NDI (Network Device Interface) is a royalty-free protocol by NewTek that lets video devices share streams over a standard IP network. OBS Studio supports NDI as a source — meaning you can bring in a camera or encoder feed from anywhere on your network without a physical cable run.
Magewell's Pro Convert and Ultra Encode product families are the gold standard for NDI encoding in professional workflows. They convert SDI, HDMI or USB sources to NDI over Ethernet — and OBS can receive those streams as NDI sources instantly.
Magewell Pro Convert devices include full NDI encoding — no separate licence required. OBS NDI plugin is free and open source.
Pro Convert devices typically achieve 1–3 frames of latency over a local gigabit network. For camera confidence feeds, this is imperceptible.
Pro Convert devices are PoE+ powered — a PoE+ switch or injector eliminates the need for a separate power supply. Standard PoE (15W) is not sufficient.
The Ultra Encode AIO supports NDI HX — a compressed variant that uses less bandwidth, useful over Wi-Fi or WAN links. Pro Convert uses full-bandwidth NDI.
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Install the obs-ndi plugin from github.com/obs-ndi/obs-ndi — this is the community-maintained NDI plugin for OBS Studio. After installation, you will find NDI Source available as an input type in OBS. You also need the NDI Runtime from ndi.tv installed on the same PC. The plugin works on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
This is almost always a network discovery issue. Ensure the Pro Convert and your OBS PC are on the same network subnet (same broadcast domain). Check that no firewall is blocking mDNS (port 5353) or NDI traffic (ports 5960 and above). Temporarily disabling the Windows Firewall to test is a useful diagnostic step. You can also add the source manually by IP address in the OBS NDI plugin settings.
With a Pro Convert encoder and OBS on the same Gigabit LAN, expect around 1–3 frames of total latency (33–100ms at 1080p30). OBS adds a small additional buffer for network jitter compensation — this can be adjusted in the NDI source settings. For monitoring purposes this is imperceptible; for interactive applications like gaming or conferencing, consider using USB Capture for direct sub-10ms latency.
Install the OBS NDI plugin (free from obs.camera/ndi). Once installed, NDI sources appear in OBS as a new source type. If you have a Magewell Pro Convert or Ultra Encode device outputting NDI on your network, it will appear automatically in the NDI source list in OBS.
Magewell's Pro Convert encoder range (e.g. Pro Convert HDMI 4K Plus) and Ultra Encode devices with NDI output can send video over your network as NDI sources, visible in OBS with the NDI plugin installed.
Magewell NDI output (NDI|HX) is designed for low-latency network video. Typical latency over a 1Gbps LAN is under 100ms — well suited for live production workflows where video needs to move between rooms or buildings without physical cable runs.