N D I (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 N D I the way
it treats every transport: as a thin adapter over
one Media Engine. You ingest N D I on
the L A N where it belongs, and deliver
over whatever transport the far end needs — S
R T, Web R T C, H L S,
Mock — through one A P I. What N
D I is good at. - Low latency on
the L A N. 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. N D I
is a local-network protocol. WAVE's job is to take
it off the L A N cleanly. Network notes.
N D I uses multicast D N S for
discovery and a range of T C P/U D
P ports for transport. On a managed network: -
Allow multicast D N S (U D P 5353)
so sources can be discovered. - Open the N
D I discovery and transport ports (commonly 5960 to
5970) between sender and receiver. - Prefer wired Gigabit;
ten gigabit if you are carrying several full-resolution sources.
- For constrained links, N D I's high-efficiency mode
trades some quality for much lower bandwidth. Ingesting N
D I into WAVE. Point WAVE at an N
D I source and choose how it leaves the
building: The N D I adapter lives at N
D I dot wave dot online. The same pattern
holds for the other broadcast transports — the source
changes, the A P I does not. Troubleshooting. -
Source not appearing: check that multicast D N S
is allowed and the discovery ports are open between
machines. - Latency or stutter: use wired Ethernet over
wireless, and check for congestion; move to ten gigabit
if you are carrying multiple sources. - Audio sync:
keep sample rates consistent and carry timecode where you
have it. Where it fits. N D I is
the first mile on the L A N. WAVE
is the A P I that carries that first
mile to anywhere — and prices, settles, and meters
the delivery through the same gateway every other transport
uses. - Transports and protocols: docs dot wave dot
online - N D I adapter: N D I
dot wave dot online