Feature verification and quality measurement in D2-MAC systems

Modern standards for TV broadcasting like the MAC-standards allow simultaneous high performance transmission of vision, multiple sound signals and data channels. They incorporate digital and analog transmission paths, whose transmission capacity may dynamically be reconfigured. This flexibility provides a great challenge to measuring methods and equipment. There are only three items in the signal, which always appear in the same place: the line sync word, the clamping period and the signal description in line 625. All other elements of the signal, like data bursts, luminance information, chrominance information, test lines etc. may be located anywhere in the multiplex structure or may even be totally absent. Basically every configuration is allowed, as long as it is described correctly in the data set transmitted in line 625. This has always to be kept in mind when working with MAC signals