News & Updates 2006

Today DekTec has released DVB-S2 support for the DTA-107. The DVB-S2 support consists of a new firmware version 2 for the DTA-107, a software license (type number DTC-372-S2-LICK) and DVB-S2 modulation support in DTAPI and StreamXpress. The DTA-107 with the DVB-S2 license included is available as DTA-107S2.

The DTA-107S2 supports the normative aspects of the "Broadcast Services" operational modes of DVB-S2. The modulator operates in Constant Coding and Modulation (CCM) mode. Legacy DVB-S modulation is still supported.

DTA-107S2  -  DVB-S2 Support

If you own a DTA-107 you can convert it to a DTA-107S2 by upgrading the firmware with DtInfo, purchasing a DTC-372-S2-LICK from DekTec, installing this license and installing the latest version of the StreamXpress.

The DTA-105 is a low-profile PCI card with two independent DVB-ASI outputs. Each output channel has a 16-MByte buffer and supports all the standard DekTec output-channel functions. Applications written for other DekTec output cards will run virtually unchanged on the DTA-105.

The DTA-105 can be considered as the low-profile successor of the DTA-100. The card is delivered both with a low- and a standard- profile bracket so that it can be fitted both in a standard and in a low-profile PC chassis. The low-cost design makes the DTA-105 very suited for OEM applications in which Transport Streams have to be generated at a high density.

The DTA-105 is available from stock and can be delivered within days in small quantities. DekTec is happy to discuss any OEM requirements you may have.

In its latest generation of Digital-TV interface cards DekTec introduces configurable I/O-ports: These are ASI/SDI ports that can be configured as input, output or as a doubly-buffered copy of another port.

The first two cards supporting this new feature are the DTA-105 (Dual DVB-ASI Output Adapter for PCI Bus) and the DTA-160 (GigE TS-over-IP + 3 ASI Ports for PCI Bus).

The DTA-105 features configurable double-buffering. In ‘normal mode’ the DTA-105 has two completely independent DVB-ASI channels. In doubly-buffered mode output 2 becomes a copy of output 1, combining the two channels into one logical DVB-ASI output.

The DTA-160 is a good example of a card with configurable bi-directional I/O-ports. Each of the three DVB-ASI ports on this card can be independently configured as input or output.

For controlling the configurable I/O-ports, DekTec has recently released a new version of the DtInfo tool. This is a diagnostics tool that scans your system for available DekTec cards and provides the following information for each device:
- Version numbers of the installed DekTec drivers
- Type number, serial number, location, USB bus version, hardware revision and firmware version
- Available software licenses
- Current I/O configuration (in case of configurable I/O-ports)
Apart from showing the diagnostic information mentioned above, DtInfo can also be used to upgrade the firmware of your DekTec device. With the latest DtInfo version you can now also control the configurable I/O ports on devices with support for this feature, see screenshot.

DekTec's StreamXpert supports DVB-RCS (DVB - Return Channel via Satellite). With this new DVB-RCS analysis mode, worldwide satellite operators can benefit from DekTec's combined cost-effective solutions. Based on the ETSI EN 301 790 standard, SCT, FCT, SPT, CMT, TBTP, RMT tables and common DVB-RCS descriptors can be monitored. Additionally, NCR (Network Clock Reference) is analyzed and displayed similarly as already available for common PCR values.

"In combination with DekTec's compact DTU interfaces, DVB-RCS operator engineers can now dispose of a handy solution to capture and analyse DVB-RCS Transport Streams on the spot when visiting any DVB-RCS Hub or Node. As a partner of DekTec, we are proud to have contributed to this achievement", says Michael Van Dorpe, Managing Director of Village Island (DekTec Japan distributor).

"We found DekTec StreamXpert in combination with DekTec DTU-2xx series to be a very flexible and powerful tool for the real-time monitoring of DVB-S and DVB-RCS streams. We appreciate the possibility to customize the SI tables format and to add custom descriptors via the XML definition files.", says Minesawa George, Ph.D., Engineer from Hakusan Corporation, Japan. Hakusan is developing customized Satellite Data Transmission systems.

If you already have acquired the DekTec StreamXpert, upgrade your solution now from our Applications download page.

DekTec has released the DTAPINET library, this is a CLS-compliant .NET library based on the standard DekTec DTAPI library. The library encapsulates the functions of the device-driver layer for DekTec cards and enables access to the hardware features from application programs. The .NET library offers the same functions as the standard library. Above that, it allows developers to use these functions from .NET languages such as C#, VB.NET and C++/CLI.
The DTAPINET download includes a sample program that demonstrates the ease of creating a C# application on top of the DekTec cards. DTAPINET is for free and it can be downloaded here.


DekTec Digital Video and Rohde & Schwarz Netherlands have agreed today that R&S will start sales, marketing and first-line support for all DekTec products in the Netherlands. Rohde & Schwarz is considering the DekTec product line as complementary to the R&S products. Indeed several customers around the world are using DekTec stream-generation products, like the DTU-205, in combination with the R&S Broadcast & Test System SFU.

DekTec welcomes this distribution agreement as a recognition of product quality and an excellent way to offer the Dutch market a one-stop-shop to satisfy all compressed-digital video Test & Measurement requirements. The first presentation of DekTec products by R&S will be at the AV Manifestatie in Hilversum.

The DTA-110T, DekTec's DVB-T modulator with integrated UHF upconverter, is in full production and available from stock. The DTA-110T is fully compliant to the DVB-T specification EN 300 744, including support for 4k mode and extended TPS bits for generating DVB-H. The DTA-110T also still supports ITU-T J.83 Annex A (DVB-C) and ITU-T J.83 Annex C (Japanese QAM variant). The RF frequency is agile between 400 and 862 MHz.

The software interface (DTAPI) of the DTA-110T is the same as for all other DekTec PCI- and USB-2 devices. The StreamXpress software also supports the DTA-110T, and enables setting of the OFDM-modulation parameters directly from the main screen.