Patent ID: 8908048

Claim:
A method for testing a distribution path of a digital video distribution environment, said method comprising the steps of: (a) transmitting a reference video bit stream from a digital video signal generator to the distribution path, said reference video bit stream comprising N reference pixels; (b) receiving a test video bit stream from the distribution path at a digital video signal analyzer, said test video bit stream comprising N test pixels; (c) generating a diagnostic video bit stream comprising N diagnostic pixels, each of said N diagnostic pixels corresponding to one of said N reference pixels and one of said N test pixels, by (i) assigning a first color to each diagnostic pixel of said N diagnostic pixels whose corresponding one of said N reference pixels and corresponding one of said N test pixels match, said first color being common for each matching pixel, and (ii) assigning a second color to each diagnostic pixel of said N diagnostic pixels whose corresponding one of said N reference pixels and corresponding one of said N test pixels do not match, said second color being common for each non-matching pixel; (d) selecting a first resolution different from an originally presented resolution for a diagnostic purpose, wherein the diagnostic purpose is to either focus on a specific area of the diagnostic video and the first resolution is greater than the originally presented resolution or the diagnostic purpose is to view large trends of the diagnostic video and the first resolution is less than the originally presented resolution; and (e) displaying the diagnostic video bit stream at the first resolution.