The industry demands professional-grade video streaming over IP

By Albert Ng, Product Manager at NDI.

With NDI 6, rising connectivity technology meets industry demands for professional-grade video streaming over IP, making broadcast-quality streaming widely available.

Current industry standards 

Current video transport systems predominantly operate at 8-bit color depth per channel, limiting the color richness and detail. While HDR video has become more prevalent, its adoption is hampered by compatibility and integration issues. Existing systems often require separate hardware or software for remote connectivity, complicating workflows and increasing costs. These challenges prevent consistent, high-quality video output across platforms and devices, creating a fragmented production environment and failing to meet the rising expectations for more dynamic and immersive content.

Industry demands

The industry’s desire for higher color depth and HDR support is a clear indication of the need to enhance video quality, creating more realistic and immersive visual experiences. The growing need for seamless integration of remote production capabilities to facilitate efficient, high-quality content creation across wide area networks (WANs) is also a priority. The industry is in search of solutions that are not only technologically advanced but also user-friendly and cost-effective.

NDI 6 innovations

NDI 6 introduces a suite of upgrades addressing these industry needs head-on. The transition from 8-bit to 10+ bit color depth per channel ensures richer and more accurate color representation. This update supports NDI High Bandwidth and NDI HX3 formats, elevating video quality to meet professional broadcasting standards. With native HDR support, including formats like HLG and PQ, NDI significantly broadens its color palette, offering brighter highlights and detailed shadows, eliminating banding for a superior viewing experience. And the best part? It’s all user-friendly and cost-effective.

Impact on broadcasting

Broadcast engineers widely acknowledge that HDR, even more than 4K and HD 1080p resolutions, substantially elevates video quality. By integrating 10+ bit HDR support, NDI 6 addresses users’ growing quality demands, making high-end quality streaming accessible and efficient. For Tier 1 broadcasters, NDI 6 offers a significant advantage, providing the high-quality video streaming they need without the added complexity and cost of separate hardware or software.

Impact on film and post-production Support for 10+ bit HDR significantly broadens NDI 6’s application in film and post-production, ensuring visual and color fidelity for previewing, quality control, and monitoring. One of the most transformative features of NDI 6, the NDI Bridge utility for hardware, revolutionizes remote production by embedding WAN connectivity directly into devices like cameras, enabling seamless remote collaboration across different networks. This plug- and-play solution simplifies workflows and offers a cost-effective solution for both production and post- production environments.

Developer integration

NDI 6 encourages developers to integrate its advanced features, with updated SDKs available for immediate use. These include HDR content decoding, native 10+ bit color support without loss of color information, and the NDI Bridge Utility for hardware. By integrating NDI 6, developers can enhance their products with professional-grade video editing capabilities, seamless IP connectivity, and secure, real-time collaboration over WAN. NDI 6 not only benefits end-users but also provides developers with the tools they need to create innovative and high-quality video streaming solutions.

Looking ahead Broadcast designers are on the cusp of a transformative era driven by innovations in HDR and color depth. These advancements promise to redefine standards and enrich viewer experiences globally. By embracing these technologies, designers are poised to lead the industry into a new era of enhanced visual storytelling and engagement.

www.ndi.video |  www.ndi.video/ndi6