[EAS] Multilingual support for CAP messages

[media at openbroadcaster.com]

In Canada we are a bilingual country with government services offered in 
English and French, So is our EAS system that also takes into account 
First Nation\Inuit (American Indian) dialects

Our NAAD system,  provided by Pelmorex, aka The Weather Network, issues 
alerts in both languages. Decoder boxes receive and play audio and 
visual messaging  and set the priority language to play in order.  
Typically in English parts of Canada, English alerts are played first 
and if there is secondary language play it next. Opposite is in effect 
for Quebec, where the predominate language is French.  Alerts are 
broadcast in French and then English.   We do have customers outside of 
Quebec that have a French language station and they broadcast alerts in 
the language of their listeners. Since  the audience is listening to 
French language programming, some stations elect to only broadcast 
alerts in French.  I have noticed in the Yukon when alerts are received, 
as an mp3 file sometimes there are 2 mp3 files, one labelled English and 
the other French.  Both MP3 will play and they are both English language 
(plays twice) Regulations here permit FN languages to be the primary 
language.

Our DIY open source  systems use Mbrola TTS as a last resort when 
attachments are missing or corrupted. The TTS messages are high quality 
crappy. Here in the Yukon (Canada) our EMO recently had a test of the 
NAAD system.  The alert was issued from Whitehorse, sent to Oakville ON, 
and was received back here via TCP/IP.  There was no TTS.  Instead a 
High Quality MP3 played a male English speaker of the test message and 
the French message was of a female voice. Included with this alert as a 
JPEG image file for playing back on CATV and Digital Display signage.   
At the EMO office a LED screen scrolled red for test message.  In Tagish 
using the same model screen (Adaptive 220C) plugged into our open source 
CAP Alert Player the screen behaved the same way and included a few 
other pretty colours.

Emergency CAP-CP video

https://www.openbroadcaster.pro/media

TTUL

Rob

On 16-03-28 07:59 PM, Ed Czarnecki wrote:
> On the other hand, many Canadian cable and IPTV operations (at least in the
> eastern provinces), and a number of our broadcast TV customers have chosen
> to play both English and French in their alerts.  Not because of a mandate,
> but because of the varied nature of their audiences.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> On March 28, 2016 5:21 PM Harold Price  wrote:
>>   I will note that many Canadian radio stations have no interest in playing
> both English *and* French in an alert, as their audience and programming is
> usually in either one or the other language.  The national network has a
> mandate to do both, however.
>
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