DekTec DTC-300 User Manual

DTC-300-SP

StreamXpress® Software

USER MANUAL

April 2015

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress USER MANUAL

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 4

1.1 General description ....................................................................................................... 4

1.2 Software architecture ...................................................................................................... 4

1.3 PC Hardware requirements ............................................................................................. 4

1.4 DekTec hardware compatible products............................................................................. 5

1.5 Applications .................................................................................................................. 5

1.6 Limitations .................................................................................................................... 6

1.7 List of abbreviations ....................................................................................................... 6

2. Installation ......................................................................................................................... 9

2.1 Installing the DTC-300-SP software .................................................................................. 9

2.2 Licensing of the software................................................................................................. 9

3 Overview of the interface .................................................................................................... 11

3.1 General settings .......................................................................................................... 11

3.2 General menu ............................................................................................................. 12

3.3 Display Transport Stream information ............................................................................ 18

3.3.1 Transport Stream info ........................................................................................... 18

3.3.2 PID info .............................................................................................................. 18

3.3.3 File info .............................................................................................................. 19

3.4 Playing a Transport Stream though an ASI interface ......................................................... 20

3.4.1 ASI rate control .................................................................................................... 20

3.4.2 Packet size .......................................................................................................... 21

3.4.3 DVB-ASI settings .................................................................................................. 22

3.5 Playing a Transport Stream though an RF interface .......................................................... 23

3.5.1 General RF settings .............................................................................................. 24

3.5.2 ADTB-T Modulation settings .................................................................................. 26

3.5.3 ATSC Modulation settings ..................................................................................... 27

3.5.4 CMMB Modulation settings ................................................................................... 28

3.3.5 DAB(+) Modulation settings .................................................................................. 29

3.5.6 DMB-T/H Modulation settings ............................................................................... 29

3.5.7 DVB-C Modulation settings ................................................................................... 31

3.5.8 DVB-H Modulation settings ................................................................................... 31

3.5.9 DVB-T Modulation settings .................................................................................... 34

3.5.10 DVB-T2 Modulation settings ................................................................................ 37

3.5.11 IQ Modulation settings ....................................................................................... 48

3.5.12 ISDB-T Modulation settings ................................................................................. 49

3.5.13 T2MI Modulation settings .................................................................................... 57

3.5.14 QAM B modulation settings ................................................................................ 58

3.5.15 QAM C modulation settings ................................................................................ 58

3.5.16 DVB-S modulation settings .................................................................................. 59

3.5.17 DVB-S2 modulation settings ................................................................................ 60

3.5.18 ISDB-S modulation settings ................................................................................. 61

3.6 Playing a Transport Stream though an Ethernet interface .................................................. 62

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress

DekTec Digital Video B.V. reserves the right to change products or specifications without notice.

Information furnished in this document is believed to be accurate and reliable, but DekTec assumes no

responsibility for any errors that may appear in this material.

USER MANUAL

3.7 Playing an SDI (.dtsdi) file though a SDI interface ............................................................ 65

4. Using the StreamXpress with the DOS command prompt ....................................................... 67

5. Using the StreamXpress with DTE-3100 product. .................................................................. 68

Appendix A. StreamXpress .XML configuration Syntax ............................................................... 69

Appendix B. PRBS generation ................................................................................................. 73

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress USER MANUAL

1. Introduction

1.1 General description

The DTC-300-SP StreamXpress is an easy-to-use Windows TM software package designed to provide real-time playback of MPEG-2 compliant transport streams and SDI recorded files. StreamXpress is intended to be loaded by the end-user on any qualifying PC or laptop and work in conjunction with most DekTec output devices. StreamXpress is design to read a proper formatted transport stream or SDI file from the local PC hard drive and connect it to a DekTec output device for realtime streaming. StreamXpress supports a large range of streaming interfaces including ASI, ToSIP, RF modulated outputs and SDI. StreamXpress provides basic transport stream information including: transport stream contents, PID, and file information. It provides start, stop, pause, seamless looping and much more capabilities. These features, when coupled with the variety of available DekTec output devices, give the user a powerful and portable high value playback solution. The DTC-300SP is a licensed software product from DekTec B.V.

The DTC-300-SP StreamXpress software can be controlled remotely by the DTC-302-RC StreamXpress remote control option. See the DTC-302-RC API document for further details.

1.2 Software architecture

The DTC-300-SP StreamXpress is standalone software that can be freely downloaded from the DekTec website. It can be installed on any suitable laptop or computer running a supported version of Microsoft WindowsTM. StreamXpress is compatible with Microsoft WindowsTM XP/2K3/Vista/2K8/7/8. StreamXpress needs to detect a suitable licensed DekTec device to be able to operate. The DekTec device can be a USB attached device like the DTU-215 or a PCI/PCIe card like the DTA-2144. For a complete list of devices refer to the DekTec hardware compatibility section. In order to operate StreamXpress needs to be properly licensed. The license key is held in the hardware device. (See installing a StreamXpress license section). Only one StreamXpress license is required per DekTec hardware device. When multiple output ports are available on a single hardware device, multiple independent versions of StreamXpress can be running at the same time. The number of StreamXpress instances is only limited by the DekTec hardware bandwidth limitation and PC resources (CPU, RAM, Disk Drive speed, etc…).

1.3 PC Hardware requirements

Depending on the application and DekTec hardware, the requirements for running StreamXpress vary. Operating System:

Microsoft Windows TM XP/2K3/Vista/2K8/7/8

Processor and RAM:

PIII* 300 MHz with 256MB for ASI playout Core 2* with 2GB of RAM for DVB-T2 playout

*Or equivalent AMD processor

Disk Drive: Combined Rates > 50Mb/s use drive separate from Operating System

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress

Signal Type

Supported Adapters

DVB-ASI

DTA-100, DTA-105, DTA-112, DTA-115, DTA-140, DTA-2136, DTE-3100, DTU-205

ASI/SDI

DTA-145, DTA-160, DTA-545, DTA-2137, DTA-2142, DTA-2144, DTA-2145, DTA-2152, DTA-2154, DTA-2160, DTA-2162, DTA-2174, DTU-205, DTU-245

DVB-SPI

DTA-102, DTA-2142

Modulators

DTA-107, DTA-107S2, DTA-110, DTA-111, DTA-112, DTA-115, DTA-116, DTA-117, DTU-215, DTA-2107, DTA-2111, DTA-2115

TSoIP

DTA-160, DTA-2160, DTA-2162

I/Q Samples

DTA-115, DTA-116, DTA-117, DTU-215, DTA-2107, DTA-2111, DTA-2115

USER MANUAL

Combined Rates ≤ 100Mb/s use single 7200 RPM SATA Combined Rates > 100Mb/s use 10000 RPM SATA Combined Rates > 200Mb/s use SSD drive (Solid State Disk)

NOTE: Drive specifications are recommendations. Different architectures will yield different results in some systems.

1.4 DekTec hardware compatible products

The DTC-300-SP is compatible with the following DekTec hardware:

1.5 Applications

Typical applications of StreamXpress include:

ASI Streaming

Using a USB or PCI/PCIe DekTec device supporting ASI output, StreamXpress can stream 1 MPEG-2 TS per ASI output port. For DekTec products that have software selectable bidirectional ASI ports, use DtInfo for changing input ports into output ports.

IP Streaming

Using a PCI/PCIe DekTec device supporting an Ethernet connection, StreamXpress can stream multiple MPEG-2 TS over the DekTec Ethernet port. Note that StreamXpress does not have a limit on how many streams can be streamed over the Ethernet port, it is only limited by the PC resources. StreamXpress can also stream over a standard NIC card. You need a dongle license for this option to be available.

Modulated TS streaming

Using a USB or PCI/PCIe DekTec device supporting RF outputs, StreamXpress can stream 1 MPEG-2 TS per RF output port. StreamXpress allows changing RF modulation settings and supports the

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress

SDI

The SDI streams needs to be compliant to the DekTec SDI file format and needs to be recorded by DekTec software and/or hardware.

Conditional access

No real time encryption supported. If a file is encrypted, StreamXpress will stream the file encrypted.

Multiplexing

Program remultiplexing is not supported. Only the total rate can be increased from the original total transport rate to meet the channel output requirements.

VBR

Only CBR Transport Streams are supported.

8PSK

8 Levels Phase Shifting

ACE

Active Constellation Extension

ADTB-T

Advanced Digital Television Broadcast-Terrestrial

ATSC

Advanced Television System Committee

ASI

Asynchronous Serial Interface

CATV

Cable Television

CBR

Constant Bit Rate

CDSD

Cable Delivery System Descriptor

CMMB

China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting

COFDM

Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

DAB

Digital Audio Broadcasting

DMB

Digital Multimedia Broadcasting

USER MANUAL

following modulations formats using the appropriate card: 8VSB, QAM A/B/C, DVB-T, DVB-T2, ISDB-S, ISDB-T, DTMB, CMMB, DVB-S, DVB-S2(X) and DAB+.

SDI streaming

Using a USB or PCI/PCIe DekTec device supporting SDI outputs, StreamXpress can stream 1 pre-recorded SDI stream per SDI output port. For products that have software selectable bidirectional ASI/SDI ports, use DtInfo for changing input ports into output ports.

NOTE: The SDI file format used by StreamXpress is proprietary to DekTec. It needs to be recorded using DtGrabber+.

1.6 Limitations

The structure of the software and hardware brings with it a number of limitations. The main limitations are listed below.

1.7 List of abbreviations

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress

DQPSK

Differential Quadrature Phase Shift Keying

DSNG

Digital Satellite News Gathering

DTMB-T/H

Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcast-Terrestrial/Handheld

DTS

Decoding Time Stamp

DVB

Digital Video Broadcasting

DVB-C

DVB standard for modulation appropriate for in Cable networks

DVB-H

DVB standard for modulation appropriate for Terrestrial Handheld networks

DVB-T

DVB standard for modulation appropriate for Terrestrial networks

DVB-T2

DVB standard for second generation modulation appropriate for Terrestrial networks

EPG

Electronic Program Guide

FEC

Forward Error Correction

FEF

Future Extension Frame

FFT

Fast Fourier Transfer

GOP

Group Of Picture

HEM

High-Efficiency Mode

IIP

ISDB-T Information Packet

Internet Protocol

In phase and Quadrature phase modulation components

ISDB-T

Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting- Terrestrial

ISSY

Input Stream SYnchronizer

LCD

Liquid Crystal Display

LDPC

Low-Density Parity-Check

MAC

Media Access Controller

MBd

Megabaud. Number of symbols per second.

Mbps

Megabit per second

MFN

Multiple Frequency Network

MISO

Multiple Input Single Output mode

MPTS

Multi-Program Transport Stream

Not Applicable

NIT

Network Information Table

OFDM

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

PAPR

Peak to Average Power Ratio

PCR

Program Clock Reference

PID

Packet ID

USER MANUAL

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress

PLP

Physical Layer Pipe

ppm

Parts per million

PRBS

Pseudo Random Binary Sequence

PTS

Presentation Time Stamp

QAM

Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

QPSK

Quadrature Phase Shift Keying

Radio Frequency

Read Only

R/W

Read / Write

SDI

Serial Digital Interface

SFN

Single Frequency Network

SMPTE

Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers

SNMP

Simple Network Management Protocol

RTP

Real-time Transport Protocol

T2-MI

DVB standard that define the communication protocol used between the T2 Gateway and the DVB-T2 modulator.

TDSD

Terrestrial Delivery System Descriptor

TDT

Time and Date Table

TMCC

Transmission and Multiplexing Configuration Control

TOT

Time Offset Table

TPS

Transmission Parameters Signaling

Tone Reservation

Transport Stream

TSoIP

Transport Stream over IP

TTL

Time To Live

UDP

User Datagram Protocol

UHF

Ultra High Frequency band, officially ranging from 300MHz to 3GHz, but in the context of cable television from 300MHz to 1GHz.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator

VBR

Variable Bit Rate

VHF

Very High Frequency band, ranging from 30 to 300MHz

USER MANUAL

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress USER MANUAL

2. Installation

2.1 Installing the DTC-300-SP software

The DTC-300 StreamXpress software can be installed on any suitable Microsoft Windows PC. When installing the StreamXpress software, the install package will install the StreamXpress application and the driver for USB and PCI cards Download the latest version of StreamXpress from DekTec’s website at

http://www.dektec.com/Downloads/Applications.asp or copy StreamXpress.zip to the local hard

drive from the DekTec USB stick .

Unzip the software into a temporary directory NOTE: You have to be logged in as an administrator to install the software.

Close any other software that may already be using DekTec hardware.

Run ‘StreamXpress Setup.exe’. Note that if you are running Win7 you need to right click on the executable and select ‘run as administrator’. Failure to do so may result in a bad installation even if you have administrator rights.

Follow the instruction on the screen until you have to select Complete or Custom. Complete will install the StreamXpress software and the drivers for DekTec USB and PCI/PCIe devices. It will overwrite any existing drivers on the PC. Custom setup allows the user to choose which elements will be installed and the location of the installation. By default use the Complete installation.

When the installation is complete, you are ready to start using the DTC-300-SP StreamXpress software.

2.2 Licensing of the software

In order to operate the DTC-300-SP StreamXpress software, the PC must be connected to a DekTec device that holds a valid DTC-300-SP license. If no DekTec hardware product is detected, the StreamXpress interface will show this:

If no license is detected on a valid DekTec product, the StreamXpress interface will show this:

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress USER MANUAL

Use DtInfo to add a license or contact DekTec to purchase a valid StreamXpress license.

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress

Variable

Type

Description

Diag.

Adapter

Drop down

Select the Adapter and port to playout

info

Button

Lookup interface and Port number info. Also provides the serial number of the selected adapter

Open

Button

Select a file to open to playout.

Playout Status

Display

This area indicates the length of the file calculated based on PCR and bitrate* when using a transport Stream. It also shows a cursor indicating where in the file the playout process is.

File

Display

Displays the filename and full path of the opened file

Button

Control button to Start a playout and Stop the playout or Pause the playout when already playing.**

7 8 9

USER MANUAL

3 Overview of the interface

Depending on the type of hardware that StreamXpress connects to it’ll offer more or less settings. We can divide the settings in 2 categories: general settings and mode/interface specific settings.

3.1 General settings

These settings and displays are common with all DekTec devices connected to the StreamXpress software.

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress

Variable

Type

Description

Diag.

# Errors

Display

This is an internal error counter that gets incremented when the device is dropping packets. This can happen if the buffer gets overflowed or underflowed due to streaming of a badly formatted file or due to PC resource limitations

Time

Display

This time represent the playing time since the beginning of the file

Wrap

Button

When pressed, the file will be looping over and over. If not selected the file will only play once and the player will stop

#Wraps

Display

Counter that keeps the number of loops since the playback started

Total Time

Display

This time represent the complete playing time from the last time the stop button was pressed

Memory buffer

Display

This displays the size of the software memory buffer used for the playout and a graph showing the fullness of the buffer. If the buffer line goes down to zero, the buffer is empty and the playout will stop.

Hardware buffer

Display

This displays the size of the hardware device memory buffer used for the playout and a graph showing the fullness of the buffer. If the buffer line goes down to zero, the buffer is empty and the playout will stop

Sub Menu

Description

Details

File

Open

To open a TS file, an SDI file, an IQ file, an ETI file or an XML configuration file

File

Save Settings

To save a configuration file that will include all of the settings. The format is XML. The XML file can be modified with an external XML editor

File

Capture Stream

To capture the output stream to a file. Note that you do not require an adaptor with an input to capture the streaming file

File

Exit

To close StreamXpress

Edit

Sub Loop

Allow creating a sub loop that will be smaller than the complete file length

Tools

Error Injection

Allows injecting calibrated TS errors.

Tools

Loop and TDT/TOT Adaptation

Allows changing the loop functions when using a TS playout. Also allow to change the setting for TDT/TOT when looping the stream.

USER MANUAL

* If the PCR is incorrect in the file, the length of the playback will be wrong

** The playout is never stopped. When the stop button is used, the hardware will stream out null packets at the playout rate. This can be seen as the output buffer doesn’t go to zero.

3.2 General menu

This section describes the general menus at the top of the StreamXpress interface. Following this table, a more detailed section offers some additional information on the menus

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress

Sub Menu

Description

Details

Tools

Test Signal generator

Allow to use Pseudo Random Polynomial playout 0151 PRBS or use a pseudo random file. This is used for error rate measurement

Settings

RF Output Control

When using a modulator device, this menu allows to change the RF output level

Settings

Use NIT…

Allow to use the NIT to derive playout parameters

Help

About

Provides version and build number for StreamXpress

USER MANUAL

This section provides additional details regarding the general menus.

#1 File/Open:

Opening an MPEG-2 TS:

The default file extension is .TS and .TRP for MPEG-2 Transport Streams. If the file extension is not .TS or .TRP, it may not show up in the list of available files. In that case just select the *.* filter and you’ll be able to see the file. As long as the file is an MPEG-2 TS, StreamXpress will be able to open the file no matter what its extension is. If the file is not a valid MPEG-2 TS, it will open the file and indicate it is not a valid transport stream. StreamXpress can accept 188 and 204 byte packets MPEG-2 TS.

NOTE: StreamXpress plays standard MPEG-2 TS that can come from any source.

Opening an .XML configuration file:

Use the File/Open function to load an .XML configuration file. See #2 Save Settings for more information.

Opening a .dtsdi file:

StreamXpress can play out SDI files from the hard disk using an adaptor that supports SDI playback. See the section of this manual about playing SDI files.

Opening an IQ file:

StreamXpress can be used to play files with IQ samples. See the section about IQ modulation options for more information.

Opening an ETI file:

ETI files contain a multiplexed stream for DAB/DAB+/DMB. StreamXpress only supports the ETI(NI) file format.

#2 File/Save Settings:

When playing out a file with StreamXpress, the user can change many of the settings including bitrate, RF channels, RF power levels etc… In some case when StreamXpress is used for regular

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress USER MANUAL

testing (like QC applications) it does make sense to save all the playout settings into a file for future recall. The Save Settings will save into an .XML file the current settings including the filename and path. To reload the settings use the open button and select the proper .XML file.

NOTE: The user can edit and create .XML configuration files using a standard .XML editor. See appendix A for an example of a StreamXpress XML Config file

#3 File/Capture Stream: StreamXpress allows modifying the original recorded file when playing back out. For example, the user can modify the total rate, change 188 byte packet into 204 byte packets or loop the file several times to increase its total playout time. StreamXpress has an internal recorder that allows writing the modified playout file to the hard disk. The Capture Stream menu allows selecting a filename and location to record the output file. When the Capture Stream file is selected, the file will be recorded to the hard disk when playing out the stream.

NOTE: As soon as the stop button is pressed, the recorded file will be closed and won’t be overwritten even if the start button is pressed again.

NOTE: This feature is available even if your DekTec device is a playout device only.

NOTE: This feature is only available for MPEG-2 TS files.

#4 Edit/Sub Loop: Sometimes recorded files can be long and only part of the stream can be of interest for testing purposes. StreamXpress allows playing a part of the stream. This is setup using the Sub Loop function. When using the Sub Loop, select the start time (from the start of the file) and the end time or the duration of the sub loop.

NOTE : When sub loop is selected a ****Sub Loop Selected**** message will appears in the playout window and the Sub loop Parameters windows will remain open.

#5 Tools/Error Injection: StreamXpress will play a recorded file from the hard disk. Assuming the file on the hard disk is perfect, StreamXpress will play without any TS errors. Sometimes it’s interesting to add calibrated errors to the playout to simulate bad transmission or to test a receiving device’s capability to recover from errors. The Tools/Error Injection menu allows to inject calibrated errors into the output TS.

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress USER MANUAL

NOTE: This menu is only available when playing an MPEG-2 TS.

There are 3 types of errors that can be injected:

 Lost Packets  BIT errors  Byte Errors

Lost Packets: When selecting this type of error insertion, StreamXpress will set the transport_error_indicator field in the TS packet header once every N packets. The frequency of the error insertion can be changed using the probability window.

Bit Errors: When selecting this type of error insertion, StreamXpress will modify (from 1 to 0 or from 0 to 1) 1 to M bits per modified packet. The frequency of the error insertion can be changed using the probability window. The bit error distribution is random.

BYTE Errors: When selecting this type of error insertion, StreamXpress will modify 1 to M bytes per modified packet. The frequency of the error insertion can be changed using the probability window. The byte error distribution is random.

NOTE: The probability of error insertion can vary by few packets. For exact bit error measurement use the Test-Signal generator function.

NOTE: When injecting errors, the Selective Error Injection window will remain open until all error injection options are turned off.

#6 Tools/ Loop and TDT/TOT Adaptation: StreamXpress offers the capability to loop a recorded transport stream for continuous playback. An operation encoder is designed to run continuously and when looping a pre-recorded TS there will be some discontinuity that can affect the receiver and decoder downstream. StreamXpress offers some looping options that can help minimize the effect of the discontinuity at the looping point. It allows adapting the Continuity Counter, PCR and DTS/PTS, TDT/TOT after the

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress USER MANUAL

first loop. These adaption functions are only available when playing transport-stream files.

Loop adaption for the Continuity Counter: When selecting Continuity Counter StreamXpress will modify, in real time, after the 1st loop, the Continuity Counter of each PID in the stream to ensure that there is no discontinuity in the count that may result in decoder error or reset. As a result after the 1st loop, the continuity count of the original file will not be maintained when that option is enabled.

Loop adaption for the PCR and DTS/PTS: When selecting PCR, DTS/PTS StreamXpress will modify, in real time, after the 1st loop, the PCR and DTS/PTS of each program/component in the stream to ensure that there is no discontinuity in the PCR that may result in decoder error or reset. As a result after the 1st loop, the PCR and PTS/DTS of the original file will not be maintained when this option is enabled.

NOTE: This option should be not used when testing time sensitive element like interactive data triggered by PCR value or add insertion trigger with SCTE35 flags. As the PCR and PTS/DTS are re-stamped, the trigger will be lost in these applications after the first loop.

Loop adaption for the TDT/TOT: When selecting TDT/TOT StreamXpress will modify, in real time, after the 1st loop, the TDT and TOT according to the setting below. It will re-stamp each packet with a TOT/TDT packet updating the timetable so it appears to be continuous in time. There are 3 options for updating the TDT/TOT.

Do Not change the TDT/TOT time in first loop: In this case StreamXpress will use the TDT/TOT from the original stream as reference and when looping will increment the TDT/TOT accordingly.

Use current date/time: In this case StreamXpress will discard the TDT/TOT from the stream and replace it with the current time and date of the PC.

Change date/time to: In this case StreamXpress will use the specified date/time and replace the TDT/TOT. Upon looping, the date and time will be updated accordingly.

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress USER MANUAL

Note on Stream Looping: StreamXpress can improve the looping performance by “tricking” the receiver that it is receiving a real time continuous stream. However, StreamXpress cannot make a

100% seamless looping and elements such as buffer integrity, GOP boundary etc… will not be

respected at looping point. In order to minimize the visual effect of the looping, it is advised to use a single program TS file with black video and audio silence at the start and the end of the clip.

#7 Tools/Test-Signal Generator: StreamXpress offers the capability to playout a PRBS test signal for accurate bit rate measurements. A PRBS (Pseudo Random Binary Sequence) is a binary PN (Pseudo-Noise) signal. The sequence of binary 1’s and 0’s exhibits certain randomness and autocorrelation properties. Bit-sequences like PRBS are used for testing transmission lines and transmission equipment because of their randomness properties. StreamXpress implements ITU-T standard O.151 ( See Appendix B. for more information on how the PRBS sequence is generated) StreamXpress is capable of encapsulating the O.151 PRBS data into an MPEG-2 TS where the user specifies the PID where the PRBS data will be carried. The user can also specify the total bitrate of the transport stream. The total PBRS sequence is 64Mbits so the duration of the sequence will depend on the bitrate played out.

#8 Settings/RF Output Control: StreamXpress offers the capability to change the RF output level when using an RF modulator with a variable RF output. The user can choose to adjust the RF output level and also to invert the spectrum.

#9 Settings/Use NIT for Deriving Parameters: StreamXpress offers the capability to read the NIT if present in the stream and derive the Streaming parameters. This is relevant for streams with a DVB “Cable Delivery System Descriptor (CDSD)” or

“Terrestrial Delivery System Descriptor (TDSD)”. If “Deriving parameters from NIT” is set:

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress USER MANUAL

- For DVB-C: the RF frequency, symbol rate and QAM constellation are set to the values found in the CDSD

- For DVB-T: the RF frequency and DVB-T parameters are set to the values found in the TDSD

3.3 Display Transport Stream information

Upon opening an MPEG-2 TS StreamXpress will read the data from the opened TS file and display some valuable information for the user. There are 3 main areas of display:

 Transport Stream Info  PID Info  File Info

3.3.1 Transport Stream info

The first window from the left represents the Transport Stream Info. It will display the following information if it’s available in the stream:

-Transport Stream ID.

-Each program detected into the stream.

-Program name and total bitrate for the program.

-Under each program: PID#, Stream_type, Stream_ID and bitrate of each component.

3.3.2 PID info

The second window from the left represents the PID Info. It will display the following information if it’s available in the stream:

-Each PID and its association with a program number.

-Bitrate of the PID.

-PCR presence.

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress USER MANUAL

-Whether or not the stream is scrambled.

-Stream_ID.

3.3.3 File info

The third window from the left represents the File Info. It will display from the file:

-File name.

-File size in bytes.

-Number of full packets in the file.

-Packet Size.

-Estimated Rate for the TS and for the Line.

-How many bytes are trailing and not part of a full MPEG TS packet.

NOTE: The line rate includes Reed-Solomon 16 bytes extra information, if present.

NOTE: Some players can have issues with trailing bytes that are not part of any TS packet. StreamXpress will discard these trailing bytes during playback.

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress

Variable

Type

Description

Details

Diag.

TS Rate

Display/ Field

Display the TS rate of the file derived from PCR in the file

Out Rate

Field

Allow to the set the output rate for the playback

#2 2 RMX

Button

Select to remux the TS to match the output rate of the channel

Default

Button

Use this to restore the default output rate (based on PCRs) in the TS rate window

1 4 2

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3.4 Playing a Transport Stream though an ASI interface

StreamXpress supports the playout of CBR transport streams over different interfaces. One of the most common interfaces is ASI. The following are StreamXpress display/setting specific to playing a transport stream over ASI.

3.4.1 ASI rate control

StreamXpress offers some powerful capabilities with regards to setting the output rate of the playback.

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress USER MANUAL

#1 TS Rate:

The native TS rate is derived by reading the PCR values in the first 12MB of the file, counting the number of bytes between PCR values and correlating with the PCR values.

NOTE: If the file has bad PCR values or there are no PCRs detected, the TS rate will be wrong. The same will happen if the stream is VBR. In this case the user can type in its own value for the TS rate. If the TS rate is different than the calculated bitrate, the TS rate will turn red. If the StreamXpress plays a file at the non-native rate, it may result in bad timing of the A/V which may result in picture breaking up and pixelating.

#2 Out Rate:

The output rate will follow the native TS rate by default but represent the actual playout rate. The output rate can be set independent of the native rate. Note that without remultiplexing (RMX button) the stream won’t be able to be decoded properly if played at a different rate than the native rate as the PCR values will not be correct.

#3 RMX:

StreamXpress offers the capability to remultiplex the open TS by adding in real time Null Packets (stuffing) and recalculating PCR and PTS/DTS on the fly.

This is desirable when trying to play to a modulator that requires a fixed input bitrate.

NOTE: StreamXpress can only add Null Packets and cannot play properly at a rate lower than the native rate (even if the original stream contains null packets).

NOTE: If the output rate is set lower than the native TS rate, the Out display will turn orange.

3.4.2 Packet size

StreamXpress support the playback of multiple TS formats. It supports 188 byte packets, 204 byte packets (188 +16 zero bytes) and raw playback.

If the original file contains 188 byte packets, the user can choose to playout 188 byte packets (Native) or 204 byte packets (188+ 16 zero byte) or can play a file in raw format.

NOTE: StreamXpress cannot calculate valid Reed-Solomon bytes so therefore the 16 additional bytes with be zero bytes.

DTC-300-SP – StreamXpress USER MANUAL

If the original file contains 204 byte packets, The user can choose to playout 204 byte packets (Native) or 188 byte packets (188- 16 zero byte) or can play a file in raw format.

NOTE: StreamXpress will play valid Reed-Solomon if present in the original file.

NOTE: The TS rate will be different than the line rate as the 16 extra bytes are not used to calculate the playout rate. The actual output rate will include the 16 Reed-Solomon bytes per packet if playing 204 bytes packets.

If the file is not formatted with either 188 or 204 byte TS packets, StreamXpress can play Raw. Raw

means that StreamXpress doesn’t care about packet size: anything can be transmitted. This works

for ASI or SPI, but not for modulators because these devices expect a packet structure. This is the only way to playout ETI files over an ASI interface.

3.4.3 DVB-ASI settings

StreamXpress with playback over ASI using byte mode meaning that each byte is spread across the 270Mbits/s ASI interface. This mode is the safest mode as it spreads the data evenly without any burst. Data bursts can create near instantaneous data rate hikes that may be difficult for ASI receiver to handle.

StreamXpress allows to playback ASI in burst mode. In this case the interface will be sending complete 188 bytes packets at a time. Click on the Burst mode tick box to select this mode.

ASI is very similar to SDI as it is a 270Mbits/s serial signal. One of the major difference between ASI and SDI is that ASI is polarized, meaning that it has to be in a certain polarization for the data to be received. Some older Distribution Amplifier (DA) will invert the polarization of the ASI data when receiving and regenerating an ASI signal, causing the receiver not to be able to handle that inverted ASI.

The StreamXpress software allows to playback inverted ASI which can be used to test a device capability to handle inverted ASI or to feed an inverting DA (Creating a proper ASI on the output side). Click on invert DVB-ASI tick box to select this mode.

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DekTec DTC-300 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual