NewTek's NDI Streamlines the Switch from SDI to IP-based Production

NewTek's NDI has made a powerful impact on AV-over-IP in a very short amount of time. It's the beginning of an industry revolution. Read on to find out why NewTek decided to give away this technology.

NewTek’s NDI: A Path to IP Production

from The Broadcast Bridge Everyone wants to migrate from SDI to IP production, and NewTek has provided the technology to do it—for free! If the move to IP-based production was the marching order at September’s IBC convention, NewTek’s NDI (Network Device Interface) seemed to be the drummer, with dozens of companies announcing they are using it to translate SDI (Serial Digital Interface) video into IP (Internet Protocol) video. The cost savings of switching from SDI to video over IP, along with the benefits of bi-directional communication and packetized data delivery have long been a tempting lure, and, after all, that’s the way all computer devices talk to each other already. But NewTek made the temptation even more irresistible by giving away the SDK (Software Development Kit) for their NDI technology for free.

“The adoption of NDI has certainly exceeded my expectations widely,” began Dr. Andrew Cross, president and CTO of NewTek. “But I think a lot of people are missing one of the most exciting aspects of the move to IP, and you might be surprised to hear it. I think having multiple standards for AV-over-IP is a wonderful thing. What a lot of people miss is that the only really important standard is IP itself, and not the specific flavor of the data that is going to be flowing over IP.”

Different solutions for IP issue

That unexpected praise for multiple standards of a new technology may take a bit of explaining. The concept of moving toward an IP-based infrastructure has been around for several years. At NAB 2015 Evertz proposed one solution called, “Adaptive Sample Picture Encapsulation”. By IBC 2015, together with For-A, Ross, AJA Video Systems, ChyronHego, Sony, Tektronix, and Vizrt, the ASPEN Community was formed...[continue reading]