Mux - The MTS400 Series Multiplexer application is an extremely powerful and versatile application. It is easy to open a transport stream file and changes its play rate properties, and then save a new copy with more stuffing packets and updating all of the PCR/PTS/DTS timing packets. It is possible to open a previously acquired file, change the SI descriptors, delete a program, add a new program from another transport file, and then save the file again under a new name. For set top box design and manufacturing, it is possible to quickly create a new transport stream from scratch using elements or other programs along with the guidance from the Mux transport or program Wizard. The result in each of the previous cases is a new stream that can be played from the MTS400 Series platform, or any other MPEG-2 player.

PES/Buffer - The PES and Buffer applications become important when a stream appears perfect or error-free at the transport layer, but set top boxes have problems decoding some of the video or audio. In many cases, one set top box will decode a stream quite easily, while another set top box struggles to decode the exact same stream. It could be difficult to determine if the problem was within the set top box, or within the stream. Some set top boxes can mask or hide buffer overflow problems by incorporating more memory than required by the international standards. To be sure that a stream complies with a specific international standard, Tektronix provides the PES and Buffer applications. The PES application tests the PES headers and timing of each PES packet within a transport stream. The Buffer application runs a selected PID through a standardized Transports Stream – System Target Decoder (T-STD) model which is made up from a series of buffers of different sizes running at different rates. The application will graphically display the entire content of the buffers including any underflow or overflow errors. Any sign of underflow or overflow errors in the stream means that a normal set top box will have a problem decoding that particular element.

ES - The MTS400 Series provides two optional elementary stream analyzer applications. Both provide excellent measurements with a simple and easy to use GUI. The Option ES application offers support for MPEG-2 video, closed captioning, Teletext, Subtitling, as well as AC-3 and MPEG audio. The MTS4EA application is for supporting the next generation video standards including MPEG-4 part 2 and part 10 (H.264/AVC), SMPTE VC-1, as well as MPEG-2, H.263+, H.263, and H.261. The MTS4EA application provides a powerful GUI that allows for synchronization between multiple windows while the application steps by frame, slice, block, or by byte. This helps to isolate problems more quickly than simply stepping through the video or syntax. A PSNR video quality measurement is available too as long as the original video is provided for reference.