DTC-325 DtGrabber+ Advanced Transport-Stream/SDI Recorder © 2006-2015 DekTec Digital Video BV Affordable Tools for Digital-TV Professionals www.dektec.
DTC-325 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 3 2. Specifications and Minimum Requirements ............................................................................................ 4 3. DtGrabber+ Software Installation ......................................................................................................... 6 4. DTC-325 DtGrabber+ Revision History ..........
DTC-325 1. Introduction The DTC-325 DtGrabber+ is a cost-effective software package designed for Advanced Recording of MPEG-2 Transport Streams or SDI video signals. The DtGrabber+ is intended to be installed by the user on any qualifying PC and work in conjunction with DekTec input devices.
DTC-325 2. Specifications and Minimum Requirements 2.1. Key Attributes Parameter Input Rate Value 0…214 Mbit/s* * for DVB-ASI with DTA-120, DTA-124, DTA-140 , DTU-225 or DTU-245 but DVB-SPI with DTA-122: 108 Mbit/s (max. DVB/SPI rate) 2.2. Minimum PC Requirements Platform Windows XP SP3 / Vista SP2 / 2003 SP2 / 2008 SP2 / Windows 7 / Windows 8 Processor PIV@1.0GHz** (minimum) 512MB (minimum) RAM ** Or equivalent AMD processor 2.3.
DTC-325 Type Description Input(s) Output(s) DTA-115 OFDM Modulator / UHF Upconverter for PCI Bus DVB-T or DVB-H with 1 In/Out ASI Port for DVB-ASI 1x DVB-T/H/QAM/ ISDBT output 1x DVB-ASI*** DTA-120 DVB-ASI Input Adapter for PCI Bus 1x DVB-ASI DTA-122 DVB-SPI (LVDS) Input Adapter for PCI Bus 1x DVB-SPI DTA-124 Quad ASI/SDI Input Adapter for PCI Bus 4x DVB-ASI DTA-140 DVB/ASI Input+Output Adapter for PCI Bus DVB-ASI 1x DVB-ASI DTA-145 Multi-Purpose ASI/SDI Adapter for PCI Bus 2x DVB-ASI**
DTC-325 3. DtGrabber+ Software Installation 3.1. Installation The DtGrabber+ software installation is self-explanatory. The “DtGrabber+ SetUp.exe” program will guide you through the installation process. The latest version of ‘DtGrabber+ SetUp.exe’ can be found in the download section of the DekTec website, at http://www.dektec.com/downloads. The DtGrabber+ requires the Dta1xx device driver for PCI cards or Dtu2xxx device driver for USB adapters.
DTC-325 4. DTC-325 DtGrabber+ Revision History Revision Date Change V1.18.3.368 2015.03.12 ・ Added DTA-2174 3G-SDI support ・ T2MI output TS rate is configurable (DTA-2131/2138) V1.17.2.352 2014.11.05 ・ Added L.3 baseband frames capture (DTA-2137) ・ Added DVB-T2 Lite support (DTA-2131) ・ Added support for user-configurable IQ sampling rate ・ Fixed SNMP related issues V1.16.4.303 2014.03.12 ・ Various fixes V1.16.2.282 2014.01.21 ・ Added DAB support for DTA-2131 V1.15.1.259 2013.12.
DTC-325 v1.8.0.93 2012.08.03 ・ Fix for dropped packets when recording and merging several files v1.8.0.92 2012.05.16 ・ Support for Dta and Dtu V4 drivers v1.7.5.90 ・ DTE-3137 support ・ Added Raw Recording mode v1.7.4.84 2011.09.28 ・ Fix for crash when selecting an ASI interface V1.7.3.83 2011.09.26 ・ DTA-2136 support ・ Correction for DVB-T recording V1.7.2.
DTC-325 v1.5.5.52 2007.11.07 ・ Correction of frequency List for QAM64-B and QAM256-B ・ RF Level display for DTU-234 ・ Snmp improvement for numerous and large of character strings v1.5.4.48 2007.09.26 ・ Support for recursive Loop recordings ・ SNMP Control for DTA-160 IP settings. ・ Corrections for SNMP Trap OIDs and for managment of multiple and continuous DtGrabber+ sessions. V1.5.2.41 2007.07.13 ・ Correction for Schedule control ・ Correction for DTU-234 ATSC mode v1.5.1.39 2007.06.
DTC-325 5. DtGrabber+ Overview 5.1. Launching the DtGrabber+ Start the DtGrabber+ program from the Start Menu: start->All Programs->DEKTEC->DtGrabber+, or from your desktop click on the DtGrabber+ shortcut, if available. DtGrabber+ application icon: 5.2. DtGrabber+ Application General Layout 1 2 5 3 6 4 7 8 9 10 Application general view 1. Menu Bar: The top area of the DtGrabber+ application contains four menus: Recorder, Tools, Adapter and Help. 2.
DTC-325 5. Record Option: This area provides controls to select between Single File recording or Multiple File recording. For Single File recording, the loop recording can be selected. For multiple files, a specific number of file can be defined or unlimited number of files can be created through the setting of auto-erase rules detailed in section 4.3.3 6. Estimates View: This area displays estimates for File Duration, File Size and Total Size required for your recording configuration. 7.
DTC-325 For SDI input signals, only one LED (signal) is present. After selecting the SDI Input Mode, video input’s number of lines and signal rate are displayed. Specific settings as Huffman compression and recording method (Video Frame/Full Frame, 8bits/10bits) are available. NOTE: for 10-bit full frame SDI recording with a DTU-225 or DTU-245 it is recommended to use Huffman compression.
DTC-325 Below the File Name setting box, three sub areas: File Type, Record Option and Estimates are provided. File Type File Type selection Specify the type of Record file control: Duration (HH:MM:SS), by size (MB) or manually controlled. Record Option Record Option settings The Record Options permit you to select between Single File Recording and Multiple File Recording. For simple recording on the spot, select “Single File Recording” for the creation of a unique file.
DTC-325 Estimates View Estimates View This view provides estimation of File Duration and File Size and the overall size required for your recording depending on your settings. For instance in the case of continuous recording with 50 multiple files of 10 minutes each at a rate 31.6 Mbps, one file will requires 2263 MB and the continuous recording will requires 110.5 GB approximately. DtGrabber+ will check available space in regards with those estimates to validate the start of your recording. 5.3.4.
DTC-325 When incoming the data speed is higher than the disk capacity, this will result in Buffer overflow and data loss. When overflow occurs, the led turns to red then orange and the “overflow” message will be reported. (See section 5.3.5 for Message Bar and 5.4 for DtGrabber+ logs explanation) Control Area – Buffer Overflow If the overflow persists, the application will try periodically to restore itself by purging the buffer.
DTC-325 Note that the memory spaces displayed refer only to the actual Record done by the instance of the application and doesn’t take into account other instance of DtGrabber+ that may be running simultaneously on the same host PC. 5. Disk Available Space. This monitor displays the remaining space on the selected disk. In case the user starts a recording exceeding the available disk space, the following pop-up message will be displayed and the recording will be cancelled.
DTC-325 5.4. DtGrabber+ Messages and Logs 5.4.1. Application Messages The DtGrabber+ application generates messages in the Message Bar, in a Log File and as SNMP Trap if enabled so. Three levels of message are considered: INFO (Information), WARN (Warning) and ALAR (Alarm) for Alarm messages when recording or the quality of the recording is affected.
DTC-325 5.4.2. Message Logging All messages generated by the application are logged into the file “DtGrabberLog.txt” which is created automatically into the Record File directory. The following provides an example of logs generated by the application with a Multiple File recording with auto-erase rule for maximum 5 files. It provides details about times where file are created and deleted. In this example, a TS Sync loss is reported.
DTC-325 5.5. DtGrabber+ Tools 5.5.1. Merge tool After recording with multiple file option, one may need to rebuild the original signal from sequentially created files. For this purpose, the merge tool was created. To launch the tool, access the following menu: Tools->Merge Merge tool – Access the merge tool from the Tools menu From the Merge Files window, select first your input files from the “Select” button then click on [Merge] button to perform the merging.
DTC-325 5.5.2. Schedule control The Schedule control permits the user to program recording based on time information. The Edit Schedule window can be launched from the menu Tools->Schedule Schedule control – Access the Edit Schedule window from the Tools menu From the Edit Schedule window, enter Schedules info by setting the Day and the Time of the recording.
DTC-325 In the Set Up Day area, one can specify a date (“One-Shot” recording), or one or multiple day of the week (like every Wednesday and Friday), or a repeatation every X days starting from a specific date. In the Set Up Time area, one can specify the recording start and stop times. It is also possible to specify a multiple file recording. After checking the path on disk for the scheduled recording, click on “Add Schedule” to add the schedule to your Schedule List.
DTC-325 5.5.3. PID Filtering The PID Filtering is a simple functionality that permits user to replace defined PID or interval of PIDs with Null Packets, or to simply drop Null Packets. The PID Filtering Settings window is launched from the menu Tools->PID Filtering PID Filtering – Access the PID Filtering setting window from the menu Check “Drop Null packets after filtering” checkbox to drop all Null Packets.
DTC-325 To enable the PID filtering, make sure that the Control button PID Filtering is pushed Enable PID filtering PID Filtering – Enable PID Filtering © 2006-2015 DekTec Digital Video BV Affordable Tools for Digital-TV Professionals Page 23/44 Manual for DTC-325 DtGrabber+ Software March 2015
DTC-325 5.6. Options The options are available from the menu Recorder->Options and permit to fine-tune detailed settings of the application. All the options settings are saved in the windows registry in regards with the adapter input selected. 5.6.1. Message Logging options From this window, the user can enable or disable the Message Logging, but can also specify the Log File Name.
DTC-325 DtGrabber+ Options settings – Disk Monitor CAUTION: Do note that recording will not start if the Disk Available Space is less than the specified minimum size. Unless the “Cancel start of recording if not enough overall disk space” checkbox is not checked. 5.6.3. File options Timestamping in the filename can be achieved by using a set of specific tags: %Y for year, %M for month, %D for day, %H for hour, %m for minute and %S for second.
DTC-325 DtGrabber+ Options settings – File When recording multiple files, the File index keeps incrementing each time a new file is created, BUT the index is reset to ‘1’ every time a recording is restarted. For critical and optimal disk usage, it is necessary to keep the File Index increasing each time a new file is done and independently if the server was rebooted, the application restarted or the recording task restarted. To enable this, uncheck the “File Index” checkbox.
DTC-325 DtGrabber+ Options settings – SNMP 5.6.5. Schedule options The “Auto resume of current schedule” will permit to automatically start or resume a scheduled recording whenever the current time is between a Start time and a Stop time. This permits to auto resume recording if an application or the server/PC has been reset/reboot.
DTC-325 5.6.6. Recording options If the user wants to record without notion of packets, check the “Raw Mode” option. DtGrabber+ Options settings – Recording In Raw mode, all incoming valid data bytes are stored and the Packet Size field in the main dialog is set “Raw” with orange background.
DTC-325 6. SNMP Remote Control 6.1. About SNMP Commonly used in the broadcast industry, the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an open standard that enables management and monitoring of remotely controlled devices over TCP/IP network. SNMP is defined in RFC 1157, "A Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)" (*). The following link provides also a nice introduction to SNMP: http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/535/3.html (**).
DTC-325 6.2. How to set-up your SNMP control This section details how to enable and configure the SNMP Agent functionality for your DekTec application. SNMP Manager’s installation and configuration is not part of this scope. In the “C:\ Program Files\DekTec\DtGrabber+\” directory, you will find in addition to the DtGrabber+ executable, the VISNMP.dll file and the MIB file. The MIB file is to be passed to the SNMP Manager, while the VISNMP.
DTC-325 SNMP Service properties setting – Traps tab and LogOn tab Now from the tab Security, check the checkbox "Send authentication trap". Click "Add" under "Accepted community names". On appearing dialog box, select "READ WRITE" on "Community rights", enter "public" on "Community name", and click "OK". If you want to accept requests only from a particular client, then select "Accept SNMP packets from these hosts" and click "Add" underneath that.
DTC-325 6.2.3. Confirm registry settings Although the registry settings are performed automatically by the DtGrabber+ installer, in case of any trouble please check this section’s details. To permit the Windows SNMP service to communicate with DekTec applications, the VISNMP.dll is provided and is referenced in the Windows Registry. From “Start” menu, select “Run Command” and type the command “regedit” to launch the Registry Editor.
DTC-325 Enable SNMP Remote Control SNMP Control – Select SNMP Remote Control After a while (maximum 5 seconds), the DtGrabber+ will automatically connect to the VISNMP service and the message “Connected to SNMP Service” will be reported in the Message Bar. SNMP Control – DtGrabber+ connected with SNMP service Now, you can start control the DtGrabber+ through SNMP. SNMP Traps will automatically be sent to all authorized SNMP Managers. 6.4.
DTC-325 7. Support Contact information DtGrabber+ is developed in cooperation by DekTec Digital Video B.V. and Village Island Co., Ltd. For assistance regarding the use of DtGrabber+ contact us at: Village Island Co., Ltd. 3-19-1-5F, Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0071 Japan Tel: +81 3 6409 6206 Fax: +81 3 6409 6207 email: support@village-island.com website: http://www.village-island.com DekTec Digital Video B.V.
DTC-325 Appendix A: DtGrabber+ specific controls for DTA-160 When using the DTA-160’s IP port for TS over IP reception, the DtGrabber+ main window is automatically adapted to permit the specific controls for TS over IP. The IP Address and the Port number can be set from the main window. DtGrabber+ view when using DTA-160 IP port The common signal sync LED is replaced by an “Ethernet” LED showing the status of the Ethernet adapter (green for Ethernet link up).
DTC-325 As shown below, DTA-160 Adapter settings window permits the user to configure the Receive Protocol as UDP, RDP or automatic, to set IP address and Port but also to enable or disable the error correction with FEC streams received on Port number +2 and Port number +4; as well as setting Filter values for IP Address and IP Port.
DTC-325 Appendix B: DtGrabber+ specific controls for DTU-234 When using the DTU-234 RF input device, the DtGrabber+ main window is automatically adapted to permit the specific controls for QAM (Annex B) demodulation, as modulation scheme and tuning setting. DtGrabber+ view for DTU-234 adapter Additional settings for DTU-234 are available in the settings window from the menu Adapter>Settings.
DTC-325 As shown below, DTU-234 Adapter settings window permits the user to configure the Modulation scheme and to tune the demodulator either by Channel number or by entering specific Frequency. A checkbox permits to switch between tuning by Channel or by frequency. The user can also specify the specific band for corresponding channel number and frequencies. Available bands are : Broadcast/OnAir, FCC/Cable, IRC, HRC; information necessary for Channel/Frequency conversions by the application.
DTC-325 Appendix C: DtGrabber+ controls for DTU-235 and DTA-2135 When using the DTU-235 and DTA-2135RF input device, the DtGrabber+ main window is automatically adapted to permit the specific controls for DVB-T demodulation. DtGrabber+ view for DTU-235 or DTA-2135 adapter Additional settings for DTU-235 and DTA-2135 are available in the settings window from the menu Adapter->Settings.
DTC-325 As shown below, DTU-235 and DTA-2135 Adapter settings window permits the user to tune the demodulator either by Channel number or by entering specific Frequency. A checkbox permits to switch between tuning by Channel or by frequency.
DTC-325 Appendix D: DtGrabber+ controls for DTA-2137 and DTE-3137 When using the DTA-2137 and DTE-3137 RF input device, the DtGrabber+ main window is automatically adapted to permit the specific controls for DVB-S and DVBS2 demodulation.
DTC-325 Appendix E: DtGrabber+ deployment in broadcast environment : HE and STB Trouble-Shooting : Application Note. This Application Note details and provides concrete example about how DtGrabber+ can be deployed for troubleshooting of STB and Head-End system in real broadcast environment. When broadcast engineer or operator faces a service disturbance with low occurrence, it is difficult to identify the problem without a concrete capture of the broadcast signal at the time of the problem.
DTC-325 For his convenience, he sets up file duration to 5 minutes and the multiple file recording with autoerase rule to 12 hours. As for Multiple File recording, every file will be created with their file name stamped with the file creation time (and an index number) to help him to retrieve the proper file after a claim will be reported or an occurrence of the problem identified. As DtGrabber+ manages settings (FileName, etc.
DTC-325 In order to reproduce the problem to the satellite STB, he will use DekTec DTA-107 with DTC-300 StreamXpress to replay the recorded file and eventually set-up a specific sub-loop at the specific time of the occurrence (Check StreamXpress documentation for details). He will also be able to replay and analyze any TS problem at the time of occurrence using DekTec’s DTC-320 StreamXpert with an input adapter.