Nielsen ppm360 personal people meter teardown

[@vwestlife]

The PPM encoding is not subaudible (i.e. below the human range of hearing). It uses mid-range audio frequencies that can sound like a buzzsaw if the program audio doesn't completely mask it. Some stations are also using processors which boost the level of the PPM encoding to try to increase their ratings, at the expense of making the buzzsaw effect more audible. However, small markets still use log books instead of PPMs.

[@chrissanders2562]

Wow now i know there's even such a device in existence! Thanks. Very cool

[@12voltvids]

I am surprised that it just isn't an app on cell phone actually.

[@michaelturner4457]

​@@12voltvids I suspect that they do use smart-phone apps now.

[@12voltvids]

@@michaelturner4457 that would make sense, but from what i understand they still use these devices for security.

[@GILLIGFAN]

In response to folks mentioning apps I would assume that the problem with apps is most smartphone and tablet operating systems and apps don’t necessarily support multiple apps working at once much less in the background very well The Cliff notes version an app probably wouldn’t be as accurate, efficient or reliable

[@tekvax01]

We have dozens of those BBM encoders in service at work on the outputs of all the TV and radio stations. But I've never seen one of the pocket receivers either...

[@12voltvids]

I'd be interested to know how they work. I was thinking it must be phase shift keying in a sub audiable frequency range. 10-20 Hz.

[@tekvax01]

@@12voltvids I'm fairly certain the frequency is much higher. Remember it is bring delivered via 57 cent speakers in radios and TV's, and being picked up with a 05 cent microphone... That is the reason for the psychoacoustics. Your brain can hear the signals, but it ignores them...

[@antronx7]

@@12voltvids I worked at radio station that used that system. Audio is passed through PPM encoder box that adds about 9 audio tones between 1 - 3 kHz that are psycho-acoustically masked by louder tones of program material in that freq range. The encoder dynamically adds those tones in a clever way to make sure humans don't notice them because those added tones are placed very close to dominant frequency components of program material so our brains cannot distinguish them. Here is example how those toned sound extracted from the encoded audio kzbin.info/www/bejne/boKse4p3dtxpfac

[@12voltvids]

@@antronx7 Interesting, I knew they psycoacoustically masked them, but had no idea the spectrum they did this in.

[@TrevorsBench]

Aside from the tiny backup battery, I didn't see the power source

[@12voltvids]

I did remove the big battery. I didn't show it because it had another bar code serial number sticker on it.

[@xoltice]

What was the mAh of the big battery?

[@BoB4jjjjs]

Did they pick it up or did they ask you to post it? Or did you them them it was fubbered? Interesting device though. A mate of the wife's used to have a box in the house that they would press a control every now and again and they had to fill in how many people were in the room, how many were listening or watching. They got to the point they didn't bother, but I suspect it still sent data.

[@12voltvids]

They sent a courier to collect it. I didn't say a thing about opening it and they will never know as it is back like I found it.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

@@12voltvids Would they care anyway, even if they did, what could they do about it. They might watch your video lol :-D

[@12voltvids]

@@BoB4jjjjs well that's why i blocked bar codes and serial numbers. In all likelihood the unit is functional. They will likely wash the board and stick a new battery in and I bet it will work. As I previously said these must be worth something as they sent a courier over to collect it. That costs money so that tells me they want these back to refurbish and redeploy.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

@@12voltvids Oh I bet it is back in service as we speak. The data they collect must be worth money to them, what we watch and what we listen to is all worth money to them and advertisers. I noticed you taped off all the info. I also noticed you said they sent a courier for it in your next video. Shows I watch most of them, even if I don't always comment. I may be a week or two behind mind you, I just find it hard to find time to watch everything I want to watch. Most are informative videos like yours. I had a bucket full of small motors out of decks of one type or another, picked up at auctions and sales. Quick look at the deck and if not worth spending time on, out it went in bits with anything of use kept. However, moving to a smaller house meant I couldn't keep it all, so out it went. I lost interest in things for a while after that, just getting into it slowly again, but most of my gear got ruined in the move due to rain. The rest spent 6 years in a leaky shed, so you can imagine the state of it all when I started to look through it all. I had a lot of radio test gear. Some of my mates were Radio Hams, I was going to go through the exam, but life got in the way, kids came along. Got the kids up so they can support themselves and wipe their own bums etc. Then came along cancer, that set me back hard. Still not 100% and I don't suppose I ever will be. However, I am determined to get the Man-Cave sorted so I can potter around with radio and electronics, even if it is just CB for now. Problem getting up antennas here though and I am to old to go sit in a freezing car like I used to do. Got the books to go through the Ham exam, but getting the time is difficult. I decided I don't need a full licence, but I would like a bit more than 10 watts we are allowed here, so I have to go for intermediate exam. I have no intention of ever building anything, so I don't see the point of most of the questions in the exam anyway. Anyway, I digress again!

[@joltdude]

Had one of these… they actually want you to plug it into your pc through a pass through cable that attaches to the USB port ..guess some streaming content has the tones.. there is a motion detector and you have to proactively keep the unit awake … the two contacts are for charging or you can use the USB port… but a headphone pass trough also connects to the usb..the top thing is a for alarm/beeper.. the stuff in the lower part is the mic array.. look up Arbitron equipment and Voltair for more about the back end equipment

[@12voltvids]

Yes it looks like a speaker. I tried to plug it into a usb charger but nothing. It's fubar.

[@joltdude]

There’s also a device which I gather was some form of rf/bt to plug into the wall somewhere near the charge cradle that tells the device you are “home” and not out somewhere.. some form of beaconing.. edit: it was a bt beacon… thought it was but it’s been quite a few years since I had one…

[@joltdude]

Probably saw this fccid.io/IGKDA118/User-Manual/User-Manual-2563570

[@lovelyheiferdev]

12:50 you know how every device has to be FCC certified and says about Part 15? That's how the device revives the signals. "This device must receive any interference accepted, including ones that cause undesirable operation".

[@12voltvids]

In this case it is picking off a specific subaudiable tone. Have no idea what that frequency is but aparantly they mask it well.

[@kyoudaiken]

@@12voltvids Maybe it is just masked by something that sounds like a short bad reception noise. I've noticed that as a kid back then. Radio was playing, not being moved and there was a short burst of bad reception with a weird sinewave beep in it and then the program continued.

[@tekvax01]

@@12voltvids you want some fun times, go try to look up how they work... there is almost no information available on their function. It is all based on psychometric acoustics and sound and tone masking, by placing the data tones next to real audio content, but in a way that your brain can't hear... sort of like your optical blind spot, but with audio... wild stuff...

[@pXnEmerica]

@@tekvax01 The algo looks for areas of the audio that it can hide the tones. The encoder doesn't like silence ;) It basically dumps the station id (and a timestamp in newer codes) into the audio into spots of the audio that you wouldn't really be able to pick it out or be distracted, hence the sub-audible. This device just listens to it and logs the time and ID it detected the tones. Neilson provides the encoders with the station ID provided, so all they need to do is get the list of ID's and timestamps back and they know exactly what and when you were watching or listening to and with the timestamps they can prevent spoofing or people trying to cheat the ratings.

[@frustro4323]

Growing up my mom somehow got us into the neilson family. I hated scanning all the barcodes on our groceries! When a UPC wouldn't scan then I would have to enter in product info for what seemed like days. Every week we would send the data over the phone by holding the phone to the unit, letting it dial the tones then it was standard dialup modem noises. I do know that we got tons of free crap in the mail.. Samples of just about everything under the sun. I tried to find a pic of it but cant. IT was about 8 inches long and 2x2 inches. HAd a IR scanner on one end and the speaker on the other. One face had 1x10? digit LCD and a squish rubber mat keypad for manual entry. Last I remember seeing it was 1995.

[@davidlong1786]

I was a Nielsen TV person for a season back in the 80s I think it was. Just paperwork forms to fill out about what I watched and when. I bet my info was different from the majority of what people watched. Don't recall if I was compensated or not so it couldn't have been much, maybe $20?

[@GILLIGFAN]

My family did it when me and my sister were kids. We got like $25 a month for 3 months

[@TVrating]

I made a video about Nielsen compensation in Local People Metet markets. They pay based on race and/or age.

[@jimb032]

This is surprising to see this thing in 2021. I thought it would be considerbly obsolete, as in your cable or dish box would report back since they almost always connected to the internet now anyway, and in some cases provide the internet. Seems this has such a limited use case to make it viable anymore. But thanks for letting us know it exists, and great video!

[@12voltvids]

More for radio, off air reception as you are correct cable box will report back. When in a car or out in public say on a restaurant or store and they have a radio playing. I called the number on it and they are sending me a box and return shipping label for it so obviously it is worth something to them. They want it back. I had a nice chat with the lady in the phone and she filled me in on how it works. They invite families to participate and send them to every family member including young kids to carry with them all day and they each get compensated to carry it. I asked if anyone can get on and she said no, have to be invited and they call people that have a listed phone number at random and invite them. You can't request to join.

[@GILLIGFAN]

These units are for stuff or viewing NOT Connected to internet or other data collection capable sources There’s many ways ratings and viewing or listening habits are collected

[@antonio1681]

The stations that have the tone in them sounds a bit weird like they are pitched up - the songs that is.

[@coondogtheman]

Wow, Never seen or heard of something like this. At first since you mentioned radio I thought it was some type of monitoring device. Another thing I thought since it has a SIM card is it picks up radio signals and streams them somewhere. There is a radio station where I live that plays songs pitched up slightly to make room for more ads.

[@12voltvids]

Pitched up? If they want more ads just edit the songs shorter.

[@crashbandicoot4everr]

@@12voltvids Yeah some radio stations do that. They speed the songs up to shorten down the duration of them.

[@coondogtheman]

@@12voltvids They do that too, radio edits AND pitching up.

[@GILLIGFAN]

The SIM is just so it can transmit the collected data to Nielsen’s data servers or whatever Think of it as a scaled down cell phone with only a data plan that’s monitoring any TV, Radio or other media you’re in contact with

[@kyoudaiken]

Pretty sure as soon as you open it it destroys all data in a CMOS backed by a battery. Similar to Bitcoin wallets. Shouldn't they also make sure all get collected back so they don't land somewhere and can be reverse engineered?

[@tekvax01]

I was thinking the same thing... just by opening it, everything is likely bricked now!

[@tekvax]

Well Chris, you’d be wrong sir. Most of these devices have there firmware saved in battery backed up srams. Kill the power or break the circuit, and bye bye functionality…

[@12voltvids]

@@tekvax doubt that as they have to remove the battery to insert the SIM card.

[@GILLIGFAN]

Why would they care about it being “Reverse engineered” ?? It’s not like these devices are some sort of technological holy grail

[@MrBillmcminn]

Putting the SIM card into an unlocked cell phone may prove to be interesting, it would tell you what cellular network the device was on. It would be shocking to the Neilson ratings people that when they call the device to transfer the information and a real person answers.

[@12voltvids]

Would try that but my cell uses a micro sim.

[@SeanBZA]

Very likely a locked sim, that is only able to use a fixed connection, and which does not have the ability to do voice, SMS or data, only connect to a specific gateway IP and communicate with that. Done so the cost per SIM drops, as the company buys a large number of SIM's, but there is no numbers associated with them, and thus there is little risk of the card being used to rack up large bills if it gets lost.

[@GILLIGFAN]

You’d probably get a similar result as you get when putting a tracphone or government Obama phone SIM into a random phone “Device not allowed or not compatible”

[@TVrating]

I believe Nielsen uses Verizon Wireless. I used to work for Nielsen TV Ratings (boxes connected to TVs). Your device is from Nielsen Audio.

[@AlbertAGhazaleh]

Very interesting piece of electronics and it's first time seeing one and being taking apart to see what inside...

[@zx8401ztv]

Dave don't waste your time calling the company, they would just bin it. Cut the card up and scratch the persons number off it. A logger and data sender through the cell phone system.

[@12voltvids]

They may bin it, or them may pull the sim and put it into another meter. Sticker says if found all a 1866 number so obviously they want it back.

[@SeanBZA]

@@12voltvids More for tracking the devices if lost, they probably will tell you to drop in ewaste, and then get your details, as actually getting the device back will be even more loss, as the bulk price is likely pretty low for the units in bulk. They though will want the info of the place found, as that is tied to a user, who either did not report it lost or who has already reported it lost and gotten a new one.

[@12voltvids]

@@SeanBZA Surprise! They want it and are sending out a mailer to return it.

[@SeanBZA]

@@12voltvids Must be hoping to recover the data off it then, probably only calls once a week or so to keep data costs low.

[@12voltvids]

@@SeanBZA probably hoping they can get it running again to send to someone else. I doubt these are dirt cheap. They probably cost hundreds of dollars each. What do you think a cell phone actually costs? I paid 1000 for my Samsung s9 because i do not get a subsidized plan. I pay month to month and pay full price. I laugh at all the idiots that have to have a new phone are are paying 90 bucks a month. I pay under 20 for mine and 30 for my wife's phone and that is unlimited minutes and a data plan. These devices I doubt are a high volume device so the cost is probably relatively high so it comes as no surprise that they would want it back to refurbish it.

[@JasonHalversonjaydog]

it was a one eyed one horned flying personal people meter! are you old enough to remember that song? LOL

[@12voltvids]

Sheb Wolley😁

[@mikeb8638]

Welp now you know why, whatever Canadian t.v. show just got canceled is because of that one rating that didn't go through

[@12voltvids]

They know right from the get go the ratings and these days they shoot a pilot and see what the interest is before greenlighting the rest of the season.

[@mrfrog8502]

Instead of calling them you could send it off to Dave from EEVblog. He will turn it down and you'll get a shout out.

[@nealburgner8816]

Not much of a teardown when you don't take off the RF shields to reveal which chips on on the circuit board.

[@12voltvids]

The company wanted it back. They actually pay a bounty to get them back when found. They sent me a gift card for returning it. If i destroyed it they wouldn't be able to service it and put it back in service would they.

[@PointlessMedic]

These meters have personal identification numbers on them (what you called a "bar code") specific to the user. If you contact Nielsen they can return the device to its owner (or you could just rip it apart..). The Nielson company also asks participants not to post information about their products to social media.

[@12voltvids]

Yes I called them and they provided a mailer to send it back.

[@PointlessMedic]

I have one and they don't really clarify what the device is or how it works very well so this video was a great source of info.

[@TVrating]

I created a youtube about Nielsen.

[@TheSillyshyguy]

If you found that in London Ontario I know who's it was.

[@12voltvids]

It was Richmond BC where i found it. They collected it.

[@davidcollins1853]

Weird

[@OldSonyMan]

Not sure if it would work in my house as I don't watch TV anymore, simply as a reaction to the sheer amount of Propaganda being broadcast these days. This is kind of ironic as I still own 30-40 TV sets !

[@12voltvids]

I believe they use these more for radio ratings but i could be wrong. The only info i got was by searching it out. From what I understand you can't sign up for it. They invite people to be a member and pay them to carry the meter but i could be wrong.

[@kyoudaiken]

Same here. And since I'd need to pay a 20 EUR monthly fee to watch TV over cable... For what?! TV's dead. The cable is now being used for internet (DOCSIS).

[@tekvax01]

@@12voltvids it's quite difficult to get "on the list" and forget it if you work anywhere near the broadcasting industry... I've had them call me before to enroll me. as soon as they hear you work for tv and radio, they drop you like a hot rock...

[@12voltvids]

@@tekvax01 No kidding. I hear them advertising on local radio telling people who they are, and how you can help shape radio and TV by being a member. Basically letting the public know that if they call, they are not scammers and by joining the panel it helps local radio and TV stations. Worth big bucks to the broadcasters. Those stations with confirmed listeners all of a sudden their air time becomes more valuable to advertiser's. If you were a advertiser would you want your spots running on the #1 station or one down at 27?

[@pXnEmerica]

If you'd tune to WildTV and just leave it on, I'd appreciate it ... lol Cheers from Alberta!

[@pXnEmerica]

The tones carry the station ID and timestamp. Algo looks for places in the audio that it can dump tones into without really being heard. Hardware encoder generally sits inline, but they have also built out software SDK's over the past years so they can encode into streaming providers and such.