BirdDog Announcements – NDI® 5, Cloud Connect, And BirdDog PLAY
By Jennifer P
BirdDog announcements – NDI® 5, Cloud Connect, and BirdDog PLAY.
BirdDog has been on the NDI® journey since the very beginning, and we are super excited about the launch of NDI® 5. It paves the way for us to announce some brand-new products harnessing NDI® 5’snew technologies and expanding workflow possibilities!
NDI® 5 is a massive step forward and BirdDog aims to be at the forefront of this across all our current products and moving into the next generation of hardware and software.
BirdDog Announcements
BirdDog Play
BirdDog Play is a brand-new hardware device designed as a low-cost NDI receiver to allow NDI to be distributed at scale. Harnessing the latest advances in NDI 5 supporting ARM processors, Play is the world’s lowest cost NDI hardware, retailing at $149.00.
Meet PLAY, the newest and smallest 4K NDI Player on the planet with full support for NDI® 5. Now connections are a breeze, simply connect PLAY to your NDI network, plug it into your TV via HDMI, and use your own remote to browse the new and gorgeous interface.
#BDPLAY
$149.00 MSRP
Coming in Q3!
Our aim with PLAY is to provide a fully integrated solution for low-cost NDI® monitoring, providing a complete turnkey device that works out of the box. In addition to being attractive in terms of pricing, PLAY is a fully-fledged part of the BirdDog family including:
- API Control including Crestron APIs
- BirdDog Central connectivity
- BirdDog Cloud integration
- Easily navigable UI with the same DNA as the upcoming SDM family
- BirdDog Play can support a whole host of video formats and resolutions including NDI®, NDI|HX2, BirdDog Cloud Connect (see below), SRT, and NDI® Remote – up to 4K60p. Video resolution and frame rate varies for each format – final details will be announced prior to shipping.
Featuring a Gigabit ethernet connection as well as WIFI, PLAY is designed to mount behind TVs and commercial displays and even includes a magnetic base to mount to the back of your TV and keep the unit neat and tidy.
Powered by USB-C (5v, 1.5a) the PLAY device is super easy to install and can be powered by the on-board USB port featured in most TV sets today.
Availability of PLAY is scheduled for Q3.
BirdDog Cloud Connect
Cloud Connect builds on NDI® 5 and the current generation of BirdDog Cloud to allow fully flexible and instantaneous access to any of your video sources anywhere in the world. Cloud Connect is an application suite that is available for the following platforms:
- iPhone
- iPadOS
- tvOS (AppleTV)
- Android
- Android Tablet
- AndroidTV
- Chromebook
These applications once installed can be associated with your organisation’s BirdDog Cloud account. You can publish any NDI® source to the Cloud Connect platform and instantly view it remotely on any device. Browsing and viewing the video sources is super easy with Cloud Connect’s rich UI.
The benefits of Cloud Connect are extensive:
Super Low latency: As little as 2 frames from the source to the screen… over the internet
High Image quality: Much better image quality than video conferencing platforms
Unified UI: Beautiful UI that is super easy to use for anyone
Universal hardware: Use any device you have to view it
Secure: Secured by a secret API key, no-one can drop in on your streams
WIFI/4G compatible: Access your Cloud Connect streams over any internet connection including Café WIFI hotspots and 4G
Network friendly: IT admins do not need to open any firewall restrictions for Cloud Connect to work
High Quality video: Using some of the most efficient video compression available including VP8, VP9 and h.264, Cloud Connect gives the best pictures
Full frame rate: Video is silky smooth and beautiful giving people a real window into their production rather than a blocky, steppy video conference
Cloud Integrated: Publish Multiview’s over Cloud Connect, even use DANTE audio sources to send mixed audio.
Cloud Connect will be available in a closed Beta program as of next week, with a sign-up form on the website to apply to be part of the program, numbers will be strictly limited and dealers will receive priority access.
Availability of Cloud Connect publicly is scheduled for Q3.
BirdDog Cloud – Next Generation
As part of launching Cloud Connect, BirdDog Cloud gets a user interface makeover, making it more accessible for production users while providing more information in terms of current connections and status. Next Generation BirdDog Cloud is designed to share the same UI DNA as Cloud Connect applications and make it the easiest platform to administer and use.
Cloud Next-generation features walk-throughs to create connections removing the clutter of the connection matrix and reserving Advanced controls for Advanced users.
Existing BirdDog product announcements and releases
We recognize there are some previously announced features that are ‘coming soon’, we don’t want you to think we have forgotten about this!
BirdDog Engineers have been hard at work on adding features to existing products to remove any asterisk on the website, address any issue and improve performance across the range. While we are truly excited about the new NDI 5, Cloud Connect and PLAY announcements, no hardware releases will take place until our previous commitments are met. This includes:
- Dante Support for all hardware devices
- 4K QUAD Bi-Directional operation and advanced USB features
- Flex Decode PTZ Controller operations
- PTZ Keyboard NDI Tuning
- Updated API for control of every function within the BirdDog device programmatically
- Performance updates for every current product
- Introducing ‘LTS’ and ‘Advanced’ firmware tracks
Extending on the commitment above, all hardware products are in the process of receiving a firmware update which will be known as LTS or Long-Term Support, this firmware track is designed for installations or individuals whose primary focus is on reliability and ongoing support. LTS releases are taking engineering priority and will be rolled out in the following order over the coming weeks:
- 4K Cameras
- 4K Flex
- 4K Pro family converters
- HD Cameras
- PTZ Keyboard
- HD Converters
These LTS releases will feature each and every function that is published on our website and will move to ongoing maintenance from that point onwards, only receiving patch updates to address future compatibility issues.
The Advanced track will continue to be our firmware containing all the latest features and functions, this allows people wanting to do cutting-edge productions to make the absolute most of the BirdDog hardware. Advanced releases will feature more regular updates and continue to provide more abilities and additional return on our customers investment by opening up new workflows, etc.