Network Device Interface (NDI) is ushering in a cost-effective new way of networking video sources and devices over standard IP gigabit Ethernet rather than the costly, bulky Serial Digital Interface (SDI) cabling that has dominated the video industry for over 25 years. If you’re a professional broadcaster, your production facility likely already has SDI adjoining all your high- end gear.
But what if you’re a house of worship, school, small company, video podcaster, or any other budget-conscious non-broadcaster seeking to produce and deliver your own content via social media platforms? NDI can get the show on the road quickly using the same local area network (LAN) that connects your computers, provided there’s sufficient, dedicated bandwidth. And it does so with far less cost and complexity than SDI.
NDI was originally spearheaded by NewTek; however, it’s now regarded an open standard, Video over IP networking protocol, and a global vendor community actively develops their own branded, NDI-capable products. Demand for NDI is growing because it’s a low-cost, ubiquitous option for striking up live SD/HD video productions wherever and whenever the need arises, including live remote Video over IP scenarios.
Recognizing NDI’s potential to transform and democratize video production, ENCO began incorporating it—alongside SDI—in its flagship products, including the enCaption automated closed captioning system and ClipFire TV Channel-in-a-Box.
Once connected, any NDI-capable production equipment can readily see and interact with other devices on the same LAN. With a NewTek tool called NDI Bridge, users can connect multiple local and wide area networks together, thereby expanding their creative production choices exponentially. Let’s say that production switchers A and B reside on their own respective NDI LANs. With NDI Bridge, not only can switchers A and B take each other’s output as an input source, they can even reach into each other’s networks and share any live or recorded media sources the other may be using.
While NDI won’t replace SDI any time soon, the video industry is clearly trending in NDI’s direction due to its simplicity, affordability, and real-time performance. Learn more about how NDI gives ENCO customers a competitive edge by cost-effectively moving signals and content between ENCO systems and third-party devices over NDI Video over IP networks.
