Atec Acterna-DTS300 - Manual (Page 9)

8
Continuous, Real-Time Stream Creation
and Storage
The Multiplexer is the industry’s only real-time stream
creation device. It generates demanding, user-created test
streams that measure system performance under extreme
conditions and can be used to perform exhaustive stress
tests on encoders, multiplexers, and
set-top-boxes to guarantee component reliability and com-
pliance with MPEG-2 DVB and ATSC standards. With the
Multiplexer, users can continuously create and emulate a
test stream in real time, eliminating the storage-intensive
and time-consuming “build-then-play” procedure required
by all other stream-creation or manipulation devices. The
Multiplexer generates a transport stream from a small
database file containing the necessary user-defined timing,
table, and elementary stream content. Its unique database
creation capability and continuous looping
of elementary stream segments allow an
entire library of custom test scenarios to
be stored in the space needed for just one
recorded transport stream. These test
streams can be e-mailed from the lab to
the field, or an entire test library can be
mailed on a single CD-ROM.
Testing a digital TV or set-top box requires
long-duration test streams with dynamic
changes over time. The Multiplexer creates
an output transport stream in real time
that can play continuously for days or
weeks. At any time during transmission,
users can stop the output multiplex, modify
any values, and start transmission again
within seconds. Unlike any other stream
creation tool, the Multiplexer updates all
timing parameters so the output multiplex
is seamless.
Testing at data rates up to 214 Mbps, the
Multiplexer allows users to create multiplexes containing:
• An unlimited number of PIDs, programs/channels, events,
PCRs, and elementary streams
• PCR jitter, offset, and drift
• PSI/SI/PSIP tables and descriptors with user-defined
content and rates
• Private tables and descriptors with user-defined content
and rates
• Private data, including DSM-CC, teletext, subtitling,
MPE/IP, and DVB data carousels
• Unlimited errors, including synchronization, continuity
counter, transport, and PSI/SI/PSIP table errors
Additionally, with the Multiplexer, users do not have to wait
for events to occur naturally in the transport stream.
Instead, they can manipulate timing so a stream starts seconds
before the scenario they want to test. For example, they can
create a stream that starts at the PCR wrap point or seconds
before the EIT changes.
All Multiplexer displays are based on the Windows NT
interface and can be accessed with a single mouse click from
the main Multiplexer window. Users can view database con-
tent from the following eight displays: summary, services/
channels, tables, streams, errors, PCRs, PIDs, and time. New
users can quickly and easily modify sample databases using
the menu bar, toolbar, and right-click menus; more
advanced users can create customized, advanced MPEG-2/
ATSC/DVB transport streams using the Multiplexer’s
Wizard; and expert users can bypass the Wizard and start
from scratch to specify all parameters in the transport
stream. The Multiplexer offers a unique validation capability
that warns the user when database content falls outside the
specified standards. This prevents the insertion of unwanted
errors and helps users become familiar with the limitations
and the complexities of MPEG-2 transport streams.
Manufacturers and developers of set-top boxes and digital
TVs can configure their DTS-300 with both the Multiplexer
and Generator modules and create a library of user-defined
test streams to rigorously stress test their equipment, record
live streams, and play test streams into a unit.
By configuring the DTS-300 with the Analyzer, Multiplexer,
and Generator application modules, developers can create a
custom library of test streams for input and perform com-
prehensive analysis of a unit’s output in real time. With this
configuration, equipment errors are easily isolated, diagnosed,
and resolved. Users can also perform acceptance testing by
generating known good input sources and then using the
Analyzer to create detailed reports for baselining.
Multiplexer Views
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