Vizrt’s NDI (Network Device Interface) team came to NAB 2026 with three releases shipped and a fourth roadmap item. Together, they push NDI from a video transport protocol toward something closer to a full infrastructure management layer.
The announcements cover four areas: monitoring and control, broadcast metadata, a new file format, and a quality comparison. Each carries different implications depending on whether you run a broadcast facility or a corporate AV network.
Discovery, monitoring, and control: the 6.x arc
NDI versions 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 form a connected arc. The through-line across all three is visibility and control of NDI endpoints at the network level.
Previously, NDI let you discover senders on the network. Now you can also discover receivers. Every display, software decoder, or NDI Studio Monitor instance running on the network shows up in the new discovery layer. For IT managers with large NDI deployments, this closes a real gap. You could see what was sending. You could not see what was receiving it.
The monitoring additions go further. Before this release, checking an NDI source’s format required connecting to it first. Now you can read format data, frame rate, resolution, and codec type remotely without opening a connection. Receivers also report status. You can confirm a remote display is connected and check whether it drops frames.
The control layer builds on that visibility. New APIs let you remotely direct any NDI receiver to connect to a different source. Instead of walking to a display or hunting for a device’s IP address, you send an API call. The NDI team demonstrated a drag-and-drop application at the booth. A non-programmer built it using AI coding tools. It displays senders and receivers on screen and lets you connect them by drawing a link between them.
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What this means for enterprise AV and IT
For enterprise AV and IT teams, the monitoring and control updates are the most immediately useful addition in this cycle. Programmatic visibility into NDI receivers changes how you manage large deployments.
NDI is not trying to replace your network monitoring platform. The APIs exist so your existing monitoring tools can ingest NDI endpoint data. If you already run a network management system, you now have a hook to pull NDI health into it.
The drag-and-drop demo also points to a simpler path for smaller teams. A non-technical operator can build a basic routing interface on top of the NDI APIs with minimal coding. That lowers the barrier for facilities teams that want automation without a software development budget.
Broadcast metadata: an old capability with new industry traction
The second major story at NAB 2026 is not a new feature. NDI has carried metadata since its early versions. The news is that the industry has now caught up.
At the booth, NDI showed closed-caption data and broadcast metadata flowing through AWS MediaConnect and arriving intact at the far end. The NBA provides a concrete example. The league embeds shot clock, game clock, timeout counts, and scoring data into SDI streams as custom data packets. Those streams convert to SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) and travel into the cloud. Previously, converting to NDI at that stage stripped the embedded data. Now it does not.
AWS actively helped build the metadata tunneling. NDI published its metadata standard roughly a year ago. That move from a published standard to active AWS implementation signals real industry adoption. For broadcasters building cloud production pipelines, this matters now. Any NDI path routing through MediaConnect keeps its ancillary data intact.
NDI file format: the 6.4 roadmap item
The most forward-looking announcement targets the 6.4 release: an NDI file format. This addresses a real limitation in the existing NDI record utility.
The current recorder is, by the team’s own description, essentially a TriCaster clip creator. It normalizes timing and strips metadata. It does not faithfully preserve the original stream.
The new format records an NDI stream exactly as it travels over the network. Metadata, codec, and timing all remain intact. You can play the recording back through a graphics engine days or weeks later. It behaves as if the original signal were still live.
For broadcasters, this enables re-skinning a recorded production with localized graphics after the fact. One feed, recorded with full metadata, can drive multiple regional graphics packages on playback.
The NDI team described a real use case: a broadcaster could not refine a virtual set without talent on set. Every calibration session required a live camera feed. The new file format removes that constraint. Operators can record five minutes of camera feed, then refine the virtual environment later without studio access.
The same capability applies to corporate teams building presentation environments and hybrid production workflows. Any workflow that today requires live signal can potentially shift to recorded playback.
NDI versus JPEG XS: the quality question
An upcoming AWS blog post addresses a persistent perception about NDI quality. NDI’s default bitrate sits at or below the low end of the JPEG XS range. JPEG XS is a low-latency compression standard common in broadcast IP workflows. That default setting leads some engineers to conclude NDI cannot match broadcast-grade quality.
However, the more complete picture is this: NDI’s quality is configurable through the SDK. Its adjustable range overlaps substantially with JPEG XS. At comparable quality settings, NDI runs at a somewhat lower bitrate. Engineers evaluating NDI against JPEG XS for cloud or IP production should test the configurable range. Default settings do not reflect the full capability of the protocol.
Tim Albright is the founder of AVNation and is the driving force behind the AVNation network. He carries the InfoComm CTS, a B.S. from Greenville College and is pursuing an M.S. in Mass Communications from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. When not steering the AVNation ship, Tim has spent his career designing systems for churches both large and small, Fortune 500 companies, and education facilities.
- Tim Albright
- Tim Albright
- Tim Albright
- Tim Albright
