NDI is often described as an AV-over-IP technology.
That description is not wrong. It is simply incomplete.
NDI is a connectivity technology.
It connects devices and software applications, allows them to discover one another, and enables them to exchange data.
That data can, of course, be video and audio.
But metadata may be the most powerful and versatile part of the connection.
Metadata can communicate status, carry commands, trigger actions, and coordinate systems.
In other words, NDI can connect much more than media.
It can connect workflows.
Today, we are sharing two MIT-licensed repositories that demonstrate this potential:
👉 NDI GPIO Panel
https://lnkd.in/dsipsvNY
👉 CHAT over NDI
https://lnkd.in/dgSEjmBV
NDI GPIO Panel sends and receives eight GPIO channels using structured XML metadata.
The application is useful, but it is only one implementation. The more important contribution is the documented metadata specification.
Other developers can implement the same format in completely different applications.
For example, a bridge could translate NDI GPIO metadata into commands for devices that do not support NDI natively, such as Shelly devices, Modbus equipment, relay controllers, or other automation systems.
Those devices do not need to understand NDI themselves. They only need an application that can translate between the two worlds.
CHAT over NDI applies the same principle to bidirectional text communication.
It defines a metadata format for sessions, participants, directed messages, priorities, replies, and acknowledgements. The reference application presents it as chat, but the same standard could be implemented in operator panels, production systems, logging tools, overlays, or automation software.
These repositories demonstrate the versatility of NDI metadata, but they also highlight something important:
Flexibility alone does not create interoperability.
Interoperability begins when the community agrees on what the metadata means.
This is why we created the NDI Metadata Lab.
👉 Submit a metadata proposal:
https://lnkd.in/dvfFR4N8
We want the community to propose and help define new metadata standards, for control, automation, telemetry, device status, production cues, synchronization, and use cases we have not yet imagined.
Video and audio allow systems to share content.
Metadata allows them to share meaning.
What metadata standard would you propose for the NDI ecosystem?