silence
Audio below an adjustable level, -50 dBFS by default. A pause in a conversation isn't a fault, so the alarm only goes off when the silence lasts.
after 5 seconds by default03
Frozen picture
Every frame is compared with the one before. To a viewer a frozen picture is as broken as black, but end credits or a test card may stay up for longer.
after 10 seconds by default, can be switched off04
Signal loss
When nothing comes in at all, that's something other than black. Black is a measurement; signal loss is the absence of one.
after 5 seconds by defaultSources
Watch what actually goes out.
Picture and sound are measured separately. If the audio drops while the picture carries on, you see exactly that, not just that something is wrong.
Capture card
A capture card or USB grabber reads back the real transmitted signal, after your switcher. That way you also catch a cable that's come loose. Any DirectShow source works.
Stream
Watch a stream over SRT, RTMP, HLS or UDP. SilDe always takes the latest frames, so you never look at a measurement from a minute ago.
No false alarms
Two timers per fault.
One black frame means nothing: there's always a moment of black between two items. So every fault has two timers: how long it has to last before the alarm goes off, and how long it has to be gone before the alarm clears.
That way a flaky source doesn't start blinking, and an alarm stays something people actually look at.
| Fault | Threshold | Alarm after |
|---|---|---|
| Black | brightness under 6%, at most 2% of the picture lit | 3 s |
| Silence | below -50 dBFS | 5 s |
| Frozen | less than 0.2% change per frame | 10 s |
| Signal lost | no measurement at all | 5 s |
Default values, all adjustable. After any fault the signal has to be good for 1 second before the alarm clears.
Unattended
Monitoring that restarts itself.
SilDe runs on a machine nobody is looking at. So it has to manage without anyone.
Starts with Windows
SilDe starts with Windows and resumes monitoring on its own after a power cut or a restart. Exactly the moment nobody thinks of it.
Alarms to Telvi Server
In a Telvi installation SilDe reports every alarm to Telvi Server, over a link secured with its own key. Telvi can then switch to a backup Player automatically. About Telvi
Next to any playout
SilDe also works on its own, as monitoring next to the playout system you already have. Available to buy or rent, with its own licence through My Evental.
Technical details
Light enough for any machine.
SilDe samples a handful of small frames per second. Enough to see a logo in the corner, light enough to run on the playout machine itself.
- Sources
- The playout PC's screen, a capture card or USB grabber (DirectShow), a stream over SRT, RTMP, HLS or UDP
- Measurement
- Picture 5 times per second at 128×72 in greyscale, audio in mono at 48 kHz, measured separately
- Detection
- Black, silence, freeze and signal loss, with adjustable thresholds and hold times
- Operating system
- Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit
- Start-up
- Starts with Windows and begins monitoring automatically
- Telvi link
- Telvi Server connects on
7303(TCP), only with the right key - Licence
- Buy or rent through My Evental, standalone or as part of Telvi
Get started
Your broadcast monitored, starting today.
SilDe licences are sold through My Evental, the Evental Media customer portal. Not sure which source suits your setup best? Email us.