DTC-320. StreamXpert MPEG-2 Transport-Stream Analyser

Transcription

1 StreamXpert MPEG-2 Transport-Stream Analyser 2005 DekTec Digital Video BV Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction Specifications and Minimum Requirements Input bit-rate Compatible Input Devices Minimum PC / Laptop Requirements StreamXpert Software Installation DekTec PCI Cards DekTec DTU-225 FantAsi Licensing Determining DirectX Version StreamXpert Overview Launching the StreamXpert StreamXpert Application General Layout Setup Tool Bar: Analyser Setup Recording View Input Device Selection Help Analysis Left Window Pane PID View TS Table Hierarchy View PID Grid View: Analysis Right Window Pane: Real-Time Video/Audio Decoding PCR Analysis Message Bar Window: Trace Bar Window: Bit-rate TR ETR-290 Error Log File Status Bar...26 Appendix A: Support for ISO 8859-x character code tables DekTec Digital Video BV Page 2/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

3 1. Introduction The DTC-320 StreamXpert is a comprehensive software package designed to provide real-time analysis of MPEG-2 compliant Transport Streams. The StreamXpert is intended to be loaded by the end-user on any qualifying PC or laptop and work in conjunction with DekTec input devices. The StreamXpert provides Table, PID, and Bit-rate analysis for a complete overview of the incoming Transport Stream. The StreamXpert also provides PCR and basic TR (ETR-290) analysis to assist in identifying problems in the transport stream. These features, along with real-time decoding of the incoming digital video and audio, team up to give you a powerful and portable analysis solution that will not break your budget DekTec Digital Video BV Page 3/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

4 2. Specifications and Minimum Requirements 2.1. Input bit-rate 214 Mb/s maximum, limited by the capabilities of the input device: DVB/ASI with DTA-120/124/140, DTU-225 = 214 Mb/s. DVB/SPI with DTA-122 = 108 Mb/s Compatible Input Devices Any DekTec Input device DVB/ASI with DTA-120/124/140, DTU-225 DVB/SPI with DTA Minimum PC / Laptop Requirements Operating System: Windows 2000 ( SP4) / XP ( SP1a) / 2003 DirectX: 9.0 or higher Video Card: AGP 64MB equivalent or better (for video decoding) Sound Card Standard sound card (for audio decoding) Processor: PIII 1.0GHz (no video decoding) P4 1.7GHz / Pentium M 1.5GHz (SD Decoding) P4 3.0GHz / Pentium M 2.0GHz (HD Decoding) 1 RAM: 256MB minimum 2 Disk Drive: Rates > 40Mb/s use drive separate from Operating System Rates 100Mb/s use single 7200 RPM SATA or SCSI Rates > 100Mb/s use single RPM SCSI, Striped 7200 RPM SATA, or Striped SCSI 3 Note 1: Parallel ATA Drives may be used, but usually do not achieve same performance as SATA or SCSI. Note 2: Drive specifications are recommendations. Different architectures will yield different results in some systems. 1 Hyperthreading CPU yields best results 2 Best results with 512MB + dual channel DDR400 3 Best performance is achieved using Striped SATA or SCSI Drives 2005 DekTec Digital Video BV Page 4/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

5 3. StreamXpert Software Installation 3.1. DekTec PCI Cards 1. With power off, install DekTec PCI card (DTA-120/122/124/140) into your PC and poweron the unit. 2. Download current version of the DTC-320 StreamXpert software from the DekTec website to a folder on your PC ( 3. The installation application will be contained in a.zip file. Double-click on the StreamXpert SetUp.exe application to begin the installation. 4. The installation is self-explanatory. The main thing to keep in mind is that you will be prompted to install a driver. Select the DTA-1xx driver, the DTU-2xx driver should not be selected unless installing the DTU-225 FantAsi (see Figure 1). You will now be able to use your StreamXpert software with installed DTA-1xx PCI cards DekTec DTU-225 FantAsi 1. Download current version of the DTC-320 StreamXpert software from the DekTec website to a folder on your PC ( 2. The installation application will be contained in a.zip file. Double-click on the StreamXpert SetUp.exe application to begin the installation. 3. The installation is self-explanatory. The main thing to keep in mind is that you will be prompted to install a driver. Select the DTU-2xx driver, the DTA-1xx driver should not be selected unless installing DTA-1xx PCI cards (see Figure 1). 4. Insert the DTU-225 USB connection into your PC or Laptop. You will be prompted to install new hardware. Allow the hardware installer to automatically find the driver and install the device. It may require you to do this two times. You may also need to repeat this process any time that the DTU-225 has been removed from and reinstalled on your system. You will now be able to use your StreamXpert software with installed DTU-2xx ASI/USB devices DekTec Digital Video BV Page 5/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

6 Figure 1 DTC-320 Driver Install 3.3. Licensing To be able to run the StreamXpert software a valid license is required 4. Upon start-up the StreamXpert will check if it can find a valid license on one of the DekTec DTA-1xx or DTU-2xx device 5 in the system. If no license is found the StreamXpert will disable all its features and will display a no license message in the status bar (see 10). If a valid license is encountered the StreamXpert will be ready for usage. If you have bought a DekTec device together with a StreamXpert license (e.g. DTA-120SX or DTU- 225SX) the license will have been pre-loaded on the device by DekTec and you should be able to start using the StreamXpert immediately. If you have bought a device without StreamXpert license and you would like to start using the StreamXpert software please contact DekTec (mailto:sales@dektec.com) or your local distributor to request a license for the StreamXpert software. To be able generate a license for your device please include the serial number (use the DtInfo tool to determine the serial number or refer to the sticker on the back of the device) of the device(s) you want to license in your request. The license will be send to you in the form of a small application which you will need to run once, so that this application can program the license on your device. After successfully running this small application you should be able to use the StreamXpert with your DekTec device. To check if your device is licensed for the StreamXpert the DtInfo tool can be used ( DtInfo is a free tool which scans your system for 4 The StreamXpert requires that at least one device in the system (PC) has a valid license. If one or more devices contain a valid license you will be able to use all DekTec input devices with the StreamXpert. 5 DekTec llicenses are located on the DekTec device (i.e. the device itself acts as a kind of dongle) DekTec Digital Video BV Page 6/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

7 all available DekTec devices and displays: their serial number, firmware version, available license and the current version of the driver used. Figure 2 DtInfo sample screenshot 3.4. Determining DirectX Version You are required to run DirectX 9.0 or higher. Go to Start>Run and type dxdiag in the dialog box and click OK. This will open the DirectX Diagnostic tool. The last line on the main screen will show the DirectX version. It must be 9.0 or higher. You will also be able to determine most of your system parameters with this tool. You may export a text file that can be sent to DekTec (mailto:support@dektec.com) for troubleshooting purposes. Figure 3 Running dxdiag 2005 DekTec Digital Video BV Page 7/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

8 Figure 4 Direct X Diagnostic Tool If you do not have DirectX Version 9.0 or higher, download it from the Microsoft website DekTec Digital Video BV Page 8/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

9 4. StreamXpert Overview 4.1. Launching the StreamXpert Double-click on the desktop icon created by the software installation. This will launch the StreamXpert software StreamXpert Application General Layout Setup Tool Bar: The top area of the StreamXpert application contains all of the settings that allow you to tailor the analyser to your individual situation. Some of the settings are ATSC/DVB mode, record path and duration, video decoding setup, and environmental options. 2. Analysis Left Window Pane: This area displays transport stream parameters. You may choose to view the stream based on PID, TS table hierarchy, or PID Grid view DekTec Digital Video BV Page 9/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

10 3. Message Bar Window: You may view basic stream information or system (I/O card) information in this window. 4. Analysis Right Window Pane: This area is capable of displaying the same information as the Left Window Pane. In addition, you may also view real-time video decoding and PCR analysis in this window. 5. Trace Bar Window: The Trace Bar Window displays a graphical view of the incoming transport stream bit-rate or the presence of Priority 1, 2, and 3 ETR-290 errors. 6. Status Bar: This area, at the bottom right of the application, shows you a snapshot of the setup. You will see presence of signal, analysis mode, input card selected, and record status. You may resize the windows as desired by placing the mouse cursor on the edge of a window, holding down the left mouse button, and dragging DekTec Digital Video BV Page 10/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

11 5. Setup Tool Bar: To properly utilize the StreamXpert application, you must first ensure that you have correctly defined the analysis parameters that will apply to the transport stream under test. The Setup Bar contains all of the configuration parameters Analyser Setup The Analyser Setup pull-down allows you to Freeze, Refresh, and Reset the analysis of the incoming stream. You also have the ability to change the TR analysis settings. Figure 5 Analyser Setup (TR ) The TR settings include selecting the file path for the ETR-290 error log. You may also start the ETR-290 tracing/logging, this must be selected in order to create an error log file and present ETR-290 information on the Trace Bar. This menu also allows you to stop ETR-290 tracing/logging and view an existing error log. ETR-290 errors are reported per the DVB standard. Selecting Options in the Analyser Setup pull-down opens a new window that contains several more system parameters that you may modify Figure 6 Analyser setup (Options) 1. Environment: Use the pull-downs to change the Screen and PCR Snapshot refresh rates. You may also select whether you want the PID numbers and Service ID number displayed in decimal or hexadecimal format DekTec Digital Video BV Page 11/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

12 2. Recording: This option allows you to configure how the application will handle recording of the incoming transport stream. In Normal mode, you must manually stop the recording. In Max. Time mode, you define how long the recording will last. In Max. Size mode, you define the file size to capture. Selecting "Always ask for new file" will force the application to prompt you for a file name every time you initiate a recording. Leaving this box unchecked will allow overwriting the record file rather than creating a new one. 3. Decoding: Under video, you may change between full and quarter resolution. Using quarter resolution allows a more seamless video decode with systems that do not have the processing power or video output capability to correctly decode in full resolution. You may also change the decoded video brightness. The audio selection allows changing the volume level of the decoded audio. You may also need to adjust the volume on your speakers or in the control panel to achieve desired audio output level. 4. Algorithms: Selecting standard allows you to switch between ATSC and DVB mode. This defines the analysis paradigm that is applied to the incoming transport stream based on the ATSC/DVB standard. The bit-rate settings define the profile you wish to apply to bit-rate measurements. The gate determines the time period over which the bit-rate is averaged. The time-slice determines the frequency at which the bit-rate is sampled. For instance: a gate of 1s and time-slice of 100ms means that we measure the average over a 1s period and we sample the bit-rate every 100ms. Short-term is pre-defined as 1s gate and 100ms time-slice. Long-term is pre-defined as 60s gate and 1000ms time-slice. You may select User and define the gate and time-slice using the pulldowns. 5. TR : You may set the maximum size of the ETR-290 error log file in this selection. Many of the Analyser Setup parameters may also be found in shortcuts on the Setup Tool Bar. Figure 7 Analyser Setup Shortcuts 5.2. Recording The StreamXpert application allows you to capture the incoming transport stream to a file. Be aware of the guidelines contained in the Specifications and Minimum Requirements section as it applies to the incoming bit-rate. Initiating a recording to disk is a very simple task involving only a few mouse clicks. Figure 8 Recording You may initiate a recording from two different places on the Setup Tool Bar (see Figure 8). Save allows you to define the file path you will record to. Start and Stop are self-explanatory. Keep in mind the recording parameters you defined earlier under the Analyser Setup Options section DekTec Digital Video BV Page 12/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

13 5.3. View You may change the layout of the StreamXpert Application by selecting or de-selecting which windows (Bars) you want displayed. Figure 9 View Selection The choices, under Toolbars, defines which shortcuts you want displayed on the Analyser Setup Tool Bar. The other choices will add or remove windows (Bars) from the main application display Input Device Selection The input device (DekTec DTA PCI cards or DTU USB input devices) may be selected in a pull-down on the Analyser Setup Tool Bar. If only one input device is installed, the StreamXpert will automatically default to it. If multiple devices are installed you may select which one you wish to use. The information button will display the basic parameters of the input device selected. Figure 10 Input Device Selection 2005 DekTec Digital Video BV Page 13/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

14 5.5. Help The Help > About StreamXpert selection will display the current version of StreamXpert software that you are running. Figure 11 Software Version Your StreamXpert application should now be properly setup. The remainder of this manual provides information on viewing the different aspects of the incoming transport stream DekTec Digital Video BV Page 14/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

15 6. Analysis Left Window Pane The main analysis capabilities of the StreamXpert are displayed in the Left and Right Window Panes. The Left Window Pane is capable of displaying the incoming transport stream via PID view, TS table hierarchy view, and PID Grid view PID View The PID view displays the transport stream in ascending numerical value of PID's (Packet Identification Numbers) contained in the stream. Click on the PID tab at the bottom of the Left Analysis Window Pane. Each line shows an icon representing the packet type followed by the PID number, description of the PID, and the PID bit-rate. A "+" sign indicates that there is more information about the PID that may displayed by left-mouse clicking on the "+" sign. The PID numbers will be displayed in decimal or hexadecimal based on the Analyser > Options setup. Figure 12 PID View Note 1: If you are analyzing a stream that contains Digicypher (stream type 0x80) video, you must select ATSC analysis mode DekTec Digital Video BV Page 15/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

16 6.2. TS Table Hierarchy View The TS table hierarchy view displays the transport stream via the table structure (PAT, PMT, Services, etc.). Click on the TS tab at the bottom of the Left Analysis Window Pane. You may expand the analysis down to the PID and even further by left-mouse clicking on the "+" signs next to the tables. Figure 13 TS Table Hierarchy View 6.3. PID Grid View: The PID Grid View displays the PID numbers contained in the transport stream in a grid. Click on the Grid tab at the bottom of the Left Analysis Window Pane. The vertical axis represents values in 100's and the horizontal axis represents values in 1's. The Grid View allows you to quickly determine patterns used in PID mapping for the particular stream DekTec Digital Video BV Page 16/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

17 You may hold the mouse cursor over the graph boxes to see a pop-up box that displays the value and type of the PID. Figure 14 PID Grid View 2005 DekTec Digital Video BV Page 17/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

18 7. Analysis Right Window Pane: The Right Window Pane is capable of displaying the same information as the Left Window Pane (PID view, TS table hierarchy view, and PID Grid view). This gives you the flexibility to view PID and TS table hierarchy at the same time. The Right Window Pane, however, offers two additional capabilities over the Left: Real-time video/audio decoding and PCR analysis Real-Time Video/Audio Decoding One of the most powerful features of the StreamXpert application is the ability to decode digital video and audio in real-time. This feature is also the most tasking on your PC's processor. Please refer to the guidelines regarding recommended processor and memory in the Specifications and Minimum Requirements section. If video decoding performance is poor, set the decoding in quarter resolution mode (Analyser > Options > Decoding) to achieve a more seamless decode. You may also experiment with some of the Direct Draw features (enable/disable) in the DirectX Diagnostics tool to achieve better performance. Ultimately, you must have a robust system (especially for high definition video) to perform seamless video decoding. Click on the TV tab at the bottom of the Right Window pane to initiate decoding. You will receive a message in this window stating "No service selected. Right-click to select a service". You may now right-mouse click in this window to select the service (there can be many services to select from in a multiple program transport stream) or select in the pull-down on the Decoding Tool Bar. Figure 15 Decode Toolbar Service Selection 2005 DekTec Digital Video BV Page 18/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

19 Figure 16 Right-Mouse Click Service Selection Video and audio decoding will begin as soon a service has been selected. Video decoding will be present in the Right Window Pane and the window may be resized as needed. Audio decoding will be present on the output of your PC's sound card. You may adjust audio volume in the setup (Analyser > Options > Decoding) or with your PC's volume controls. You may step up/down through multiple services using the +/- buttons on the Decode Toolbar. You may also select which video or audio PID to decode (if the service has multiple) using pull-downs on the Decode Toolbar. Figure 17 Decode Toolbar Note: The StreamXpert cannot decode encrypted video programs DekTec Digital Video BV Page 19/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

20 Figure 18 StreamXpert Video Decoding Example 2005 DekTec Digital Video BV Page 20/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

21 7.2. PCR Analysis PCR Analysis is a measurement of the Program Reference Clock contained within each service (program) of a transport stream. PCR timing can be indicative of the quality of the incoming stream and large inaccuracy values will often lead to problems decoding the video/audio contained within the services of a transport stream. Click on the PCR tab at the bottom of the Right Window pane to initiate PCR analysis. You will need to right-mouse click in the right window pane to select the service whose PCR you would like to measure (there should be one PCR per service). Figure 19 PCR Service Selection Figure 20 PCR Measurements 1. PCR Accuracy Snapshot: The PCR accuracy of the service displayed in snapshots updated per the time value defined in Analyser > Options > Environment. PCR accuracy values should fall between ± 500ns (referenced to zero, which is no inaccuracy) to be considered good. The StreamXpert displays values in excess of ± 500ns in red. You may change the vertical axis from ± 100ns to ± 2005 DekTec Digital Video BV Page 21/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

22 500ns by holding the left-mouse button down in the PCR_AC Snapshot field and pressing the Up/Down arrow keys on your keyboard. 2. PCR Accuracy Density: This field is a graphical representation of the number of PCR time stamp occurrences versus their accuracy compared to zero. Ideally the distribution will be centered around zero with no occurrences greater than ± 500ns. You may change the vertical axis by holding the left-mouse button down in the PCR_AC Density field and pressing the Up/Down arrow keys on your keyboard. You may change the horizontal axis by holding the left-mouse button down in the PCR Interval Density field and pressing the Left/Right arrow keys on your keyboard. 3. PCR Interval Density: The frequency of occurrence of PCR time stamps within the service. Values should be distributed over values less than 40ms for DVB streams and less than 100ms for ATSC streams. You may change the vertical axis by holding the left-mouse button down in the PCR Interval Density field and pressing the Up/Down arrow keys on your keyboard. You may change the horizontal axis by holding the left-mouse button down in the PCR Interval Density field and pressing the Left/Right arrow keys on your keyboard DekTec Digital Video BV Page 22/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

23 8. Message Bar Window: The Message Bar Window contains two tabs. The Info tab contains general application information such as: signal detection, loss of synchronization, and start of ETR-290 tracing. The System tab contains information regarding DekTec input devices such as: DTA PCI cards and DTU USB devices. Figure 21 Message Bar Info Tab Figure 22 Message Bar System Tab 2005 DekTec Digital Video BV Page 23/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

24 9. Trace Bar Window: The Trace Bar Window contains two tabs: Bit-rate and TR Bit-rate The bit-rate tab graphically displays the bit-rate of the incoming transport stream. The green line is the overall bit-rate of the transport stream and should be a constant value. The red line indicates the bit-rate that is actually being used to carry a payload (video, audio, data, etc.). The difference between the two lines is indicative of the overhead present in the transport stream. You may hold the mouse cursor over the graph lines to see a pop-up box that displays the values of the two lines. Figure 23 Trace Bar Bit-rate Graph 9.2. TR The TR tab graphically displays the presence of TR errors (per the DVB standard) Priority 1, 2, and 3. You will need to look at the ETR-290 log file to determine the actual errors that have occurred. The path to the ETR-290 log file is also displayed in this window. TR logging/tracing must be started (Analyser > TR ) to generate the ETR-290 log and generate results on the TR tab of the Trace Bar. Figure 24 Trace Bar TR Graph 2005 DekTec Digital Video BV Page 24/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

25 9.3. ETR-290 Error Log File The ETR-290 log file is saved as a *.log file type. You may open it with any standard text editing application (the application defaults to Notepad ). Keep in mind that errors are reported per the ETR-290 standard using the DVB paradigm. Valid ATSC streams may show errors in the log that are not indicative of a problem with the stream. Figure 25 ETR-290 Error Log File 2005 DekTec Digital Video BV Page 25/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

26 10. Status Bar The Status Bar appears in the lower right corner of the StreamXpert application. The Status Bar gives you a brief overview of system operation Figure 26 Status Bar 1. Input Status: This box indicates the status of the incoming transport stream. A green globe defines a valid transport stream input and the number is representative of the packet format (ie. 188 byte / 204 byte). A red globe defines a missing or bad input condition and is usually accompanied by a "No Signal" message. 2. Mode: The Mode box indicates the analysis mode that is defined in the Setup Tool Bar (ATSC or DVB). 3. Input Type: This box indicates the type of input medium that can be accepted by the DekTec input device that is selected (typically DVB/ASI or DVB/SPI). 4. Input Device: The Input Device box displays the DekTec input device that is currently selected and the PCI slot or USB port it is located on. 5. Record Status: This box displays the status of recording. A gray globe indicates that recording is not active. A flashing red globe indicates that recording is in progress. Recording errors (buffer underflows) are displayed in the Message Bar Window, Info tab DekTec Digital Video BV Page 26/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software

27 Appendix A: Support for ISO 8859-x character code tables The StreamXpert includes support for decoding strings in SI tables which use different ISO 8859-x code tables. However for the SteamXpert to be able to display all strings correctly the necessary Windows Code page conversion tables need to be enabled in the Regional and language options settings. In most cases the needed tables are enabled by default, but depending on the regional version (e.g. US, UK, French, German, etc) of Windows used some tables might not have been enabled by default. To enable the necessary code page conversion tables please perform the following steps: 1. Open the Windows Control Panel; 2. Select the Date, Time, Language and Regional Options page; 3. Select Regional and Language Options; 4. Select the Advanced tab; 5. From Code page conversion tables list, enable all the ISO8859-X tables used in your SI tables; 6. Press Apply; 7. To activate these new settings it is advisable to restart the PC; The screenshot below shows an example of the Regional and language options screen. Figure 27 Example of Regional and language options screen 2005 DekTec Digital Video BV Page 27/27 Manual for DTC-320 StreamXpert Software