Digital Video Engineering Professional Certification Competencies I. Engineering Management and Professionalism A. Demonstrate effective problem solving techniques B. Describe processes for ensuring realistic examination of all solutions C. Discuss procedures for ensuring accurate presentation of findings D. List step that can be utilized to ensure accurate reports E. Determine purchasing best practices F. Discuss importance of adhering to proper business ethics G. Discuss behaviors and attributes associated with effective engineering management principles II. Facilities and Physical Aspects A. Facilities 1. Power management a) Design facility with sufficient power to maintain proper operation of current and future equipment needs including digital video systems (1) Specify AC and DC load (2) Calculate AC and DC power load (3) Determine DC power plant size and run time (4) Determine AC (UPS) power plant size and run time (5) Determine Generator type, size and run time 2. HVAC management a) Design facility with sufficient temperature control to maintain proper operation of all existing and future equipment including digital video systems (1) Calculate BTU load + required redundancy or future 3. Physical space a) Design facility with sufficient physical space to effectively accommodate existing equipment and allowing for future expansion (1) Plan installation of new equipment (a) Create floor plan (b) Determine rack layout (c) Design power distribution system (d) Design rack elevations 4. Cabling a) Implement effective cabling procedures to ensure efficient use of resources and ease of troubleshooting & maintenance (1) Determine cable entrance cabinet location and type (2) Determine outside plant routing (3) Design wire distribution system (4) Specify labeling scheme
5. Documentation a) Implement procedures to ensure accurate documentation of equipment, cabling and interconnectivity 6. Complete site plan a) Determine building location b) Specify grounding type and location c) Specify other local requirements d) Prepare engineered site plan e) Implement Effective Fire Suppression Plan (1) Investigate local requirements (2) Conduct site survey (3) Install fire suppression equipment B. Equipment 1. Calculate impact on power requirements/capacity 2. Calculate impact on HVAC requirements/capacity 3. Calculate impact on rack space requirements/capacity 4. Implement Industry best practices for installation C. Connectivity 1. Design/maintain video origination network a) Specify type of cable or interface b) Select connector type c) Specify installation method d) Specify connector installation e) Specify cable port requirements f) Specify equipment g) Specify architecture D. Performance 1. Design HE equipment signal and noise level requirements per manufacturer and FCC specification III. Digital Video Theory A. Analog video theory 1. Describe Fundamental principles of analog video B. Digital video theory 1. Describe the characteristics of digital video including: a) Reconstruction of video content b) Bandwidth efficiency c) Portability d) Embedded metadata within the transport e) Introduction to MPEG f) SMPTE time codes g) Discuss loss characteristics of digital video h) Advanced Codecs i) Audio CODECS C. Digital video transport 1. Describe various physical interfaces used 2. Discuss VOD-optimized transport 3. Discuss differences between encapsulation for delivering MPEG-2, VC/H.264 and WM9/VC-1 video
4. Explain commonly used Control Plane Protocols D. Standards 1. Discuss appropriate implementation of the various DPI/SCTE Standards that apply to delivery of digital video services in Cable Telecommunications 2. Describe ITU-T J.83 standard and annexes that apply to cable telecommunication s digital video services. E. Digital video systems 1. Discuss components, operation, characteristics and design considerations related to deployment of digital video systems including: a) Digital Video Infrastructure overview b) Digital Simulcast c) PCMM d) On-Demand Systems e) Switched Digital Broadcast f) VoD Architecture g) PVR h) Interactive Video Systems i) Mosaic j) IPG k) OCAP l) Thick vs. Thin clients F. Networking principles 1. Discuss basic networking principles 2. Verify communications between digital video system components 3. Explain Internet Protocol (IP) Principles IV. Digital Video Systems Design and Performance Analysis A. Discuss digital video design principles B. Design effective performance analysis process C. Design digital program insertion system D. Describe key video quality considerations E. Create design allowing for scalability of content 1. Streams 2. Session-setup & trick-mode transactions F. Discuss considerations to effectively address high availability requirements G. Design a channel line-up per QAM 1. Given the need to convert N (number of channels) analog channels to digital determine the best channel line up for each QAM H. Determine how many QAMs are needed to support N channels in the digital line-up I. Explain how to choose the combination of channels to achieve best performance from encoders and statistical multiplexers J. Describe how downstream ad-insertion affects the selection of channel line-up in a QAM slot 1. Encoder Design (Vendor agnostic) K. Given a specific scenario, determine which type of encoders are suitable for deployment: CBR, VBR or closed-loop L. Explain the advantages of CBR encoding M. Explain whether rate-shaping multiplexers are always required with CBR encoding N. Explain whether CBR encoders can be directly used with a QAM modulator
O. Compare and contrast IP or ASI (pros and cons) P. Discuss the advantages of open-loop VBR encoding Q. Discuss the advantages of Closed-loop encoding R. Determine best methods to support downstream ad-insertion with CBR, VBR and Closed-loop encoding S. Describe when filtering should be enabled in an encoder T. Explain the application spatial and MCTF filters U. Describe the effect of GoP size on video quality and latency 1. Rate-shaping Design (Vendor agnostic) a) Explain how to effectively configure a bank of CBR or VBR encoders with rate-shaping statistical multiplexer? b) Explain whether an ASI output of a satellite receiver can be fed to the multiplexer directly for rate shaping 2. Conduct effective performance analysis V. Design principles 1. System sizing concepts a) Calculate correct node sizes according to specified design criteria b) Determine appropriate number of homes passed c) Determine proper service group size d) Calculate peak simultaneous usage e) Describe Anystream Anywhere concept V. Digital Video Systems Test and Integration A. Effective testing practices 1. Describe generally accepted testing practices to determine MPEG system conformance including: a) Feature testing b) Video quality c) IP two testing d) Video delivery e) Encryption f) Provisioning and staging g) ITV testing h) New software testing and deployment i) IPG testing j) Performance Testing k) Capacity Planning l) EAS Testing B. System level test methods 1. Discuss commonly used system level test methods including: a) Techniques for video monitoring b) MOS c) MDI C. Isolating problems 1. Isolate the cause of digital video system problems within a system to a single unit a) Utilize various levels of test for MPEG compliance b) Perform visual test on high-quality monitor(s) c) Use MPEG Analyzers
d) Utilize IP Network Analyzers for troubleshooting network flooding issues e) Utilize stand-alone Analyzers with ASI/IP interfaces f) List the tools required for testing the transport stream at the output of an encoder or multiplexer g) Describe generally accepted method for evaluating the video quality (VQ) of a configuration h) Identify type of sources needed during VQ evaluation i) Identify type of display devices need for VQ evaluation j) Identify tools needed to perform objective VQ evaluation k) Explain how VQ evaluation can be performed with viewing subjects l) Troubleshooting Network problems See integration 2. List the tools required for testing the transport stream at the output of an encoder or multiplexer D. Evaluating video quality 1. Describe generally accepted method for evaluating the video quality (VQ) of a configuration 2. Identify type of sources needed during VQ evaluation 3. Identify type of display devices need for VQ evaluation 4. Identify tools needed to perform objective VQ evaluation 5. Explain how VQ evaluation can be performed with viewing subjects E. Troubleshooting network problems 1. Explain the types of common artifacts associated with digital video 2. Complete loss of signal usually characterized by a frozen frame or black frame on decoder output. VI. Digital Video Systems Deployment A. Cut-over considerations 1. List various considerations needing attention prior to inserting a new digital video service into an existing line up B. Pre-deployment planning 1. Describe effective planning techniques designed to ensure trouble free deployment of digital video services C. Preparing for deployment 1. Discuss key steps needed to best prepare system and organization for deployment of new digital video system.