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Rod

Rod Hewitt KG6TTD (G6TTD) passed away March 2025 having spent a lifetime dedicated to programming and was the author of TSReader. His work will be available for download for free with just one version, TSReaderPro, being available both here and on a GitHub Page for others to continue the project.

Please feel free to donate to help us maintain the website hosting etc it would be very much appreciated.


TSReader is a very popular MPEG-2 transport stream analyzer. Rod helped develop the TBS 5590 Multi-Standard Probe which is described further down this page. Used by thousands of people around the world, it allows inspection and recording of data carried in these television streams used for satellite, cable, off-air and IPTV streaming such as UDP, RTP, HLS and MPEG-DASH.

It supports ATSC, Digicipher II, DVB, ISDB, and SCTE extensions to the base MPEG-2 specification. TSReader gives the user the "big picture" overview of what's being carried inside MPEG-2 transport streams and can be very useful for finding errors or inefficiencies.

TSReader is now free for all users that want to investigate how digital television works.

TSReader runs on all modern versions of 32 and 64-bit Windows up-to and including Windows 10 and has a very light CPU load. Processing a 40 Mbps stream received over Ethernet will typically load a CoreDuo 2 2.4 GHz dual-core processor to about 3-5%. Multiple instances of TSReader can be used to monitor more than one stream with the Professional edition.

TSReader also works very well on Linux and MacOS with Wine and we document how to install it on both MacOS and Ubuntu here.


 

Feature Professional 
Decodes MPEG-2 tables with DVB, ATSC, ISDB, SCTE and Digicipher II extensions. ✔︎
Decodes MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and H.264 (AVC) video in thumbnail format. ✔︎
Decodes H.265 (HEVC) video in thumbnail format ✔︎
Decodes VC-1/WM9 video in thumbnail format ✔︎
Includes a BISS descrambler for DSNG use ✔︎
Thumbnails can be exported as they are generated to JPEG files ✔︎
High speed parallel PMT parser ✔︎
Parallel stream decoding (thumbnails display very quickly) ✔︎
Parses MPEG, A/52 (AC3 & E-AC3) and DTS audio streams to show bitrate/mode settings ✔︎
Parses AAC audio streams to show bitrate/mode settings ✔︎
Generates scope-style thumbnails for MPEG and AC3 audio streams ✔︎
Shows A/52 (AC3 & E-AC3) dialog-normalization (dialnorm) ✔︎
Records the transport stream to a file. Recordings can be in plain transport stream or ALP transport stream formats which provides lossless compression ✔︎
Records an individual program to files with PAT/PMT regeneration using a very flexible file naming scheme ✔︎
Records individual or multiple PIDs to a file ✔︎
Records tables (MPEG sections) to a file ✔︎
Records multiple programs from multiple channels within a multiplex ✔︎
Decodes IP/DVB transmissions in MPE format with the MAC and IP destination addresses ✔︎
Can save the payload from TCP & UDP transmissions and act as a multicast IP/DVB to UDP router. ✔︎
PID usage graph with percentage displays for each PID ✔︎
Actual bitrate on PIDs carrying PCR and estimated bitrates for non PCR carrying PIDs ✔︎
PID graph is color coded to indicate unscrambled and scrambled PIDs ✔︎
Counts continuity and TEI errors on mux and PID-by-PID basis ✔︎
Export MPEG-2, extension, thumbnail and PID chart data to HTML ✔︎
Export all data into XML or XMLTV formats for parsing by other applications ✔︎
Decodes DVB Modulator Interface (DVB T2-MI) streams ✔︎
Can be controlled to run automatically using command line and control server options ✔︎
Graph generation for many different stream statistics ✔︎
EPG grid for steams containing EPG data such as ATSC, DVB and ISDB ✔︎
Supports extended EPG data on Bell, Dish, Media Highway 2 and Sky Broadcasting ✔︎
Multiple configurations and instances ✔︎
Closed caption (EIA-608 and CEA-708) decoder along with a command-line decoder ✔︎
ETR-290 style monitoring with email alarms ✔︎
Stream forwarding to UDP and RTP or hardware devices such as DVB-ASI, SMPTE-310 and RF ✔︎
SCTE-35 CUE message decoding and logging ✔︎
TSWatcher multi channel monitoring software included ✔︎
PCR/PTS/DTS analysis with PCR/PTR and A/V difference calculation. Sample here ✔︎
PCAPtoTS utility included to easily extract transport streams from PCAP fils ✔︎

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TBS 5590 Multi-Standard Probe

tbs5590

TSReader supports a wide range of input devices and we've always tried to be "device agnostic" and not really got involved with hardware. That said numerous customers have asked over the years for a portable demodulator that supports every worldwide standard and also handles DVB-ASI.

Working with our friends at TBS, we've developed the TBS 5590 - a multi-standard USB-2 probe for TSReader. The TBS 5590 supports the following input types:

  • DVB-ASI
  • DVB-C (16QAM to 256QAM)
  • DVB-C2 (COFDM - 16QAM to 4096QAM)
  • DVB-S (QPSK)
  • DVB-S2 (QPSK, 8PSK, 16APSK, 32APSK)
  • DVB-S2X (QPSK, 2-4-2APSK, 8PSK, 8-8APSK, 16APSK, 4-12-16rbAPSK, 4-8-4-16APSK)
  • DVB-T (COFDM - QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM)
  • DVB-T2/T2Lite (COFDM - QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, 256QAM)
  • ISDB-T (COFDM - QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM)
  • QAM-B aka ITU-T J.83 Annex B (64QAM & 256QAM). Both fixed North American and variable symbol rates are supported

In other words pretty much all worldwide MPEG-2 transport formats except 8VSB which can be received with a cheap USB stick like the Hauppauge HVR-955Q. Best of all, the TBS 5590 is only $339 — added to TSReader Professional available now for free! This makes a powerful real-time MPEG-2 Transport Stream analyzer!

When receiving RF signals, the TBS 5590 shows real signal levels that engineers want to know:

  • Signal level in dBmV
  • Carrier to Noise (C/N) in dB
  • Bit Error Rate (BER) as an exponent

The TBS 5590 is supported in TSReader 2.8.53 and later and is available for purchase directly from TBS's website. TSReader includes source modules for each mode and will automatically reprogram the demodulator when changing modes. Other than the Windows driver (XP through Windows 10), no additional software is required. TBS uses the Microsoft BDA interface, so it's also compatible with "watch TV" programs like ProgDVB.
tbs5590_1