KANTAR SNAP Watermarking for .CL products

Extension for SOUND4 .CL libraries

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For the following products:

IMPACT .CL
X1 .CL

1 - Introduction

The library can be used with SOUND4 HDFM and Web .CL processors (X1.CL, IMPACT.CL, …). The processing library provides an embed web browser to configure the process, which will also give access to the KANTAR.CL settings and meters.

SOUND4 provides integrated software for Windows in Driver mode (WDM) and ASIO mode, for which the KANTAR.CL extension can be installed.

The process and KANTAR configuration can be set only by Web interface.

The logs returned from the library are handled by the host program.

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NOTE: this document assumes the library is used in Live mode. For File mode, metadata has to be set by the host program when starting, which depends on the host program only, and so is not documented here.

2 - Where to get the KANTAR.CL Version

In the Web interface, click on About to see the versions of the process and the extensions.

Here is an example for X1.CL with KANTAR.CL extension :

3 - How to configure the Watermarking

If you have a KANTAR.CL license activated by SOUND4, you will see in the Setup Menu a “KANTAR Watermarking” sub-menu, where you can enter your KANTAR license details.

Online license mode

On normal usage, stay on Online license, enter your login and password given by KANTAR.

In the Watermarking part, you can now select the license, and then the channel.

Offline license mode

This mode should be used only if KANTAR requests you to use it.

Set Online license to Off.

You can now download the Authorization Code file, and send it to KANTAR (see How to request KANTAR Licenses).

Upload the lic and aud files that KANTAR gave you, and you should be able to select the Channel Name you want.

Common

When you set the Watermarking On, you should see the status changing to Running, and the channel and its ID displayed.

On the main page, you should also see the watermarking status in the bottom status bar.

If watermarking fails, the status will display an error :

Off: You did not put watermarking On, so the streams are not marked.
Not available : something is wrong in the installation, a DLL or software component is missing
Invalid SDK License: the Kantar license (license.lic) does not match this computer
Invalid Audience License: the Audience license (license.aud) does not match this computer
Optional (License is needed): you do not have the SOUND4 license for this processor, or it has expired.
Invalid login or password : your Online login or password is invalid.
Failed creating : There has been an error while watermarking. Check logs.
Failed configuring : There has been an error while watermarking. Check logs.
Failed Initializing : There has been an error while watermarking. Check logs.
Bad channel : you did not select a valid channel.
Starting : the watermarking is starting. It stays on this state until there is audio.
Running: watermarking is active and running
Watermarking error : There has been an error while watermarking. Check logs.
Synchronization error : There has been an error while watermarking. Check logs.

4 - How to request KANTAR Licenses

In order to get a watermarking embedding license, please contact KANTAR Media support at http://www.kantarmedia.com/watermarkinghelpdesk with following information:

Product name and version (see Where to get the KANTAR.CL Version)
Customer name
Country
If different, country of broadcast
Channel(s) to watermark
Customer internal name for the software instance
Authorization Code for each hardware if Offline mode (see Offline license mode)

5 - How to find logs regarding watermarking

Logs are provided by the library with a function callback. This is the responsibility of the host program to store them.

5 - 1 Windows WDM and ASIO software

The logs are available in the Event Viewer of the OS, with the source starting with the process name (X1.CL, IMPACT.CL, …).

5 - 2 Command-line software provided with library

Those software are just printing to the console the messages.

When they are in a container (like Docker), the container system manages the logs.

6 - Watermarking Time synchronization

The watermarking time synchronization is done every 12 hours.

The operating system must have time synchronized with NTP or better system.

Watermarking will not be valid if time synchronization is not correct.

The software can not manage the operating system’s time synchronization by itself.

7 - How much delay is induced by the watermarking process

This integration of the Watermarking adds a fixed delay to the processing.

The basic delay is 5*512 samples at 48kHz, so 53.3ms. The library adds one frame of delay, which depends on the size of the frame the process has been configured for. The default is 64 samples, so 1.3 ms.

The total delay added by watermarking is typically of 54.6 ms (for 64 samples blocks).

8 - Watermarking function start-stop impact

Starting or stopping the Watermarking function has a very little impact on the audible audio, only due to the watermarking delay.

Stopping the watermarking will remove the induced the delay (so “jump” in audio), while starting the watermarking will add the induced delay (so “repeat” the audio for the delay).