Real-Time Broadcast Analyzer

At a Glance

SAMcorder provides a comprehensive feature set for real-time analysis and SNMP based monitoring of Digital TV broadcasts and allows to establish versatile monitoring solutions.

  • support of Digital TV standards
    • ATSC – QAM
    • DVB-T – DVB-T2 – DVB-S – DVB-S2 – DVB-C
    • ISDB-T – ISDB-Tb – ISDB 1seg
  • input of DTV MPTS or SPTS
    • RF – ASI – IP – File
  • several output interfaces, which can be used also simultaneously
    • IP – ASI – File
  • support a wide range of common input/output interface hardware for RF and ASI
  • time controlled recording capabilities for whole TS and/or single program services
  • supporting various types of IP based output streamers
  • Transport Stream recorder
  • comprehensive analysis and monitoring on all technical layers
    • RF
    • MPEG acc. TR 101 290
    • PID- and Program bitrate measurements
    • EPG
    • Subtitles / Closed Captions
    • Teletext
    • DSM-CC
    • MHP / HbbTV
    • Conditional Access
  • continuously, 24/7 monitoring of hundreds of parameters
  • individual threshold configuration of monitored parameters via GUI and/or SNMP
Live Input Digital TV

RF
Each ATSC / DVB / ISDB RF receiver for PCIe, PCI or USB interfaces can be used if a BDA driver is available for the appropriate device.
IP-Stream
Receive an MPTS or SPTS via IP/UDP unicast or multicast.
File
Play-back a recorded Transport Stream file.

SAMcorder - Real-Time Broadcast Analyzer
SAMcorder Main-Window
Program Navigation

In a first analysis of the received Transport Stream all announced program services and their corresponding PIDs are listed in a tree view. Additional information are provided, e.g. information about the Video and Audio encoding.

Via simple double click on a program entry an appropriate IP streamer for this program can be created, see also the section ‘Streaming’ below.

DVB, ATSC, ISDB Program Navigation
SAMcorder - Program Navigation
RF Measurement

On the RF layer SAMcorder provides simple signal checks which are provided by the BDA driver of the used RF receiver:

  • Signal Present
  • Signal Locked
  • Signal Strength
  • Signal Quality

Note: For DVB broadcasts. i.e. for DVB-T/-T2, DVB-S/-S2 and DVB-C, there is a dedicated dtvTools application named SAMbuddy-RF which provides detailed RF measurements (RX level, BER, MER and many more), including the display of constellation diagram, read more…

BDA RF-Measurement
SAMcorder - RF Measurement
MPEG Layer - TR 101 290 Monitoring

The  in-depth MPEG monitoring according ETSI TR 101 290 specification is divided in three parts:

  • Prio1
  • Prio2
  • Prio3

Individual thresholds for upper and lower limit can be defined for each single parameter.

TR 101 290 Analysis and Monitoring
SAMcorder - MPEG Analysis
PID Bitrate Measurement

Each particular PID of the multiplex gets listed in a tree view and additional information to an appropriate PID are displayed.

The Current Bitrate and the Average Bitrate for each particular PID are measured.

Individual thresholds for upper and lower limit can be defined.

PID Bitrate Measurement
SAMcorder - PID Bitrate Measurement
Program Bitrate Measurement

For each program the bitrate can be measured and monitored, i.e. the overall bitrate of all PIDs which belong to the appropriate program service.

Individual thresholds for upper and lower limit can be defined.

Program Bitrate Measurement
SAMcorder - Program Bitrate Measurement
EPG - Electronic Program Guide

The comprehensive analysis and monitoring of ATSC, DVB and ISDB Electronic Program Guides (EPG) comprises the following tasks:

  • list of all received EIT / ETT  tables
  • each particular EIT / ETT table can be analysed up to the last bit
  • current/next event monitoring
  • program preview monitoring
  • recognition of gaps in the time schedule
  • all events are listed in chronological order
  • short and extended descriptors can be displayed
  • multi-language support
  • support for compressed EPG’s
EPG Analysis and Monitoring
SAMcorder - EPG Analysis
Subtitle / Closed Caption
The in-depth Subtitle / Closed Caption analysis and monitoring includes following features:
ATSC – Closed Captions (CCs)
  • support of CEA-608 / CEA-708 captions
  • support of CEA-608 XDS data
  • support of ANSI/SCTE captions
  • amount of received CC data
  • average CC rate
  • monitoring CC update and XDS data update
  • logging CC data
  • simultaneous processing of all CEA-608 channels and all CEA-708 services
DVB – Subtitles
  • monitoring subtitle update
  • monitoring subtitle announcement
  • comprehensive Subtitle analyzer
  • PES data analyzer
  • display of Subtitle image fragments
ISDB – Closed Captions (CCs)
  • monitoring CC update
  • multi-language support
  • display of CC data and the corresponding control data
  • PES data analyzer
  • CC data analyzer
DVB Subtitle Analysis
SAMcorder - DVB Subtitle Analysis
ATSC Closed Captions Analysis
SAMcorder - ATSC Closed Captions Analysis
ISDB Closed Caption Analysis
SAMcorder - ISDB Closed Captions Analysis
Teletext

All Teletext services are listed in a tree-view. A comprehensive analysis and monitoring includes following functions:

  • monitoring Initial Page update
  • monitoring number of pages
  • monitoring page update per interval
  • monitoring of single pages, e.g. newsflash pages
  • comprehensive Teletext analyzer
  • page update visualization
  • Teletext page rendering
  • collection of pages and sub-pages
  • display of hidden pages
Teletext Analysis and Monitoring
SAMcorder - Teletext Analysis
DSM-CC

Digital storage media command and control (DSM-CC) services which are part of the current received broadcast will be recognized and can be analysed and monitored in any regard, that means:

  • display of appropriate PMT annoucements
  • monitoring DSI / DII message updates
  • monitoring of time since last carousel completion
  • monitoring of time for carousel completion
  • recognition of unknown modules
  • recognition of module data errors
  • display number of cycles and number of modules
  • listing all download files
  • integrated file viewer visualizes all files
DSM-CC Analysis and Monitoring
SAMcorder - DSM-CC Analysis
MHP / HbbTV

Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) and/or Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) services will be recognized and can be analysed and monitored in any regard, that means:

  • all MHP services are listed in a tree view
  • monitoring AIT table update
  • display number of  AIT instances
  • list all announced HTTP and DSM-CC applications
  • monitoring application URL response
  • time controlled check of URL accessibility
  • monitoring of the application-object-carousel state
MHP Analysis and Monitoring
SAMcorder - MHP Analysis
Streaming
SAMcorder de-multiplexes the current received Transport Stream and  supports streaming via IP/UDP. Various types of IP streamers are possible:
  • complete multiplex (TS)
  • particular DTV programs out of the multiplex
  • particular PID or PIDs out of the multiplex
  • particular Audio service out of the multiplex

The number of simultaneous IP streamers is not limited. Data duplication is possible, i.e. same data can be streamed to different destinations simultaneously. Beside IP streaming to remote locations, the data can also be streamed into a local file, whereby the file streaming can be configured regarding time and size thresholds.

Transport Stream IP-Streaming
SAMcorder - Streaming