The Datastead NDI Filters package sends and receives NDI audio/video streams over the local network, either as an add-on of the TVideoGrabber SDK or as two standard DirectShow filters usable from any DirectShow application.
Two DirectShow filters in one binary
A single binary (Datastead_NDI_x86.ax / Datastead_NDI_x64.ax) exposes two filters:
- NDI Source: receives an NDI stream published on the network and delivers it to the graph through its video and audio output pins.
- NDI Sink: publishes the video and audio of the graph as an NDI source on the network.
From the TVideoGrabber SDK (recommended)
Sending is a matter of setting NDIName and NetworkStreaming = ns_NDI; receiving is a matter of opening an ndi:// URL. TVideoGrabber builds the DirectShow graph and configures the filters itself: nothing has to be registered, the binaries are simply copied next to the application. Requires TVideoGrabber 11.2.1.46 or newer. The TVideoGrabber sample code is included in the package.
From any DirectShow application
The two filters are inserted in the graph like any other DirectShow filter and configured through their COM interfaces (IDatasteadNDISource2, IDatasteadNDISink2).
Video and audio formats
- NDI Source: frames delivered in the pixel format of the received stream, converted to the closest DirectShow subtype (UYVY, NV12, I420, RGB32 or ARGB32), PCM audio.
- NDI Sink: accepts RGB32, ARGB32, UYVY, YV12, NV12 and I420 video, PCM audio.
- Progressive and interleaved streams.
Requirements
- Windows 11 or Windows 10, 32-bit or 64-bit, or Windows Server 2025, 2022, 2019 or 2016 with the Desktop Experience feature.
- The NDI Runtime (installed by the NDI Tools) or the NDI SDK. The filters do not embed the NDI libraries: they load
Processing.NDI.Lib.x86.dll/Processing.NDI.Lib.x64.dllat run time (NDI 6).
Evaluation and license
The evaluation version is fully functional, with a “Datastead” marker drawn over the video frames. Royalty-free developer license.