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# DekTec TV cards

From ArchWiki

DekTec is a manufacturer of PC add-on cards, USB devices, IP converters and software for the professional digital-television market. Products are used for test and measurement, to build broadcast infrastructure or as OEM component integrated in your PC-based product.

## Installation

Install the dektec-drivers-dkmsAUR DKMS drivers for full support of all DekTec PC add-on cards.

Make sure to reboot the PC to load the newly installed dkms drivers.

### Check if drivers are installed and detected

To check if dkms drivers are installed, type:

    $ dkms status

To check if DekTec PCI/PCIe add-on card is detected, type:

    $ lspci -k | grep DekTec

To check if DekTec USB add-on card is detected (requires usbutils), type:

    $ lsusb -t | grep DekTec

If tsduckAUR is installed, it is possible to list all type of DekTec add-on cards with:

    $ tsdektec -a

### Demodulator boards DtapiService daemon

The DtapiService is a Linux daemon that manages DekTec's range of demodulator boards. The following demodulators are supported:

DTU-234
  VSB/QAM-B receiver for USB
DTU-235
  DVB-T measurement receiver for USB
DTU-236
  QAM measurement receiver + ASI input for USB
DTA-2131
  Multi-standard VHF/UHF demodulator for PCI Express
DTA-2135
  Dual DVB-T receiver for PCI Express
DTA-2136
  Dual QAM-A/B/C receiver for PCI Express
DTA-2137
  Dual DVB-S/DVB-S2 receiver for PCI Express
DTA-2138
  DVB C2/T2 receiver for PCI Express
DTA-2139
  Twelve-channel QAM Receiver for PCI Express

Install the dektec-dtapiservice-binAUR and start/enable `DtapiServiced.service`.

Note:

- This service must be running to be able to use the above boards.
- For the DtapiService to properly work the Dta driver must be running.

## Example usage

All mainstream DekTec Applications require a license and is exclusively developed for use on Microsoft Windows. A license can be purchased from DekTec or one of its distributors. There are also free utilities, such as `DtInfoCL` which can be installed with dektec-utilitiesAUR.

### Linux SDK solution

Linux SDK – SDK for DTA, DTU and DTE products provides developers with a driver and an API for using DekTec's DVB/MPEG-2 PCI/PCIe and USB-2 devices in applications running under Linux. All drivers are free to use except for DTAPITS and DtapiService.bin (self-extracting binary installer for DtapiService) which requires a license.

### SDK Examples

Install the dektec-avfifo-examplesAUR package.

AvFifo code examples for Linux, demonstrating the usage of the AvFifo API for receiving and transmitting SMPTE 2110 streams.

### External toolkits

Using TSDuck the MPEG Transport Stream Toolkit. TSDuck can be installed with tsduckAUR or tsduck-binAUR. It is an extensible toolkit for MPEG transport streams and can be used in digital television systems for test, monitoring, integration, debug, lab, demo. With this tool, the development possibilities are essentially endless.

## FFmpeg Integration

Install the ffmpeg-dektecAUR package.

Unlock the power of FFmpeg for real-time streaming of SDI or SMPTE 2110 via DekTec devices. DekTec device support to the `ffmpeg-dektec` and `ffplay-dektec` command-line utilities, the FFmpeg libraries for custom application development and the new `.sdi` file format for storage of raw SDI streams has been introduced since September 2023.

## See also

- DekTec homepage
- DekTec Software Development Kits (SDKs)
- FFmpeg Integration for DekTec Devices
- TSDuck homepage
- TSDuck GitHub page

Category:

- TV cards