Welcome to DVBlast!

DVBlast is a simple and powerful MPEG-2/TS demux and streaming application with several input methods:

• linux-dvb-supported cards (DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-C, DVB-T...)
• DVB-ASI cards
• UDP or RTP stream carrying a transport stream

It outputs one or several RTP streams carrying transport streams with:

• hardware or software PID filtering
• PID-based or service-based demultiplexing
• optional descrambling via CAM device
• optional DVB tables

DVBlast is written to be the core of a custom IRD, CID,or ASI gateway, based on a PC with a Linux-supported card. It is very lightweight and stable, designed for 24/7 operation.

Current features

• Lightweight program designed for extreme memory and CPU conditions
• No runtime dependancy; one build dependancy (biTStream)
• CAM menus (MMI) support via an external application
• The configuration file describing outputs can be reloaded without losing a single packet
• Support for the new S2API of linux-dvb
• IPv6 network support
• UDP rather than RTP output for IPTV STBs which don't support RTP

Tuning DVBlast

You usually want to supply DVBlast with the parameters of a transponder, for instance for DVB-S :

dvblast -f 11570000 -s 27500000 -v 18

This tunes to frequency 11570 MHz, symbol rate 27500, horizontal (-v 18).

For DVB-S2 you must indicate a modulation with -m qpsk|psk_8|apsk_16|apsk_32.

For DVB-T you must indicate a bandwidth, usually -b 8 for 8 MHz multiplexes.

Please note that frequencies are in kHz for DVB-S/S2/C, but Hz for DVB-T. Symbol rates are in symbols/s, and bandwidths in MHz. If you have several linux-dvb cards in the machine, specify which one to use with -a.

You generally want to run DVBlast in DVB compliance mode with option -C. This option will pass through or generate mandatory DVB tables (NIT, SDT, EITp/f, TOT, TDT). If you also want to pass-through the EIT schedule tables, use the -e switch. It is considered a good practice to configure the name of the network (for the NIT) with the -M option.

If you don't want to set these options on a general basis, you can set them per output - see below.

Other rarely used options are available - run dvblast -h for more information.

Alternative inputs

DVBlast may handle several DVB adapters in the same machine with the -a switch: -a 3 will use /dev/dvb/adapter3. Additionally, selecting between frontends on a single card is supported with the -n switch. This is useful for hybrid DVB/S + DVB/T cards.

If you own a Computer Modules DVB-ASI input card, you can have DVBlast filter and demultiplex the inputs. You just need to specify the slot number with -A.

If you own a Deltacast ASI input card, you can have DVBlast filter and demultiplex the inputs. You just need to specify the input as "-A deltacast:" where is 100 * the card number (0 based) + the channel number (0 based).

DVBlast can also read from a UDP or RTP IPv4 source carrying for instance a multi-program transport stream. The address is specified with -D. See the 'advanced features' section for information on how to create such a stream for instance to cross network boundaries between the receivers and the target network.

The syntax of the -D option is: [[:]@][:][/]* where is the multicast address carrying the stream, and <src host> is optionally the address of the source, for source-specific multicast. Options include: /udp (for streams without an RTP header) /mtu=XXXX (sets the maximum UDP packet size) /ifindex=X (binds to a specific network interface, by link number) /ifaddr=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX (binds to a specific network interface, by address)

For example: -D 239.255.0.2:1234/udp/ifindex=1

Configuring outputs

DVBlast reads a configuration file containing one or several lines in the format :