A new version of Voltair software is coming next week.
The watermark monitor/processor has been at the center of an industry debate over the effectiveness of Nielsen PPM measurement methodology. Manufacturer 25-Seven Systems said it’ll release version 2.0 software on Sept. 22.
Founder Geoff Steadman said this update, free to the 750 or so current users of the box, includes new “visibility tools.”
“Stations and groups will be able to monitor encoding quality metrics in real time at both local and enterprise levels. With this access, programmers can build and extract encoding history data for correlation with playlists, ratings numbers and other important metrics.” He said evaluation versions of Voltair v2.0 software have been running at some user facilities since June.
“Data-driven programmers have been vocal about their desire to see and use for themselves the same information we use to build Voltair’s confidence display,” Steadman was quoted in the announcement. “This new capability is for programmers who require even deeper levels of data analysis.” Some clients will use it to build analytic tools for centralized Voltair monitoring, he said.
The user manual is updated substantially; and the new version adds the ability to monitor system health via IP, an enhanced Web interface and other enhancements.
Voltair clients can request the software starting next Tuesday. The company said it will post details at its support page.
Meanwhile, radio programmers will be watching this fall to see what Nielsen does next. As we’re reported, the company plans to increase its “code density” via a software update to existing PPM field encoders to improve the watermark algorithm. It will do so for all 11,000 stations later this year, and had said earlier that details of the rollout would be issued this month. Nielsen further promises a new encoding monitor in 2016; a prototype of that has been built.
