How to broadcast over network

[schaefer631]

I work at a High School and we recently purchased a Tricaster Mini SDI4 and we have had success in setting up with our camera & audio, broadcasting and streaming both live and recorded events. We have a Vimeo account and have been able to livestream successfully.

We also would like to broadcast our morning announcements live to 60+ classrooms who would be connecting via windows 10 PCs & projector combos. Due to privacy reasons, we want to broadcast over IP instead of to the Internet. Initially, I thought I could install NDI Studio Monitor on all the classroom computers and display the announcements but after 7 to 8 connections, NDI no longer works. Each instance of Studio Monitor beyond that initial 7-8 connections will shut down after being connected for 10 or so seconds. In my research I discovered that Studio Monitor is a "Production" based tool not suited for broadcasting to widespread instances.

At this point, what are my options? I know we could go the route of a Media Server, but we don't have the budget for this item. Is there any other solutions on a limited budget? TIA

[kanep]

NDI uses unicast transmission by default, which means that each time a copy of NDI Studio Monitor connects to the TriCaster is uses a set amount of bandwidth. Even though all 7 or 8 copies of Studio Monitor are watching the same thing, networking wise you are using 7 or 8 times the bandwidth.

You can configure NDI to operate in multicast, however this requires specific configurations on the computer network and you would need to work with your IT department to see if they will perform these configurations (or if they have the kind of gear that even supports this options). The main thing that you need is 'IGMP Snooping' setup on each and every switch on the network.

Otherwise, there isn't any easy solution to this. NewTek used to have a product called 'MediaDS', that was specifically designed for this kind of workflow. It was a encoder/streaming server in a single box that allowed you easily setup a CDN behind your firewall.

[schaefer631]

I am IT, I'm just new to this world. That makes sense - was unaware NID was unicast. Will look into configuring for multicast O/P. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

[kanep]

Once you have your switches configured, you can use NDI Access Manager to setup multicast sending on the TriCaster system. You don't have to make other NDI devices multicast when you do this, you can have a mixture of unicast and multicast NDI devices on the network.