What is NDI HX? Watch this PTZOptics Webinar to Find Out
By Jim Bask
What is NDI HX? Good Question! If you have no idea what the NewTek NDI is… where have you been? Check out our NDI for Beginners video with Tess Protesto and Will Waters here. If you are using NDI or interested in the latest NDI 3.0 and NDI HX improvements here are answers to your questions.
- NDI is a high quality, low latency, IP video transmission standard pioneered by NewTek. This standard protocol has been adopted by the live streaming industry in software such as: Wirecast, vMix, LiveStream Studio, OBS, xSplit, StreamStar and the NewTek Tricasters.
- NDI HX is the latest “High Efficiency” version of NDI which has been optimized to open up a whole new world of devices using built-in h.264 compression chips. This will eventually allow more hardware devices to support the NDI standard such as the Connect Spark and our PTZOptics cameras.
- NDI HX will provide Audio, Video, Tally and PTZ controls allowing a single ethernet cable to provide all connections needed to your camera. How is it different from RTSP?
- NDI uses an incredibly long run of frames and has the ability to make intelligent decisions based on connections. Therefore NDI does not require the use of I-Frames allowing NDI to reduce latency and improve bandwidth constraints
Does NDI HX use h.264 compression? Yes, NDI HX uses very high bitrate h.264 allowing users to maintain high levels of quality and the ability to run on existing devices today with customized firmware.
How much Bandwidth does NDI HX use? This answer will depend on the resolution you are stream but in general the bandwidth will hover around 10 MBps.
How much latency does NDI HX have? Roughly 30-50ms which can be less than a frame depending on the frame rate you are using. This is extremely low latency and un-noticeable during a live production.
What devices support NDI HX? Currently NewTek has two products: a PTZ Camera and the Connect Spark (available with HDMI and HD-SDI). Panasonic and PTZOptics are adding a lineup of PTZ camera products which will add NDI HX support through a firmware upgrade.
PTZOptics Live Streaming Camera Manufacture focused on HD-SDI, USB 3.0, HDMI and IP streaming cameras. Our YouTube channel features live broadcasting tips, tricks and tutorials for live streaming and more.
Click here to watch the video on YouTube.