SatSig topic:

Video streaming with iDirect Revolution X3

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Jun 4^th, 2009 at 5:11am

Hello Mike,
Following your suggestion, I have managed to borrow a unit of the X3 to do a video streaming setup. I fed the L-band (DVB-S) signal through the RX In and connected a RG45 cable to a PC loaded with VLC Media Player software.
May I know the required configurations that I would need to do either at iSite or at the hyperterminal (Console) to complete the setup?
On the VLC player, there are several network connection options available - http/s, UDP etc.? Do I use UDP? If so, it requires address and port entries. How do I get these info from the X3?

Thanks.

Regards;
David

Jun 4^th, 2009 at 12:03pm

If you remember correcty, I was not recommending you feed DVB into the RX port...nor load software on the iDirect. I recommended that you hang an encoder/decoder package on your local lan and send video via IP...like normal people do. That, or use a client based (software) encoder/decoder. Intent is to use the iDirect strictly as transport for your UDP/RTP traffic.

Please provide me with some situational awareness on your setup.

1. You have an X3 satellite router. Is it connected to the network/hub?
2. ?

Jun 5^th, 2009 at 3:54am

Thanks, Mike for your clarification. I do realise now that it has all this while been a misconception to have assumed that the router would perform as a decoder!
In fact I do have a DVB IRD (integrated receiver decoder).

With this, can I instead do a loopback with a pair of X3 routers - i.e. feeding the DVB signal in RX In of the 1st router, connecting its LAN port to that of the 2nd router and taking the DVB signal from the RX Out of the 2nd router and feeding it to the IRD and finally to the PC.
In short, instead of directly connecting the DVB to the IRD, it is first connected to the routers with RX-TX loopback.
Why would I do that, you may ask? Well, to demonstrate the functionality of the routers, if that makes sense!

Again, I would appreciate your feedback on the possibility of having such a setup.
Thanks.

Jun 5^th, 2009 at 9:40am

An iDirect modem cannot receive and process MPEG type TV content in a DVB signal. It is not a satellite TV IRD.

I think the use of the term "router" to describe the iDirect modem is causing confusion. The customer VSAT site iDirect modem has one IP port and packets may be sent and received to/from the IP port located at the main earth station teleport hub site. The customer has a local LAN with gateway IP address (the iDirect modem) and subnet mask range. The teleport has a different IP address network (LAN or public) whereby the iDirect hub modem is connected to the terrestrial internet backbone. The entire iDirect satellite system (customer remote VSAT sites plus the teleport hub) comprises a "router". The ethernet type sockets appear only at the periphery of this satellite network.

A router has multiple IP ports and provides connection between different IP address regions.

An iDirect modem receives a satellite carrier from the iDirect teleport hub. The carrier may similar to a DVB carrier but is not the same. The carrier contains packet internet data, not TV and audio.

For video streaming using IPTV I would put FTA DVB IRDs, plus PC video to packet converters, at the teleport hub and feed out multicast packets over the iDirect network. At the customer sites I suggest watching the TV on PCs or using Amino set top boxes. It is expensive, so you need quite a few paying customers to cover the cost (e.g. $3500 per month for a 500kbit/s packet feed) plus any broadcast licencing costs.

Best regards, Eric.

Jun 5^th, 2009 at 11:14am

Thanks Eric for clearing much of my doubts on satcom in general which I must admit is still rather a green field to me. I do have to apologise for not mentioning earlier that I am not doing a point-to-point communication. Basically, I am only receiving a free-to-air DVB signal transmitted by a local content distributor (satellite service provider) using a TV-receiver-only (TVRO) dish and making use of this signal to demonstrate the functionality of iDirect's X3 in video over IP application - i.e. in 'routing' the video signal to PC. As such, I have no clue as to the encoder, teleport etc. used at the remote transmitter end.

Combining this idea with your suggestion, can I first connect the L-band signal to an IRD, and IP output of it is then fed a the 1st X3 unit via LAN? I assume that the input IP packets will then be encoded (channel encoding, not source(MPEG) encoding), modulated and upconverted where I can then connect a RG6 cable from the TX out (1st X3 unit) to RX in of the 2nd X3 unit. This RF signal will then go through the reverse process where I will be getting back the IP packets from the LAN port which can then be displayed on a PC as IPTV.
In short, I am trying to do a loopback using a pair of X3 again with the intention of demonstrating its features.

I would appreciate comments on this kind of setup.

Thanks.

Jun 5^th, 2009 at 11:44am

Quote:

can I first connect the L-band signal to an IRD

The only L band signal input suitable for connection to an IRD is the cable from the LNB of a receive only dish.

Quote:

and IP output of it is then fed a the 1st X3 unit via LAN?

The output of an IRD is normally video (RGB or similar) suitable for connecting to a TV display screen. Not IP packets. If you want the video converted to IP packets you need a PC in between with a Video input card and software to generate IP-TV stream output on ethernet. Once you have your video converted to IP packets you can send them via your local LAN to other PCs on your local LAN. You need a switch or wireless router with enough ports for your all PCs on local LAN. You don't need an iDirect modem at all except perhaps as the gateway to the internet. If you do try to send the video packets via the iDirect to the satellite (and thus to the internet or other iDirect sites) note that this will be a rather expensive operation.

Quote:

I assume that the input IP packets will then be encoded (channel encoding, not source(MPEG) encoding), modulated and upconverted where I can then connect a RG6 cable from the TX out (1st X3 unit) to RX in of the 2nd X3 unit. This RF signal will then go through the reverse process where I will be getting back the IP packets from the LAN port which can then be displayed on a PC as IPTV.

No. Complete misunderstanding. If you input IP packets to an iDirect modem those packets will go to the iDirect teleport hub and thence to whatever IP address they are destined.

Quote:

In short, I am trying to do a loopback using a pair of X3 again with the intention of demonstrating its features.

If you want to communicate direct from one iDirect modem to another iDirect moden, you need the type of iDirect modem that operates as an SCPC modem (mesh mode SCPC 5000 type), whereby you can communicate direct from one modem to another (via satellite). See https://www.idirect.net/Products/Hardware/Satellite-Routers.aspx?sc_lang=en for all modem types. X3 is a for star networks and you would need double hop via the teleport to broadcast to other sites in the network. This would be twice the cost and your continuous uplink would require a dedicated receive card at the hub.

Quote:

I would appreciate comments on this kind of setup.

If you want to broadcast IP-TV to a community of iDirect VSATs put your receive FTA IRDs and PC video to IP converters at an iDirect teleport hub. Build your own hub. See https://www.idirect.net/Products/Hardware/Hubs-and-Line-Cards.aspx

If you want to broadcast IP-TV to receive only sites using cheap IRDs with IP ethernet output and Amino STBs, then use a different technology and transmit using DVB-S2 encapsulator / modulator. Your problem is getting enough TV channels and customer revenue to make up at least a 1 Msps carrier which is about the minimum that will lock up on a cheap IRDs with DRO type LNBs.

Best regards, Eric.