User manual

Tree view

This is the view for analyzing the data structures in a DVB stream. This view is divided into two parts.On the left is a tree view, on the right is a details panel, which can display additional information (text or picture).

Initially the view will be empty. Go to the File menu, select open. Select a transport stream capture (often called a .TS file). It should consist of packets of 188, 192, 204 or 208 bytes. DVB Inspector assumes it is given a valid TS, no strict error checking is done.

General info

This is the general layout of a field in the Tree view. First is the name of the field. If possible the name as defined in the DVB specification is used. After the : the value of the field is shown, both in hexadecimal and decimal. If available after the => there is an interpretation or explanation of the data. This is sometimes retrieved from a look-up file (as in the case of CA_system_id).

This section contains general info about the file. The transport stream number is retrieved from the tabel_id_extension of the PAT.

• file: file name, including path
• size: file size in bytes
• modified: file modification date
• TS packets: number of TS packets in the file
• packet size: size of the TS packets; 188, 192, 204 or 208 bytes
• Error packets: number of TS packets that contained errors.
• bitrate: bitrate based on the average of the bit rates of PIDs that contain a PCR. This is the most accurate way to calculate the bit rate.
• length (secs): file length in seconds, based on the bit rate calculated on PCRs
• bitrate based on TDT: for streams that have no PIDS with PCRs (empty transport streams) this value is calculated based on the number of bytes between different TDT tables.
• length (secs): file length in seconds, based on the bit rate calculated on TDTs

Popup menu

When an element in the tree is selected, right clicking will bring up a popup menu.

Note: these option is not available in the Transport stream Packets section(s). However it does work on single transport stream packets.

Expand will expand a node one level. On the keyboard you can use the '+' key.

Exand All will expand all nodes below the selected node. Because there may be many sub nodes On the keyboard you can use the '+' key.

This has options to copy the selected element as text to the clipboard. Below is an example of what is transfered when 'Copy Visible tree to clipboard' is activated while the PAT is selected.

						
PAT
+-TableType: program_association_section (0/0)
  +-table_id: 0x0 (0) => program_association_section
  +-section_syntax_indicator: 0x1 (1)
  +-private_indicator: 0x0 (0)
  +-section_length: 0x41 (65)
  +-table_id_extension: 0x8A6 (2214)
  +-version: 0x1 (1)
  +-current_next_indicator: 0x1 (1) => current
  +-section_number: 0x0 (0)
  +-last_section_number: 0x0 (0)
  +-private_data: 0x0000E010044DFB62044EFB6C044FFB760450FB800457FBC60458FBD00459FBDA045AFBE4045BFBEE045CFBF8045DFC02045EFC0C045FFC160F5278DF ".....M.b.N.l.O.v.P...W...X...Y...Z...[...\...]...^..._...Rx."
  +-programs_length: 0xE (14)
  +-programs: 14 entries
    +-program (null)
    +-program (Nederland 1)
    +-program (Nederland 2)
    | +-program_number: 0x44E (1102)
    | +-program_map_PID: 0x1B6C (7020)
    +-program (Nederland 3)
    +-program (TV Oost)
    +-program (Radio Oost)
    +-program (Radio 1)
    +-program (Radio 2)
    +-program (3FM)
    +-program (Radio 4)
    +-program (Radio 5)
    +-program (Radio 6)
    +-program (Concertzender)
    +-program (FunX)
						
						

Save bytes as

When the selected node represents a byte array the context menu contains an option "save bytes as..". This will open a save-dialog which can be used to write the bytes to file.

Details Panel

Depending on which node is selected in the tree view the details panel can display additional information. This can be either text, a table, a picture or XML.

Text

Text in the details panel can be selected using the mouse. Text can be copied into the clip board by using Ctrl-C. Text is put on the clip board as plain text (no formatting) and HTML (with formatting).

Table

The table panel can be modified by clicking on the header. Clicking a header column will sort the data on that column, clicking it again will reverse the sort order. Columns can be resized by dragging the divider between column names in the header. Columns can be re-ordered by dragging the column header.

Rows can be selected by clicking (Ctrl-click to select multiple rows). Selected rows can be copied into the clip board by using Ctrl-C. Data is put on the clip board as plain text (fields separated by tabs) and HTML (with formatting as table)

Image

When the details panel shows an image some extra buttons appear on top of the panel. With the zoom radio buttons the image can be resized for better display. The copy button puts the image on the clip board. "Save As.." opens a pop up window which allows you to save the image as either a .JPG or a .PNG file.

XML

The XML shows the structure of the XML. Sections can be collapsed using the '-' sing. Ceveat: Some parts of the XML document may be presented in a different order, like the attributes of an element may be shown in different order than in the original. This should not alter the meaning of the XML.

Options

The following options are available from the "Tree View" menu. This menu is enabled only when the Tree view tab is selected. These options will stay active, even when another transport stream is loaded.

Simple Tree View

In the view menu the mode can be switched between simple and normal tree view. With the simple view the tree structure will be 'flatter', and some details like raw data view will be omitted. This is more of a logical view, for only showing the logical structure of the data. The normal view is the default, and will show all the technical details. For example, if a table consist of multiple sections, the simple view will not show these sections, the normal view will show all separate sections.

Please notice, toggling between these views will result in the tree being collapsed.

This is the result of using 'simple view' with the PAT. The general details of the table are removed, and only the logical data is shown.

This view may be convenient for making screen dumps for presentations or inclusion on internet fora.

PSI Only

When this option is enabled only the PSI information is shown. This means the tree part based on PID is not parsed and shown. This can help to save some memory, and prevent parsing errors. Enable this option before opening a new file.

Packet Count

To show more details about how often a table occurs inside the stream switch on the Packet Count View. This will show details about when the first and last occurrence of a table segment, and the number of occurrences.

Please notice, toggling between these views will result in the tree being collapsed.

This is the result of using 'Packet Count view' with the PAT. The first_packet_no indicates the TS packet which contained the first part of the first complete occurrence of this table section. The time is calculated by calculating backwards from first TDT, using the bit rate. If bit rate is not know this field is not filled, if no TDT was found the start of the TS is used as zero.

Number List Items

When this option is enabled items in a list are numbered. This can be useful for long lists of identical items, like PES packets.

This is the result of enabling the option "Number List Items". All All PES packets are now identified by a sequence number between [] brackets.

Show PTS on PES Packets

When this option is enabled PES are labeled with the PTS timestamp. This can be useful for long lists PES packets, or to find matching packet in other stream (example to sync subtitling with video).

This is the result of enabling the option "Show PTS on PES Packets". All PES packets are now identified by their PTS between [] brackets.

Show version_number on Table Sections

When this option is enabled Version numbers are displayed on the top level node of each Table Section. This way you don't have to expand each section to see the version_number.

This is the result of enabling the option "Show version_number on Table Sections".

Find...

This menu item opens the search dialog. It can also be opened by pressing Ctrl+F.

The search is not case sensitive. It will search the tree, in the form in which it is currently presented. It will always start at the top of the tree, independent of which line may be selected in the tree.

Because of performance reasons, the individual TS Packets will NOT be searched.

Result of search. After the first match is found the input box is disabled and the search button is replaced with a next button. This way the next match can be found by pressing the enter key.

The search dialog is a "modal" dialog, which means it keeps the focus and it is not possible to select someting in the tree, or scroll inside it.

The search dialog can be dismissed by clicking the cancel button, or pressing the escape key.

Find Next

When the search dialog has been dismissed it is possible to repeat the search and find the next match. The search will resume from the last match, independent of which row is currently selected in the tree view.

When no more matches are found this dialog is shown.

Settings

The following settings have to be specified before a transport stream file is loaded.

When they are changed while a file is loaded an option will be given to reload the current file.

Packet Size

DVB Inspector supports packet sizes of 188, 192, 204 and 208 bytes. It can detect the used packet size when at least 5 consecutive packets are present in starting in the first 1000 bytes of the file. This means that for small files ()4 packets or less) it is not able to detect the size and will give an error;

with this menu you can specify the packet size. This can also help when parsing a file with a lot of reception errors.

Packet size 188, 204 and 208

Packet size 192 (AVCHD/Blu-ray Mode)

For packet size 192 bytes DVB Inspector will assume this is a AVCHD/Blu-ray M2TS file. It expects that the first 4 bytes of every packet are the tp_extra_header, and contain the last 30 bits of the PCR. This information is used to reconstruct the timing info, and show valid graphs and timings.

Private Data Specifier Default

Some providers incorrectly do not use a Private data specifier descriptor before a user defined descriptor. That means DVB Inspector has no way to know how to parse this descriptor, and can only show raw data. By selecting a "Private Data Specifier Default" DVB Inspector will know how to interpret user defined descriptors that are not preceded by a Private data specifier descriptor. If a Private data specifier descriptor is used it will still be interpreted.

Above is the default view of the NIT of Digitenne. Because no Private data specifier descriptor was used the last descriptor is unknown. DVB Inspector only shows some possible types, and the raw data.

Here we selected EACEM as default Private Data Specifier. Now the last descriptor is interpreted as defined by EACEM, and shows the logical channel numbers.

Teletext Default G0 and G2 Character Set Designation

Teletext services normally use a packet X/28/0 Format 1, X/28/4, M/29/0 or M/29/4 to set the designated G0 and G2 character sets. In the absence these, the default sets are established by a local Code of Practice. (See ETSI EN 300 706 V1.2.1 (2003-04) 15.2) This setting allows to specify which set to use as the "local Code of practice".

Wrong presentation

This example is taken from the Turkish service TRT Türk. It uses the Turkish National option subset, but does not have any packets X/28/0 Format 1, X/28/4, M/29/0 or M/29/4 to set the designated G0 and G2 character sets.

After selecting "0 0 0 0 x x x" (which does not include the Turkish National option subset) the wrong representation of the page is displayed, both in the tree view and the preview view;

Correct presentation

After selecting "0 0 1 0 x x x" (which includes the Turkish National option subset) the correct representation of the page is displayed, both in the tree view and the preview view;

Enable M7 Fastscan

The European satellite operator M7 uses a non (DVB) standard way of signaling which channels can be received by their customers, either in the subscription package, or FTA. Because this signaling is not fully compliant with DVB standards, it can interfere with normal DVB parsing. So its parsing can be switched on/off with this setting.

Enable Humax ATS Fix for 192 byte AVCHD/Blu-ray packets

Some (???) Humax PVRs record 192 byte streams, with an TP_extra_header at the start of each packet. However there is something weird with the timing.

In this example the length of the recording is 224 seconds (3 min 44), but the ATS based time of the last packet is shown as 6 min 23. The ATS field (in the TP_extra_header) should be the least 30 bits of the PCR value. It appears that Humax is encoding this in the same way the PCR is encoded in adaptation fields; with a program_clock_reference_base and a program_clock_reference_extension.
This program_clock_reference_extension has 9 bits, and contains values 0 - 299. This means the ats is running 'fast'.

By enabling this option DVB Inspector will correct this behaviour, and show correct time on packets;

Enable Generic PSI

When this option is enabled generic PSI tables are parsed in the PIDs section of the DVB Tree. Sometimes when a PID contains private data this may result in a lot of 'false' tables, which can use a lot of memory. Then it can help to disable Generic PSI parsing.

Enable DSM-CC

DSM-CC parsing can take a lot of memory, and processing time (After the initial file load). When you are not interested in DSM-CC, this setting can save memory and time (special for large TS streams)

Enable PCR/PTS/DTS View

Depending on how many PES streams are present in the TS sstream, collecting all timestamps for the PCR/PTS/DTS View may use more memory than available. In that case try to disable this option

This page was last modified on 4/08/2024