DistroAV - Network Audio/Video in OBS-Studio using NDI® technology 6.1.1

[Lawrence_SoCal]

Leaving the firewall off is obviously a TERRIBLE idea (unless you are on dedicated VLAN with advanced ACL's set... in which case... you wouldn't have been impacted by an OS firewall default). so, beware you got it working, BUT you put yourself at risk. The right approach to is configure the firewall appropriately by opening ONLY the required ports and protocols in the firewall

 

[mitchrapp]

I'm having issues with NDI audio over NDI Bridge. I have a NDI Dedicated Output filter set on an audio source, and it shows up over NDI Bridge, but on the far end computer, the NDI Dedicated audio shows up as inactive, with no audio. I had it working before, so not sure when or why it stopped working.

 

[mitchrapp]

I'm having issues with NDI audio over NDI Bridge. I have a NDI Dedicated Output filter set on an audio source, and it shows up over NDI Bridge, but on the far end computer, the NDI Dedicated audio shows up as inactive, with no audio. I had it working before, so not sure when or why it stopped working.

I got it working again. Don't know what I did to get it working again. I played around with the encoder setttings in NDI Bridge both in the host and remote computers, and it started working again. I put everything back to how it was and it still works, so not sure what did it.

 

[mishakim]

I am confused.. but that is easily done.
I have a MEVO camera that I can see in NDI Studio Monitor as a source.
I have OBS 31.0.3 and NDI Tools 6.1.0.0 Installed.
I installed the DistroAV Plugin.
I cannot see my NDI Source.
What am I missing?
Thanks

Looks like you got it working, but if you want another solution, the MEVO cams now support SRT (an improved replacement for RTSP). It seems to have less system impact than NDI, at least for my usage, and it doesn't need any extra plugins. Just use the built-in Media Source

 

[Trouffman]

PSA:
DistroAV 6.1.1 is available now for everyone : https://github.com/DistroAV/DistroAV/releases/latest

(this will be updated here as soon as the account holder can)

Key new improvements :

• Requires OBS 31 & NDI 6 SDK
• Loads of fix for the Windows Installer : This will auto-add rules in your firewall to allow NDI pass through it, Remove previous OBS-NDI & DistroAV version when required.
• Fix couples of memory leaks
• Use the new plugin installation location (in C:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugin)
• Unify Audio frames process with latest available functions (from SDK) - less audio issues expected
• Any error messages have a unique identifier code to help with Troubleshooting
• Improved detection of NDI Sources
• Improved NDI Output process (properly start/stop)
• Solves few crashes when using NDI Output or filters
• Inform users if pixel format is not supported (some HDR format)
• Support the new Configuration in OBS 31
• More language available (NL)

Release DistroAV 6.1.1 · DistroAV/DistroAV

Release Context This release fix mostly issues with the newly re-worked Windows Installer along with fix for Spanish & Catalan and a couple of possible memory leaks. If you are on Windows it is ** ...

distroav.org

 

[Stormin]

Sooo.... The NDI spec has Groups as ways of grouping NDI devices together, and limiting what streams they can see, based on the send or receive groups the belong to.

DistroAV has a setting for Output groups (I assume the equivalent of a send group).

But it does not have a setting for Receive groups.

The "NDI Source" source would be the next place to look for a Receive group, but that Receive setting doesn't exist.

In my searches for iOS apps that would let me stream my iPhone / iPad camera over an NDI stream most of them seem to ignore the Groups setting entirely. Which is so bizarre. The NDI spec for hardware requires that Groups be implemented.

These are software, but still....

Am I misunderstanding something about NDI and groups?

If not, then it seems like the "NDI Source" plugin needs updating with Receive groups.

 

[Trouffman]

To set the "receive" group, this is generally done via NDI Access Manager (NDI Tools), this is not something that (IMHO) should be set in the receive as the NDI Source you either have access or not.

The only "option" I could see is to "filter" source per group, if this is really a need, please log a feature suggestion with argument to have it prioritised.

More read on the groups : https://docs.ndi.video/all/getting-started/white-paper/discovery-and-registration/ndi-groups

 

[AaronD]

Does the new version (after the major code change) no longer support transparency?

I'm sending lower thirds from a commercial app, that used to "just work" with a full-screen NDI source in OBS. The commercial app sends full color and a fade to transparent as you go up from the bottom, which OBS used to handle perfectly as a fade to camera, using the old NDI plugin.

Now, with no change at all to the commercial sending end, I get opaque black across the entire frame, which I can key out, but it also wrecks the effect that used to be there.

 

[Trouffman]

Does the new version (after the major code change) no longer support transparency?

I'm sending lower thirds from a commercial app, that used to "just work" with a full-screen NDI source in OBS. The commercial app sends full color and a fade to transparent as you go up from the bottom, which OBS used to handle perfectly as a fade to camera, using the old NDI plugin.

Now, with no change at all to the commercial sending end, I get opaque black across the entire frame, which I can key out, but it also wrecks the effect that used to be there.

Not supposed to have changed.
Please file a Support Request at : https://github.com/DistroAV/DistroAV/issues/new?template=3_support.yml


If you came from a pretty old version, you are likely looking at both OBS changes & DistroAV changes.

 

[DistroAV]

DistroAV updated DistroAV - Network Audio/Video in OBS-Studio using NDI® technology with a new update entry:

New Version : 6.1.1

Changelog of 6.1.1 (and 6.1.0)

This version requires OBS 31 and NDI 6. It is enforced and the plugin will not load if not meeting this requirements. More detail

Fastest Way to get it​

Windows via Winget
winget install --exact --id DistroAV.DistroAV

MacOS via Homebrew
brew install --cask distroav

What's Changed​

6.1.1

• Restore OBS preferences dialog on...

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[AaronD]

Does the new version (after the major code change) no longer support transparency?

I'm sending lower thirds from a commercial app, that used to "just work" with a full-screen NDI source in OBS. The commercial app sends full color and a fade to transparent as you go up from the bottom, which OBS used to handle perfectly as a fade to camera, using the old NDI plugin.

Now, with no change at all to the commercial sending end, I get opaque black across the entire frame, which I can key out, but it also wrecks the effect that used to be there.

Please file a Support Request at : https://github.com/DistroAV/DistroAV/issues/new?template=3_support.yml

Turns out it was the Latency setting. Only "Default" supports transparency and, wanting a near-instant response, I had it on the lowest (unbuffered) one. "Default" isn't too bad though, so I left it there and now I have transparency.

There's already a support ticket / bug report for that, wanting transparency support on *all* settings, which prompted me to try that.

 

[Daveym08]

can i have a download link for the NDI plugin compatible with OBS 29.0.1 running on a MAC OS 10.15.7
Thanks

 

[Trouffman]

Turns out it was the Latency setting. Only "Default" supports transparency and, wanting a near-instant response, I had it on the lowest (unbuffered) one. "Default" isn't too bad though, so I left it there and now I have transparency.

There's already a support ticket / bug report for that, wanting transparency support on *all* settings, which prompted me to try that.

Correct, "lowest unbuffered" does not have alpha. The project is looking to improve the Alpha layer support, no guarantee that this could be done for the "lowest settings".

can i have a download link for the NDI plugin compatible with OBS 29.0.1 running on a MAC OS 10.15.7
Thanks

This is tricky for such an old version

OBS 30 is a requirement for DistroAV to work since... Nov 14, 2023.
OBS 31 is a requirement since June 2, 2025.

Any older version are not supported and a LOT of bugs have been fixed since then.
Oh, and the required "NDI SDK" is likely not to work / be available either.

 

[Sir_Coleslaw]

Question about HDR transmission: My GamePC has Screencapture HX running and is set to HDR, both in Windows 11 and in the game, either native or via RTX-HDR depending on what the game can do. If I now transfer this image content via NDI 6 to the streaming PC, which is running in SDR, I get an extremely washed-out image in the NDI source. I have set the screen capture HX to HEVC (10-bit). In the DistroAV settings, I could see that only the two colour spaces BT601 and BT709 are offered, but not BT2020.

Are there plans to add this in the future?

 

[realjoedanger]

Hey everyone,

I’m really hoping someone here can help me out or at least point me in the right direction. All I’m trying to do is stream gameplay from my Nintendo Switch, but I’m running into some frustrating issues and I feel like I’m missing something really basic.

Here’s where I’m at:

I’ve installed NDI Tools, and after some trial and error, I’ve finally gotten OBS to recognize both “NDI Source” and “DistroAV NDI Settings” as available sources — these weren’t showing up at all initially, so that felt like progress.

However, now when I try to add those sources to a scene in OBS, all I get is a black screen. No video, no signal, nothing — just black. I’ve tried restarting OBS and my Mac, rechecking all the cables and inputs, and making sure the Switch is powered on and connected. Still no luck.

Here are my current specs:

• OBS version: 31.0.4
• Computer: MacBook Pro with Apple M1 Pro chip
• Capture device: Elgato Game Capture HD60 S
• Console: Nintendo Switch

The Elgato device itself seems like it should be working, but I’m not seeing any actual video feed coming through OBS. I know the HD60 S can be tricky with macOS, so maybe there’s a compatibility step I missed? Or maybe I need additional drivers or middleware beyond NDI Tools?

At this point I’ve been down a dozen rabbit holes with no clear answer, and I’d really appreciate any help — whether it’s confirming I’m doing things right or pointing out something obvious I may have overlooked. I'm trying to keep things as plug-and-play as possible, but it's not going smoothly.

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to respond!

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

However, now when I try to add those sources to a scene in OBS, all I get is a black screen. No video, no signal, nothing — just black. I’ve tried restarting OBS and my Mac, rechecking all the cables and inputs, and making sure the Switch is powered on and connected. Still no luck.

My common response, when troubleshooting audio and video sources is to test completely OUTSIDE of OBS Studio,( ie OBS Studio not just in background, I mean OBS Studio NOT running at all *due to potential of 'locking' some sources by design). Basically, you add a LOT of complexity by trying to get a source into OBS Studio if you aren't 100% sure (technically, not via assumption) the source is working at Operating System level as needed

With NDI Tools, you should be able to view incoming NDI video - can you? have you set Operating System (OS) permissions correctly? Are OS network firewall settings adjusted to allow the incoming NDI traffic?