Creative collaboration: Plug on NDI 5 to transform the world into a studio using existing IP video networks

By Shirish Nadkarni

Did you know that people spend more time watching videos than reading any text or staring at photos? Just a case in point, over 85% of the American internet audience watches videos online every day. Videos are among the simplest types of content to consume, because it is easier to watch a video recipe than read it, and video is great content to engage users and share ideas.

With the advancement of internet speed and people’s interest, professional video marketing is literally exploding. More and more companies creating videos are investing in research to develop remote video editing systems and techniques whereby home-based editors or freelance editors can cut and realign multiple film shots into a cohesive story.

Using proxies conserves bandwidth and makes remote video editing feasible for teams working with large file sizes like 4K, 6K, and even 8K, footages. You can create proxies with an encoder like Adobe Media Encoder or Apple Compressor, or you can batch export compressed clips in DaVinci Resolve.

Video editing includes cutting segments (trimming), re-sequencing clips, and adding transitions and other special effects. In the past, linear video editing used video tape and was edited in a very linear manner. Today, non-linear editing systems (NLE) allow video to be edited on computers with specialised software.

Remote video editors are tasked with the challenge of ensuring that the story, flow, content, music, graphics, and all elements are brought together to tell a story effectively. However, working remotely as a video editor comes with a number of challenges, including the need for a workflow that can support transferring large amounts of data over the the internet, and the difficulty of moving large files to the Cloud.

It is equally vital to have a high-quality video that has been properly edited using the right video editing software for a desktop computer. For team members that work from remote locations, having the right video editing server encourages fast collaboration among team members while ensuring that they work from a centralised database.

In the last few years, video files have been changing and getting larger, from HD to 4k video and beyond, and transferring files of a few gigabytes can take several hours, even with the best internet connection. In addition, the traditional methods of file transfer no longer meet the challenge of sending large files reliably and securely over a long distance.

However, remote video editing teams used to overcome this challenge through the use of FTP, which is a file-sharing protocol that has been built for transferring large files. It is a secure transmission protocol that encrypts contents in every file and protects the username and password.

With this tool, video editors could comfortably share files between their computers and a server within a single network. It also allowed editors to access, upload and download large files in a short time. To access FTP outside a network, all video editors needed to do was carry out a basic configuration change to enable port forwarding. Some of the commonly used FTP apps include WinSCP, FileZilla, and Coda.

Video editors the world over – and especially those working from home in the Covid-19 New Normal – were delighted to witness the launch of upgraded support for Adobe Creative Cloud, following the unveiling, earlier this year, of NDI 5 (Network Device Interface) by the Vizrt Group company, NDI.

Indeed, NDI 5 is the harbinger of a technological revolution!

NDI expanded its capabilities for Adobe Creative Cloud with integrated extension panels for the latter’s proprietary brands, Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. The new NDI output streamlines production by removing the need for producers and creatives to export designs for teams and clients to review them.

NDI 5 is a high-performance standard that allows anyone to use real-time, ultra-low latency video on existing IP video networks.

“Adobe Creative Cloud is compatible with the latest NDI 5 — a technological revolution in audio and video storytelling. NDI 5 transforms the world into a studio, allowing, for the first time in history, producers to connect to virtually any device, in any location anywhere in the world, to transmit live video,” says Robert Musso, Senior Product Manager at NDI.

“The NDI Plug-In for Adobe Creative Cloud revolutionises the way video creators work, opening up new remote editing and collaboration capabilities, and breaking down physical boundaries to make the world your editing suite.”

Musso points out that designers, producers and directors globally can utilise Adobe Creative Cloud to create new content and new experiences. With new tools from NDI 5 – NDI Bridge and NDI Remote – creators enjoy a streamlined workflow to advance creativity and output.

“The possibilities on offer are revolutionary,” he adds. “With NDI, using a simple internet connection, multiple editors can edit, highlight and localise content in record time. Clients can virtually oversee the edits as multiple editors can create different outputs from the same live source.”

Musso sums up the key benefits for users of NDI 5 for Adobe Creative Cloud:

• Enables remote working – multiple editors can create different output from the same live sources, at the same time, anywhere in the world.
• Enables creative collaboration – connections spark innovation and creativity; NDI widens access to that creativity pool.
• Enables integration – NDI, acting as the common standard, helps bridge between disparate tool sets, making the workflow cohesive and unlocking value.

• Enhances talent acquisition and retention – NDI adds flexibility, allowing talent to focus on creativity rather than the process … brands can then compete for in-demand resources across a connected global stage and to be able to offer the best in-class toolsets.

“Adobe is always looking for innovative ways to improve creatives workflows,” says Sue Skidmore, Head of Partner Relations for Adobe Video. “The NDI 5 Plug-In for Adobe Creative Cloud opens up new possibilities for how creators work and collaborate – no matter where their teams are located.”

Question: With the Covid-19 pandemic still raging on, where will the world of broadcasting be without royalty-free NDI SDK?

Please send your opinion to maven@editecintl.com.