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NDI at the edge

2026-06-08 · WAVE · 7 min read

NDI (Network Device Interface) carries video and audio over standard Ethernet. It started at NewTek and is now stewarded by Vizrt. On a local network it gives you full-resolution sources with low latency and automatic discovery — sources appear on the network without manual addressing.

WAVE treats NDI the way it treats every transport: as a thin adapter over one Media Engine. You ingest NDI on the LAN where it belongs, and deliver over whatever transport the far end needs — SRT, WebRTC, HLS, MoQ — through one API.

What NDI is good at

  • Low latency on the LAN. Sub-frame on a well-provisioned network, which is why it is common in live production.
  • Full-resolution sources. High quality with light compression for local links.
  • Automatic discovery. Sources announce themselves; you do not hand-configure IPs.
  • Standard infrastructure. It runs on the Ethernet you already have.

NDI is a local-network protocol. WAVE's job is to take it off the LAN cleanly.

Network notes

NDI uses mDNS for discovery and a range of TCP/UDP ports for transport. On a managed network:

  • Allow mDNS (UDP 5353) so sources can be discovered.
  • Open the NDI discovery and transport ports (commonly 5960–5970) between sender and receiver.
  • Prefer wired Gigabit; 10 Gigabit if you are carrying several full-resolution sources.
  • For constrained links, NDI's high-efficiency mode trades some quality for much lower bandwidth.

Ingesting NDI into WAVE

Point WAVE at an NDI source and choose how it leaves the building:

{
  "source": {
    "type": "ndi",
    "name": "STUDIO-CAM-1",
    "bandwidth": "highest"
  },
  "deliver": ["srt", "webrtc", "hls"]
}

The NDI adapter lives at ndi.wave.online. The same pattern holds for the other broadcast transports — the source changes, the API does not.

Troubleshooting

  • Source not appearing: check that mDNS is allowed and the discovery ports are open between machines.
  • Latency or stutter: use wired Ethernet over wireless, and check for congestion; move to 10 Gigabit if you are carrying multiple sources.
  • Audio sync: keep sample rates consistent and carry timecode where you have it.

Where it fits

NDI is the first mile on the LAN. WAVE is the API that carries that first mile to anywhere — and prices, settles, and meters the delivery through the same gateway every other transport uses.