Magewell Pro Convert HDMI TX

About this product

Want one more camera or a presenter’s laptop in your NDI production, without a long HDMI run or a capture PC at the far end? The Pro Convert HDMI TX takes one HDMI source and puts it on your network as an NDI stream. NDI is a way of sending live video between devices and software over an ordinary Ethernet network. The box is a standalone NDI encoder that works on its own, with no computer. It is the smallest of the HDMI encoders, with one HDMI socket for the input, which makes it a neat fit at a camera position or beside a laptop.

What goes in

• HDMI input. HDMI 1.4 or DVI-D, up to 2048×1200 at 60 frames per second with 4:4:4 or 4:2:2 colour sampling. That covers 1080p60 and computer resolutions up to 1920×1200, so you can use the same unit for a camera one day and a laptop the next.
• Audio. Up to 8 channels of audio embedded in the HDMI signal are accepted.
• Colour formats. RGB and YUV (BT.601, BT.709 and BT.2020). The EDID, which is the list of formats the input tells the source it accepts, can be customised, which lets you keep a laptop on the resolution you want.
• Need a local monitor? The single HDMI socket is the input. For an HDMI loop-through, see the Plus models below.

What comes out

• NDI High Bandwidth. This is the full-quality form of NDI, also called Full NDI. The encoder produces it at up to 2048×1200 at 60 fps, 4:2:2 8-bit.
• Typical outputs. 2048×1080p and 1920×1080p, 1080i, 720p and standard-definition formats.
• Audio. 2 channels embedded in the NDI stream. The input accepts 8 channels, and 2 are encoded. For 8 encoded channels, see the Pro Convert HDMI Plus.
• NDI version. NDI 6.2 is supported.
• Resolution and frame rate. The output can match the input or be set to a custom resolution. The frame rate is the same as the input, or one half, one third or one quarter of it, so you can lighten the stream when the network is busy.
• Where it can be used. NDI Studio Monitor, OBS, vMix and any other NDI-enabled product.

Built for full NDI

• NDI High Bandwidth throughout. This model is dedicated to full-quality NDI. For NDI HX, SRT, RTMP, RTSP, HLS, H.264 or H.265, look at the Ultra Encode range.
• Audio from the HDMI signal. Audio comes from the HDMI signal only: sound travels with the picture, so one cable from the source carries everything.

Power, control and mounting

• Power. Standard PoE (IEEE 802.3af) through the network cable, or 5 V through the USB 2.0 Type-B port using the supplied 5 V / 2.1 A adaptor. Maximum consumption is about 6 W, so an ordinary PoE switch is enough. With PoE, the network cable is the only cable you run to the camera position.
• Tally. A tally light is supplied, so the person on camera can see when they are live. It plugs into the Mini-DIN 8 socket.
• PTZ camera control. A pan-tilt-zoom camera can be controlled through NDI using the VISCA, VISCA over UDP, PELCO-P or PELCO-D protocols, which saves a separate control cable back to the desk.
• Mounting. An L-bracket is supplied.
• Size. 100.9 mm × 60.2 mm × 23.3 mm, small enough to sit on a tripod plate or behind a lectern.

On air in a few steps

• It detects the input format automatically and takes its network address by DHCP. Connect the source and the network and it appears as an NDI source.
• Settings such as de-interlacing, EDID, scaling, frame rate and aspect ratio are changed in the Web UI from a browser, so there is no software to install.
• Units can be registered with Magewell Control Hub and managed together, which helps when you have one at every camera. HTTP APIs are provided for control systems.
• Latency is very low, which suits live production.

Where it sits in the range

The Pro Convert HDMI Plus adds an HDMI loop-through, accepts a 4K input and encodes 8 audio channels. The Pro Convert HDMI 4K Plus encodes NDI at up to 4096×2160 at 60 fps. For an SDI source in the same small case, see the Pro Convert SDI TX. All models are on the Pro Convert encoders page.