What’s NDI All About?

Every few decades, the video production industry goes

through a revolution that forever changes the way we work, and
what we can achieve. It is thrilling to know that one is happening
right now (and you can be part of it).

For example, the industry largely abandoned analog

cameras, video and transmission (in favor of digital
systems) over a decade ago. This, in turn, paved the way
for vastly more efficient non-linear workflows. Similarly,
the explosion of the Internet and the widespread adoption
of high speed networking set the stage for the next
revolution. We confidently predict that, twenty years
hence, it will be clear that this was far more profound and
important than matters like resolution, frame-rate, and
the like.

We live in a world in which virtually every computer

system in the world is potentially connected to every other
one. Billions of these devices have high quality screens,
fast processors and cameras. Ultimately, in this
environment, it is inevitable that efficient, economical,
non-linear video transfer in IP space will supersede
traditional linear connection methods (SDI, HDMI, etc.)
and systems.

NewTek NDI™ (Network Device Interface) makes it easy to share high-quality video over a local Ethernet network. However, the
NDI vision is vastly exciting than any mere ’cable upgrade’.
What’s NDI All About? (Continued)
Because it connects everyone and everything, everywhere
together in non-linear fashion, the Internet is vastly more than a
better way to move data from point to point. Thus it enabled and
inspired innovators who truly changed the world in fundamental
ways, creating tools and workflows that use data in ways that no-
one had ever imagined. A similar quantum leap for video
production is at hand.

From the outset of the personal computer revolution, NewTek

foresaw that video production would inevitably leverage the
exponential progress of general computing. Our vision also
embraces the commensurate advances in general purpose
networking and the Internet. Production systems using IP to
integrate data, video, and audio are transforming live video
production yet again – in ways that would have seemed
miraculous just a few years ago.

NewTek’s mission is to give storytellers a voice through video,

using innovation and technology to fundamentally change the
way video is created and used. NewTek NDI springs from these
core values. We are providing it to the world for free to make it
easy to connect video products over IP, in turn greatly expanding
creative options for video producers – providing them with
greater power, increased efficiency, and economy.

This document will introduce NDI, inform you as to what it is,

and how to get started using it right now.
Why Do I Want NDI?

Consider the impact of the Internet on You can think of NDI as turning your network into a ‘video internet’.
your life and work. You use it at the home,
the office, and everywhere in between. Like a webpage, each NDI source is instantly available to many viewers and
devices. Wherever your network extends – throughout your office, broadcast
You, and your associates, use many
studio, hospital, campus (etc.) – NDI is ready for immediate display, capture,
different devices at once – tablets, smart
replay, production, and more.
phones, laptops, workstations, and more.
You might each be working independently,
NDI operates bi-directionally over a local area network, and supports many
or collaborating on shared files while
ultra-low latency, ultra-high quality video streams on shared connections. It is
communicating by video chat with
resolution and frame-rate independent, supports 4K (and beyond) along with
someone in the next office, or on another
16 channels (and more) of floating-point audio. Alpha channel, command
continent.
channels, tally data, bi-directional metadata, and things like access rights and
grouping are natively supported.

NDI’s superb performance over standard 1Gbit/s networks makes it possible

to transition facilities to an incredibly versatile IP video production pipeline
without negating existing investments in SDI infrastructure, or costly new
high-speed network installations (though 10Gbit and beyond can provide even
more simultaneous channels of video). NDI is built to work in installations that
already exist today; future advances will just make it even more powerful.

We expect you to find all of this hard to believe. That’s why we want you to
try NDI out for yourself
How Do I Get Started With NDI?

The NDI concept is simple: You supply a For more than 40 years, the need to physically connect cameras,
video source, and send it to your network graphics systems, video switchers and routers has dictated studio
as NDI. At that point, anyone else on that design, architecture and workflows. This is no longer true.
network can see it and work with it (unless
 Production operations, including video mixing, can be performed
you deliberately limit access), just as if it
wherever it is convenient (and quiet), rather than being shoe-
was a locally connected to their system.
horned into the actual production space.
In this brave new world of IP video, you do
So – you might producing a video in your office; someone in the
not need to think about capture cards,
next office can also view it, and so can still others down the
SDI, HDMI, etc., unless you want to use corridor, elsewhere on your campus, or on the other side of the
those sources (as we will discuss a bit world – all at once.
later). You might also enjoy freedom from
dependency on distribution amps, video  Your graphics systems need no longer be in your control room
matric routers, and the like. (with bi-directional communication they can be controlled from
somewhere else as well).
Let’s begin our adventure by creating an
NDI source.  Naturally, the reverse is also true. If someone takes your source
and inserts it into their program, you can connect to their NDI
output and see the result.

 You can even use other NDI channels to video chat to

collaborate on the production.
Sending Video Over NDI
Our first exercise will generate an NDI test
pattern and 1 kHz audio signal.

● Download and install the NewTek NDI Tools

Pack from www.NDI.NewTek.com.

● Launch NewTek NDI Test Patterns (Fig. 1)

from the Windows® Start menu.

You’re already making NDI video and audio visible

on your network. Of course you can’t see it
without a suitable video monitor, though, so let’s
add one next.
Viewing NDI
We now have an NDI video source – the test pattern you
configured in the previous section – and since your
computer almost certainly has an IP connection already,
it is already visible to any other system on that network.

The next step is to open a video monitor that can see it.
(Since we’re dealing with an NDI source, client systems
do not require a hardware card with SDI or HDMI
connectors. Nor must you run heavy cabling, or add an
external video monitor to view your NDI source.)

 Launch NewTek NDI Studio Monitor from the

Windows® Start menu.

● Right-click and select the “Test Pattern” source

from the menu (the first part of the source menu
entry is your computer’s name on the network).
Video Source & Settings Menu Full-Screen Toggle
Viewing NDI (Continued)
NewTek NDI Studio Monitor is now showing the content from the
NDI channel output by the NDI Test Patterns generator. (Double
click the image to toggle full screen display.)

To prove this high-quality video source is really available network-

wide, install NewTek NDI Studio Monitor on a second networked
system, too. Then display the same NDI source on that second
system.

Hint: A computer can be set up as a dedicated NDI viewer through a

command line. Entering the command shown below will launch the
NDI Studio Monitor, select MIX1 of the “named source” displaying it
at full screen:

Application.Network.StudioMonitor.x64.exe “SOURCE NAME HERE (MIX1)”/full_screen

(The source name must be wrapped in quotation marks as shown, to allow for source
names that include spaces. Double-clicking the window will exit full screen mode.)
Viewing NDI (Continued)
You are already broadcasting NDI video across your local Ethernet
network, and each NDI-enabled application and system has real-time
access to it.
In many ways your NDI-enabled network is operating like a powerful
video matrix router connecting everything to everything, with NDI
maintaining complete visibility, identification, bandwidth management,
and so on.
Even if there are hundreds of NDI channels available, and lots of
machines viewing them, they are all managed correctly, automatically.
NDI is so efficient that a single machine can receive and send an
astonishing number of sources. Bandwidth consumption is limited to
those sources that are actually being used.

Compare this with the traditional production pipeline world based

around capture cards, distribution amps and routers:
A computer system able to support 100 SDI sources is, for all practical
purposes, a pipedream – but not so with NDI.
Actually, for many purposes, an existing gigabit network may supply all
the bandwidth you need.
Viewing NDI (Continued)
When using NewTek NDI Studio Monitor to view NDI sources, you have a
number of options available in the Source > Settings menu. These are
detailed below:
 Low Bandwidth – Toggles Low Bandwidth mode to aid network
traffic
 Mute Audio – Mutes audio output from the application on the
local system (only)
 VU Meter – Toggles display of the VU bars overlay
 VU Meter Scale – Toggles display of the VU Scale values overlay
 Checkerboard – Shows a checkerboard for video sources with an
embedded alpha (transparency) channel
 Tally – Shows whether a source is being utilized on output of any
other systems supporting NDI tally signaling
 Center Cross – Toggles display of Center Cross overlay
 Safe Areas – Toggles display of Safe Areas overlay
 4:3 Aspect Ratio – Toggles display of 4:3 Aspect Ratio overlay Source > Settings Menu
 Square Aspect Ratio – Toggles display of Square Aspect Ratio
overlay
 Full-Screen – Toggles between Full-Screen and windowed mode
Viewing NDI (Continued)
You can launch as many instances of NewTek NDI Studio Monitor to view
NDI sources to create a multi-monitor setup. When you quit each
monitor, its configuration, window size and position is stored.

When you launch the NDI Studio Monitor app again, successive instances
you run will load the corresponding configuration files in order. These
configuration files can be found in the following location on your hard
drive:
C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Local\NewTek\
Viewing NDI (Continued)
If a connected NDI video source supports recording and remote
control (as, for example, NewTek’s NC1 Studio Input/Output
Module does), NewTek NDI Studio Monitor displays a red
record icon in the lower left corner.
Clicking this icon instructs the source device to initiate
recording, and shows a timecode display to indicate the
duration of the current recording.
If the NDI video source also supports web configuration (e.g.
NDI Connect™ Spark) a configuration button is also shown.
Clicking this button opens a web browser to the corresponding
configuration page, allowing you to modify source settings.

Record Icon & Timecode

Send an Application Window via NDI
While test signals are good, let’s now consider sending a video
stream that has moving video in it. For the sake of simplicity, we
use some computer applications that you might already have. We
will be capturing these applications in real time and making them
visible on the network. This might, for instance, involve a web
browser that you wish to you display within your live show, or a
PowerPoint presentation that your CEO needs to display while to
employees.

Now let’s see how NDI can distribute many different video
sources across your network.

● Launch a video player (e.g., QuickTime Player™), load a video

clip and start playback.
● Launch NewTek NDI Scan Converter from the Windows® Start
menu.
● Right-click the small NewTek NDI Scan Converter icon in the
system Task Tray at lower right on your screen to show the Selecting an application to broadcast over NDI in the NewTek NDI
menu, and checkmark the entry for the video player. Scan Converter System Tray menu

● Use the NDI Studio Monitor application (installed earlier) to

confirm that your video player window now appears on your
network as an NDI source.
● Open a web browser, and navigate to your favorite online
video.
Send an Application Window via NDI (Continued)
● Re-open the NewTek NDI Scan Converter menu, and notice
that your web browser is now listed as a source.
● Checkmark the video player entry, and you’ll see that both
your web browser and the video clip player are now available
as NDI sources across your network.

While you’re at it, why not launch a second instance of NewTek

NDI Studio Monitor on the same machine to display the video
player we previously configured.

Take a moment to reflect on NewTek NDI’s ability to publish high

quality audio and video from multiple sources to your network.
Note how you can select a huge number of applications, and they
are all available for immediate use. Still better, consider how QuickTime playback captured and broadcast using NDI Scan Converter,
then displayed in the NDI Studio Monitor
multiple clients can connect to any one (or more) of those sources
simultaneously.

Here, again, we see the efficiency and magic of NDI, as even when
you are generating hundreds of sources, the resources required
are determined by what is actually in use. You might have 100
windows being captured and available for immediate use, but if
no one is connected to an application’s output, no processing is
even done.
Play a Video Clip As NDI
Do you have VLC media player for Windows® installed? If not,
download and install the latest version from the link below:

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

VLC media player is a powerful and popular open source

utility, with capabilities extending well beyond what we can
discuss here. Given its name, you will not be shocked to
discover it is also a media player. Conveniently, too, it
supports almost every known media file, is highly
customizable, and can easily be controlled externally.

Let’s use it to create an NDI channel on your network.

Play a Video Clip As NDI (Continued)
You previously installed the NewTek NDI VLC
Plugin as part of the NewTek NDI Tools Pack.
Let’s continue from there as follows:

● Launch VLC media player, and use the Tools

menu to open the Preferences panel.

● Click the Video icon in Preferences, and

select NewTek NDI Video from the Output
menu.

This tells VLC media player to direct its video

output to the NewTek NDI VLC Plugin.
Play a Video Clip as NDI (Continued)

● Click the Audio icon at the top of Preferences,

and repeat the steps above to select NewTek
NDI Audio as VLC media player’s audio
output.

● Exit and re-start VLC media player.

● Choose Open File in the Media menu of VLC

media player to select a video clip to play.

● Finally, choose your new NDI channel as the

source for NDI Studio Monitor.

NewTek NDI Studio Monitor now shows the NDI

output from VLC media player. The audio and video
played within VLC media player is being encoded in real-time by
the NDI plugin. It is then sent to the local NewTek NDI Studio
Monitor window, and is also supplied to your network, and any
systems connected to it.
Transmit NDI Video to Skype
More than 300 million people use Skype. Wouldn’t it be
wonderful to supply a truly high quality video source to your
Skype connections? You could, for instance, do a company
meeting using a group Skype video conference, and present
pristine quality video to them.

Assuming you already have Skype installed, proceed as follows:

● Launch the NewTek NDI Transmit Trial Version

application from the Windows® Start menu.
● Right-click the NDI icon that it adds to the Windows®
Task Tray, and select one of the NDI sources you have
previously added to your network, and which are now
listed in the popup menu.
● Launch Skype, and select Options from its Tools menu.
● Click Video settings in the column at left (Error! Reference
source not found.).Use the Select webcam menu to
choose NewTek Video Source (you can do the same thing
in the Audio settings pane if you wish the remote Skype
viewer to hear audio from the NDI source).

Skype is now ready to send your high quality NDI source out to
contacts in the usual manner. (Naturally, the watermark visible in
the NewTek NDI Transmit Trial Version is absent in the full version
of this tool).
Send NDI Video to Google Hangouts, YouTube, and More …
Likewise, the output from the NewTek NDI Transmit can be
sent detected and by such applications as Google+ Hangouts
(and Hangouts On Air), YouTube Live, Adobe Flash Media Live
Encoder, VLC media player, and many others.

 Configure a suitable NDI source in the NewTek NDI

Transmit menu.

 Select the output from NewTek NDI Transmit in your

desired application, in the same manner as you might
previously have selected a webcam.

The gorgeous video quality NDI supplies to your viewers will

make you and your message look great*.

* Note that, by default, Hangouts shows your video source as

a mirror image on your local display (only).
NDI for Adobe® Creative Cloud®
In almost all production environments, each Live To Air/Drive/The World
graphic, animation, and video is reviewed many,
many times. Even when graphics applications Let’s consider a few more examples:
support realtime playback, it is usually necessary
to render the project to a media file that can be  Sending After Effects® output live-to-air, directly injecting it into your
provided to various stakeholders for review each broadcast pipeline.
time.
 View SpeedGrade® output on a centralized calibrated monitor, and send it
With NDI for Adobe Creative Cloud, simply to air at the same time.
playing a project in a supported Adobe
application lets anyone on the network can view  Use NDI™ IsoCorder™ to capture output from CC applications to file
it on their local monitor in realtime (using NDI anywhere your network runs.
Monitor). While you’ll not likely escape
rendering entirely, NDI for Adobe CC can really  Use NewTek NDI Transmit™ (see ndi.NewTek.com) with this plugin to use
accelerate the creative process. almost any application accepting webcam input (Skype™, Google+
Hangouts Live™, etc.) to collaborate across the globe.

These are just a few of the ways you can combine the large and growing
number of free and commercial NDI tools to enhance your workflow, and
show off your creativity.
NDI for Adobe® Creative Cloud® (Continued)
Installation and Configuration
This section covers the steps required to install the software and configure the Adobe® applications.

System Requirements

Minimum system requirements:

 32-bit or 64-bit Microsoft® Windows Vista® operating

system or better
 Minimum Intel i3 Sandy Bridge CPU (2008 or later), better
strongly encouraged.
 Gigabit LAN connection for signal transmission over IP via
NDI™ Technology

Installing the NDI Software

1. Begin by double clicking the Installation file to begin the

set up process. The first page you will see is the Welcome
page – click “Next” at the bottom.

2. The License Agreement is shown after the Welcome page.

Please read this, select a switch in the footer to indicate
whether you accept the agreement, and click Next.
NDI for Adobe® Creative Cloud® (Continued)
3. The next few pages establish where the software will be
installed and Start Menu shortcuts will appear. As the
defaults should be just fine, click Next on these two pages.

4. The Select Components page allow you to customize your

installation (Error! Reference source not found.). When
you are ready click Next.

5. You will see a menu verifying where and what files will be
installed. Click Next, and a confirmation page will soon
pop up to indicate a successful installation.
 NDI for Adobe® Creative Cloud® (Continued)
Configuring Applications
After installation, you must activate NDI output in your various Adobe® Creative Cloud® applications before you can start using it.
Adobe After Effects CC
1. To activate NDI output for Adobe After Effects® CC, go 2. To activate NDI output for Adobe After Effects® CC, use the Edit
to Preferences>Video Preview in the Edit menu. menu to go to Preferences>Video Preview.
 NDI for Adobe® Creative Cloud® (Continued)
Adobe Premiere Pro CC

1. In Adobe Premiere Pro® CC, go to 2. This will open the Preferences panel. There you will find NewTek NDI
Edit>Preferences>Playback. output as an option under Video Device.
 NDI for Adobe® Creative Cloud® (Continued)
Adobe Speedgrade CC

1. In Adobe SpeedGrade® CC, click the ‘wrench’ icon in 2. This will open the Preferences panel. There you will find NewTek NDI
the titlebar to access the Preferences panel. output as an option under Video Device.

3. Use the Device menu in the Mercury Transmit control group at right to
select NewTek NDI Output, and close the Preferences panel to
continue.
Control Access to NDI Channels
As you come to appreciate the power of NDI, you’ll
doubtless want more and more of such convenient video
sources. You could easily wind up having hundreds of video
sources available (clearly, this was impossible before NDI).

Often, though, you will want to limit visibility of NDI channels

to specific systems. Or may need access to NDI channels from
another subnet. The NDI Access Manager lets you assign
sources to groups, and choose which of these various
systems receive. You can also access NDI sources from other
subnets.

By default, all NDI channels are in the Public group, visible to

all NDI clients on the same subnet. Adding a custom Output
group (Groups tab) lets others access your system’s NDI
output by adding that a matching to their Receive group list.
If you remove Public from your Output groups, only systems
configured to receive one of your custom Output groups will
see your NDI channels.

Similarly, removing Public from your Receive groups tells your

local system to ignore channels that aren’t among the
remaining Receive groups.
Control Access to NDI Channels (Continued)
Add entries to the Receive from IP Addresses list in the Network tab to access NDI sources from a different subnet. Note that an IP
Address entry can serve multiple NDI channels (e.g., NDI Scan Converter can supply 1 channel or many more).

The channel count matters – you must ensure that, starting from port 5960 and counting up, enough network ports are available for
the maximum supplied by any one NDI source – plus one (for NDI server messaging). So, adding an IP Address for a system supplying
one NDI channel to the Receive from IP list means ports 5960 and 5961 must be available. A second source serving eight NDI
channels would need ports 5960 – 5968 to be free, etc.
Connect to Hardware
For the sake of convenience, we've focused on computer sources up to
this point. Obviously, though, ‘real video’ (i.e., input from cameras and
output to other devices) is equally vital for production.

You may want to send NDI video across the network to production
devices and displays connected to an output card at the opposite end of
the building. Or possibly you need to capture the signal from a video
camera for use both inside and outside your control room.

Thankfully, NDI provides full and easy connectivity to and from

traditional production devices.

Perhaps you already rely on hardware audio-video I/O cards, such as the
fine products from Bluefish444, TeraDek, AJA Video systems, Blackmagic
Design, or DELTACAST, using these for capture or display of audio and
video. Imagine how useful it would be if sources you connect to those
cards were immediately available as NDI channels for use anywhere on
your network, or conversely, if NDI sources could be sent to the card’s
video outputs.

You could then connect a high quality camera to the input the card and
(with the help of NewTek NDI Transmit) stream to YouTube Live or
Google+ Hangouts, etc. Alternatively, you might display remote NDI
sources on local monitors connected to a card’s outputs located
anywhere in your studio, office building or campus that the network runs.
Connect to Hardware
The free NewTek NDI Connect software does all of this and
much more, and is available at www.NDI.newtek.com.

Here’s a feature list for NewTek NDI Connect Pro Version:

● 4 NDI output channels

● Accepts multiple NDI channels as sources
● Also supports Bluefish444, Blackmagic, DELTACAST,
AJA, Matrox, Teradek devices and others, along with
webcams, and custom sound cards for professional
connectivity (including XLR).
● Separate Key/Fill Input and Output
○ Convert separate key and fill supplied to the
card to a single 32bit NDI channel on your
network, and vice versa.
● Supports 8-channel audio I/O, with per-channel level
control
● Supplementary NDI Viewer (e.g., for program return)
● Versatile display configurations, including independent
dual monitor workspaces
● Media file playback (with Autoplay for systems
supporting NDI tally)
● Integrated Waveform/Vectorscope
● Professional Color Correction, including White Balance
and Auto-color
● Overlays (VUs, Title Safe, 4:3, Checkerboard, Center
Cross)
Capture NDI Sources
Obviously you will often want to capture video sources to media
files. The previous generation of video production methods,
although digital, required specialized cabling and systems for
video transmission; in turn this meant that specialized devices
were needed to record it.

In the IP realm, that is no longer the case. Your local Ethernet

infrastructure carries a plethora of video feeds, and these can also
be recorded to drive at any convenient location served by the
network.

The ability to record any media to storage, anywhere is part of the

IP-based revolution. And it will soon be the case that a show—and
all of the media that was used to produce—it are available for use
in a conveniently stored format.
Record Multiple Sources at Once
NewTek NDI IsoCorder™ provides the necessary
functionality, allowing a huge number of channels to be
monitored and recorded all at once.

Capture from different sources can be started and

stopped independently or simultaneously, and files are
encoded to a broadcast quality Quicktime format
compatible with all common production software.
The NewTek NDI SDK
As the foundation technology of the NewTek Advanced IP
Workflow, NDI employs refined encoding and communication
protocols to efficiently package and send information over a
standard LAN.

NewTek‘s NDI Software Development Kit (SDK) supplies all of the

information, tools and examples needed to build applications and
products with native NDI support. Both inputs and outputs of
devices and applications (including switchers, graphics engines,
laptops, etc.) you prepare using this SDK can serve as video
sources exposed to other NDI-enabled devices on a shared
network. Interested parties are encouraged to visit
http://NDI.newtek.com for further details.

The specific goal of the NDI SDK is to make it as quick and easy for
you to create software and hardware applications that allow you
to create and use video over IP as is physically possible. Indeed, if
you have the ability to render video frames, we believe that NDI
sending functionality can be added in less than 10 lines of code.
Frequently Asked Questions
It all seems too good to be true, doesn’t it? No doubt WILL IT COST ME A FORTUNE?
you have many questions. We want to comment on a
few of the more common ones here, in order that you NewTek NDI is available without cost. While a number of
can come to the conclusion that there’s really nothing providers offer NDI-enabled products for sale (and more are
preventing you from trying NDI out for yourself right on the way), a variety of NDI solutions with powerful
away. capabilities are being offered to you without charge.

We’re confident you’ll be happy you did

IS IT COMPLICATED? WON’T ALL THAT VIDEO OVERLOAD MY NETWORK?

Nope. NDI is no harder to use than the worldwide web Only if you try really, really, hard. NDI’s extremely efficient
(maybe easier). encoder supplies broadcast quality audio video that is
shockingly ‘small’. Data demands are from 50-100 Mbps per
channel.

WHAT IF OUR PIPELINE IS ALL SDI? WHAT ABOUT UHD?

NDI is fully compatible with SDI, and can easily be Got it covered. NDI supports any and all resolutions, frame
implemented alongside your existing infrastructure rates, audio sample rate and channel count, from HD to 4K
without disruption. You can augment and extend your and beyond.
existing systems without expensive investment or
downtime
Frequently Asked Questions (Continued)
IS LATENCY AN ISSUE? IS IT COMPATIBLE WITH SMPTE 2022, ETC.?

Forget about it. NDI transmission speed typically requires NewTek strongly believes in interoperability, and in making
considerably less than one video frame. NDI work with other popular IP infrastructures wherever
possible.
WHAT ARE THE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR CAPTURE?
For example, it is our goal for NDI enabled-applications to
On most Windows®-based systems with a gigabit automatically support SMPTE 2022/6, too.
network connection and reasonably fast hard drive (i.e.,
write speeds >20 Mb/Sec per NDI channel recorded), the We expect to extend this standard-agnostic philosophy
NewTek NDI IsoCorder application can capture two further, as hardware supporting other IP video transport
different HD NDI channels to disk at once. methods advance from the planning phase to real world
availability.

Details of products and software described herein are subject to change without prior notice. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks
or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.