Use Cases

The following list presents examples of applications of NDI for Audio over IP in different contexts.

Live Streaming and Broadcasting (Sports, News, etc.) commentary and comms

There are several use cases in the production of live events, such as sports and news, where NDI Audio can be utilized with great benefits. In sporting events, for example, the entire audio flow for commentary, where neither latency nor synchronization represents a real problem, could be managed using NDI with the advantage of distributing all the service video signals using the same technology. Another example of its use is audio communications like Intercoms. In this case, NDI also offers the advantage of infrastructure simplicity and, above all, the ability to be supported by software applications rather than dedicated hardware. Moreover, NDI works on wireless networks, thanks to NDI Bridge over WAN.

Webinars and Remote Training

In these use cases, neither latency nor synchronization are blocking issues. What's essential are the ease of use and the ability of NDI to operate over the internet and wireless networks. NDI-based devices, such as the Mackie DLZ Creator, are excellent examples of products designed for these markets.

Remote Production (REMI) and Cloud Production

In these use cases, the features of NDI are of immense value:

• With NDI Bridge, multichannel audio streams can be distributed and shared over the Internet. NDI is natively unicast, which is the perfect solution for the cloud.

• NDI does not require strong synchronization technology; PTP cannot operate over the Internet or in the cloud.

Even in these use cases, a technology allowing software-only solutions represents a significant advantage over competing technologies.

Furthermore, NDI also supports video and metadata, enabling the creation of a complete workflow with a single technology.

Public Address (PA) System

In this case, NDI's achievable latency does not represent a problem, and thanks to multicast's support, NDI can be easily implemented to provide audio streams to many receivers.

Another immense advantage of NDI in this market is its operation over wireless networks, a unique feature compared to other technologies that allow for the distribution of audio signals where a wired infrastructure is not possible.

Home Entertainment (High Fidelity Audio)

NDI is extremely plug-and-play. The audio quality is perfectly compatible with high and very high-quality digital entertainment systems.

Discovery and Registration, especially based on the NDI Discovery Server, are much more efficient and reliable than other mDNS solutions.

In NDI, the receiver defines which source to use, which is exactly like a radio tuned to a broadcasting station. This is consistent with the normal user experience. Furthermore, no transmitter can unexpectedly connect to a receiver, a very common problem with AoIP for home entertainment solutions used today.

Wireless Audio

NDI Audio represents a winning solution in all applications with a wireless connection. Compared to other Audio Over IP technologies, NDI is less sensitive to the Wi-Fi network jitter and does not require a synchronization like PTP that can’t work over wireless connections.

With NDI, multiple audio channels can be multiplexed into a single transmission while maintaining synchronization. This is a huge advantage over other AoIP technologies.