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🔒 Reserved PID Usage

This check reports PAT and PMT declarations that use reserved MPEG-TS PIDs for program mapping, PCR, or elementary streams.

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Reserved MPEG-TS PID reference

For baseline MPEG-TS, the universally assigned PSI-related PIDs come from ISO/IEC 13818-1. DVB then layers additional Service Information (SI) assignments on top of that transport-stream core.

Core MPEG-TS reserved PIDs:

PID (hex)PID (dec)Table / usePurpose
0x00000PATProgram Association Table
0x00011CATConditional Access Table
0x00022TSDTTransport Stream Description Table
0x00033IPMPIPMP control information table
0x0004-0x000F4-15ReservedReserved for future use
0x1FFF8191Null packetStuffing packets for bitrate padding; not PSI

The PMT does not have a fixed reserved PID. Its PID is signaled by the PAT.

DVB SI PID assignments:

DVB commonly uses the 0x0010 to 0x001F range for Service Information (SI) tables and related signaling:

PIDTable / use
0x0010NIT, ST
0x0011SDT, BAT, ST
0x0012EIT, CIT, ST
0x0013RST, ST
0x0014TDT, TOT, ST
0x0015Network synchronization
0x0016RNT
0x0017-0x001BReserved for future use
0x001CInband signalling
0x001DMeasurement
0x001EDIT
0x001FSIT

For this check, the practical concern is that PAT, PMT, PCR, and elementary-stream declarations must not reuse these reserved assignments as ordinary payload PIDs.

What This Test Does​

The Reserved PID Usage test inspects PAT and PMT declarations and reports cases where reserved MPEG-TS PIDs are reused for program mapping, PCR, or elementary streams.

It checks that:

  • PAT program mappings do not point a PMT to a reserved PID such as 0x0010 or 0x0011
  • PMT PCR_PID does not use a reserved PID value, except 0x1FFF when PCR is explicitly unused
  • PMT elementary stream entries do not use reserved PIDs such as 0x0000 through 0x001F or the null-packet PID 0x1FFF

Reserved PIDs are defined for PSI/SI tables and special transport functions. Reusing them for PMT or payload streams can confuse analyzers and receivers, and can lead to false PSI parsing or CRC failures downstream.

✅ Pass Criteria​

The test passes when PAT and PMT declarations do not assign reserved MPEG-TS PIDs to PMT, PCR, or elementary stream entries. Application result message:

No reserved MPEG-TS PIDs were declared by PAT/PMT.

❌ Fail Criteria​

The test fails when one or more reserved MPEG-TS PIDs are declared in PAT or PMT signaling. Typical causes include:

  • PAT maps a program PMT to a reserved PID
  • PMT declares a reserved PCR_PID
  • PMT declares a reserved PID for an elementary stream

Application result messages can include:

  • PAT maps the program PMT to reserved PID 0x0010 (DVB SI: NIT/ST)
  • PMT declares reserved PCR PID 0x0011 (DVB SI: SDT/BAT/ST)
  • PMT declares reserved elementary PID 0x0011 (DVB SI: SDT/BAT/ST)
  • PMT declares reserved elementary PID 0x1FFF (null packet)