ADENA Hack: How to use NDI Bridge to convert Full NDI to NDI|HX

You may know that NDI exists in two main versions - Full NDI and NDI|HX. There are certain differences between these two versions - for example, NDI|HX sends compressed data and uses far less bandwidth. The differences make the two versions incompatible and typically devices would only support one version of NDI. AREC Media Stations with NDI support, including LS-860N and LS-US2N, were built to support NDI|HX, and so typically devices using standard NDI cannot be connected to them. However, there is a way to convert them via NDI Bridge, an essential tool that is included in the NDI package. To use it, simply download and install the latest version of NDI Tools from https://www.newtek.com/

Open the NDI Tools and select Bridge. It will open with a page similar to this:

While in this guide we focus on using the NDI Bridge to convert standard NDI to NDI|HX, the app can also be used to make your NDI sources available over the Internet and to connect NDI sources from other networks. To convert NDI signals, however, click on ‘Local’. Start by adjusting the name of your bridged connections in the ‘Bridge Name’ field. Next, click on ‘Encoder Settings’ and change the output mode to ‘NDI|HX’. All AREC stations, except the upcoming LS-410, use only h.264 video compression, so make sure to select it. You must also select the stream’s bitrate in ‘Quality’. Since 4Mbit is sufficient for Full HD, you can select ‘Low’. After adjusting these settings, press ‘Start’, and you will be able to see a list of bridged connections appear in your network. To use these bridged connections on AREC stations, open the ‘Administrator’ web page of your station, click on ‘Media I/O’ -> ‘Network Device Manager’ and scan for new devices. If your station is in the same network as your computer running NDI Bridge, you will be able to see the NDI|HX bridged connections appear in the list.

One important thing to note is that bridged connections use the computer running the app as a tunnel. Whenever another device is trying to pull an NDI source from it, its network traffic load will grow. You can monitor how much bandwidth the computer is consuming in the field called ‘Bandwidth’.

If you would like to know more about how you can use NDI or other technologies with AREC, please contact us at www.a-dena.com and we will be happy to assist you.

ADENA Hack: How to make a text overlay through Online Director?

All AREC Media Stations can use pre-uploaded PNG overlays, but what if you need to create one on the spot? For this, AREC Media Stations have a feature called text overlay.

To access it, simply open the station’s web page by typing its IP address and log in to the Online Director by typing the username and password. Once logged in, look at the top-right corner of the page and click on the button with a ‘T’ symbol. You will be taken to the text overlay customisation page. You will see a ‘Your Text’ in the middle of your currently used layout - click and drag it to reposition this text anywhere on your video. You can adjust its size, colour, and font on the right side of the page, and change the text in the text box underneath. Once you are finished customising the text, press ‘Apply’ and your overlay will appear on the mixed video output, which you can immediately see on the Online Director main page. If you would like to adjust the text, but you do not have a display or a projector connected, you can use the station’s RTSP preview. Open any media player capable of playing network streams (such as VLC player) and access the station by playing the link “rtsp://IP address of the station/movie” without quotation marks. The player will open the station’s mixed video output with your text overlay present. Please note that the text overlay will disappear once you select any other overlay or switch themes.

With the text overlay feature, you are able to put announcements in your video, indicate starting and closing times, and deliver other valuable information. If you would like to know more about different AREC devices’ features, don’t hesitate to contact us at www.a-dena.com

ADENA Hack: How to record videos on a USB drive with AREC without changing the file system?

All AREC Media Stations can save videos on USB drives. To be used for storage, the drives must first be formatted through the station’s “Administrator” web interface. The station changes the drive’s file system to “Ext4”, which is a typical file system for Linux OS. However, it is not natively supported by Windows or MacOS. This means that you cannot use the same drive interchangeably between an AREC station and a standard computer without changing the file system and consequently erasing all files on this drive. Changing the file system is not necessary if you plan to export the videos, but it requires the video to be saved on a storage beforehand since exporting simply copies the recorded file. Currently, the LS-US2 Media Station is the only one that can record directly on USB drives without changing their file system.

To use this feature, go to the station’s “Administrator” web page, navigate to “Video” -> “Recording”, and enable the “Record to USB” option. KS-CC1, although not technically a Media Station, also has this feature and it can be enabled in the same way through its “Administrator” page. With the “Record to USB” mode enabled, the station can save files directly on USB drives as long as the drives are using an accepted file system, such as FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, Ext3, or Ext4, and have sufficient space. Please note that when “Record to USB” is enabled, the station will not save individual video sources and the files will only be stored on the USB drive. If you need individual video sources, or you need copies of the recording, you will have to use other storage modes.

If you want to learn more about the other storage options available on AREC and how to set them up, check out our free ADENAcademy training course, specifically Level B, Lesson 7: “Storing and backing up recorded videos with AREC”. For further information about AREC devices, please contact us at www.a-dena.com and we will be happy to answer you.