🧵 So, I found a convenient solution to streaming #NDI #HX3 #VideoOverIP to #OBS on #Linux using #DistroAV

I had commented why this is important in the DistroAV Github and had wished for an easy way to get this running.

Briefly: Most current inexpensive NDI hardware does HX3, which is low-latency and low-bandwidth. On Linux, OBS is the only way to receive that video over the network and do something with it.

Now I wanted to share my insight, which is: Installing the #ffmpeg 7 PPA from https://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2024/04/ffmpeg-7-0-ppa-ubuntu/ (otherwise only old NDI Full will work)

However, DistroAV moderation has locked the topic, marking it as solved, and commenting somewhat… pissed.

So now I can't put the insight in the proper place. So it sits here in Fedi and vanishes.

🧵 Another rant on #NDI #videoOverIP, #Linux and #Eventtech.

So why can #OBS on Linux not decode anything else but #NdiFull? Most current hardware uses #NdiHX3.

The reason is, as I just found out: It needs #ffmpeg 7 or newer to do so with the #DistroAV plugin.

Now I am on #UbuntuStudio 24.04, and #Ubuntu folks never update anything related to media production. They are simply like: okay, trash your system and install the non-LTS version.

ffmpeg has reached version 8 in August. Ubuntu 24.04 comes with ffmpeg 6.

So, there's this PPA, I might try that. It's always a risk to exchange parts of the system, but I had to do this for OBS and #Pipewire alread.

https://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2024/04/ffmpeg-7-0-ppa-ubuntu/

https://github.com/DistroAV/DistroAV/wiki/1.-Installation#linux-1

🧵 Preliminary result on #NDI #videoOverIP, #Linux and #Eventtech.

So, #OBS on Linux can encode NDI Full and decode NDI Full.

OBS on Windows can decode all NDI codecs, but encode only NDI Full.

My ZowieBox can only encode NDI #HX1, #HX2, and #HX3, so I can't route video from it into OBS on Linux.

My #Osee #GoStreamDeck can only decode NDI HX1, so I can't route OBS into it.

My Z Cam cameras can deliver NDI at a terrible latency via a converter software for Windows that I can get to run only in Wine on Linux. This again is full NDI, which neither works with the ZowieBox nor with the GoStream Deck, but with OBS on Linux.

There is another cheap hardware NDI #encoder I'd like to try, but this one can do only NDI Full, not any HX.

#Newtek is trying to sell NDI with the argument "stream everything anywhere at very low latency".

My result: Stream something at least somewhere somehow at very high latency.

Yet, this is the industry standard for video over IP in event technology.