DekTec is proud to introduce the MuxXpert, a real-time re-multiplexer of live MPEG-2 Transport Streams. This professional-grade application runs on a standard- or industrial PC in conjunction with any mix of DekTec input and output adapters. Services and service components from any input can be re-multiplexed to any output.

The multiplexing application is highly scalable up to 8 input ports, 4 output ports and 2 file players. All DekTec input and output adapters are supported. Therefore, all kinds of conversions are supported, like ASI to IP, IP to ASI, and also direct RF out with one of DekTec's modulator cards.

The application has integrated Transport-Stream file players for inserting local content from disk into live streams. The players can be manually controlled from the GUI and automatically from a play list. The GUI of the MuxXpert displays information about the services, service components and bitrates present in the input and output Transport Streams.

Flexible configuration allows the user to specify the newly created Transport Stream, including PID-remapping, PID-filtering, service-remapping, descriptor filtering and addition, generation and insertion of PSI/SI tables and more.

The MuxXpert is the ideal application for many scenarios requiring (re-)multiplexing. In head ends of all sizes the application is perfectly suited for generating new Transport Streams from existing live streams. In the lab one can generate fully customised Transport Streams from files, in any mixture with live feeds. In all applications it doesn't matter whether the Transport Streams are carried on DVB-ASI, IP or RF modulated.

DtJitter is a new addition to the list of DekTec's  free tools for Digital-TV professionals. The DtJitter tool is intended to be used with DekTec’s new DTA-160 Gig-E card for the purpose of measuring IP jitter and measuring the media delivery index (MDI) for IPTV streams.

The user-friendly GUI allows users to quickly specify the IP address and IP port number of the IPTV stream they want to monitor. DtJitter automatically detects whether the entered IP address is Unicast or Multicast and will perform an IGMP join if needed.

In the GUI there are several graphs displaying the history of the transport-stream rate, delay factor / media loss rate (=MDI) and IPAT (inter-packet arrival time) of the monitored IPTV stream.

Next to these graphs DtJitter also provides basic statistics like:
  -  Active IP protocol (UDP or RTP);
  -  Number of transport-packet per IP packet;
  -  Number of FEC rows and columns;
  -  BER before FEC and after FEC.

With all the details shown in the DtJitter GUI users get a birds-eye view of the current and recent status of the monitored stream, allowing them to quickly assess whether there are any jitter-related problems in their IPTV network.

For the first time a non-Japanese manufacturer has succeeded to produce an ISDB-T modulator according to the ARIB specification (www.arib.or.jp). ISDB-T is the advanced Japanese standard for digital terrestrial transmission. Recently Brasil has also adopted ISDB-T.

To achieve this complex modulation, it was necessary to extract and process the TMCC information defining the modulation scheme for each of the 13 segments defined in the ISDB-T norm. Commonly 12 segments are modulated in 64-QAM, while the 13rd segment is modulated in QPSK for mobile terrestrial broadcasting.

This new compact solution offers the highest cost / performance for STB vendors as well as middleware developers that target ISDB-T receivers. The package will permit to play and modulate directly from a recorded TS file, but also to process in real-time a TS signal. For TS files without TMCC, DekTec offers a free tool to insert TMCC.

ISDB-T modulation is available now as a field-upgradeable option for the DTA-110T. DekTec has developed the ISDB-T modulator in close cooperation with DekTec's Japanese distributor and development partner Village Island.

DekTec expands its product offering with DtGrabber+, a new advanced recording solution. Worldwide customers can now benefit from an unmatched price / performance ratio for recording functionalities. DtGrabber+ is most useful for continuous logging of broadcasted signals, HE system monitoring / troubleshooting and field STB debugging.

DtGrabber+ offers several methods to facilitate continuous recording:
- In Multiple-File mode the incoming Transport Stream is automatically divided over multiple files. The operator can select auto-deletion of old files based on time-to-keep or on a maximum number of files. Filenames are time-stamped for convenient post-processing.
- In Loop-Recording mode the incoming stream is recorded in a loop into a single file. When recording is stopped, the application reconstructs the original sequence of packets.
- A merge tool for concatenating TS files is included.

Amongst the other functionalities in DtGrabber+ are alarm logging (Sync Loss, Buffer Overflow, ...) and hard-disk overflow monitoring. External storage units are supported to permit cost effective integration for small operators and handling of very large files. DtGrabber+ also supports the recording of SDI video signals from ASI/SDI input adapters.

 "Having a capture of a broadcast stream at the specific time of a broadcast incident or having a punctual capture of a TS signal that produces specific behavior on an STB, is a key and valuable step in the process of finding the root cause of a problem. It is only by continuously recording the stream that such investigation can proceed, and DtGrabber+ is the right tool for this. We are happy to have developed these functionalities together with DekTec"  says Jiro FUKUSHIMA, director of Village Island.

All DekTec input adapters (DTA-120, DTA-122, DTA-124, DTA-160, DTU-225, DTU-245) delivered after 1st of January 2006 with DP, SDP, SX or SXP license have a DtGrabber+ license included. DtGrabber+ can be downloaded here. To acquire a DtGrabber+ license for an unlicensed adapter, please contact your local distributor.