AJA BRIDGE NDI 3G is a high density HD and 4K/UltraHD conversion gateway for SDI to NDI and NDI to SDI, designed to help broadcast, production and proAV professionals.

AJA Video Systems launched this month a new product, BRIDGE NDI 3G, a sleek, high-performance 1RU appliance that enables reliable, high density, and high quality conversion to/from SDI and NewTek’s NDI video over IP protocol. The flexible, intuitive gateway device, says the company, “supports multi-channel 4K and HD workflows and is designed to help broadcast, production and proAV professionals move seamlessly between various platforms, protocols, and connectivity types.”

According to AJA Video Systems, “BRIDGE NDI 3G packs a punch with dual 10GigE onboard NICs for NDI I/O, as well as high-density SDI connections for up to 16 channels of 3G-SDI I/O – offering up to four channels of 4K or 16-channels of HD, or a mixture of HD and 4K NDI encodes/decodes in a compact form-factor.”

The device boasts an intuitive interface and system administration screen that make it simple to get BRIDGE NDI 3G up, running, and configured quickly and securely. Using a standard web browser, technicians, engineers, operators, and producers can access the interface remotely to view and manage content, including local monitoring preferences. Operators are also able to freely browse, favorite, label, and filter a large volume of NDI sources on the network, as well as label any SDI inputs or outputs, and see all I/O activity at any given time.

Taking advantage of  IP video advancements

BRIDGE NDI 3G can easily be used to convert SDI camera and playout sources into NDI streams, enabling simple integration into NDI supported workflows, including virtualized productions leveraging NDI-based switchers, says the company, adding that “using a common network, these sources can be located anywhere within a facility, allowing seamless integration of various production islands into a unified workflow. Conversely, NDI streams can be converted back into SDI ecosystems via BRIDGE NDI 3G’s configurable I/O, allowing NDI signals to move back into SDI routing systems and traditional baseband workflows.”

Device configuration and management are simple via a local interface, or remotely from a web browser interface or REST API. The rack-mountable appliance supports UYVY and UYVA 4:2:2, 8-bit and P216, for NDI, and for SDI, YCbCr 4:2:2, 10-bit. It simplifies the integration of graphics and/or 4K sources into workflows with one-click grouping controls for video-and-key, and for 4K via 3G I/O. BRIDGE NDI 3G includes dual power supplies for redundancy and AJA’s legendary 3-year warranty.

BRIDGE NDI feature highlights include:

• Up to 16 NDI outputs, or up to 16 NDI or NDI HX inputs
• 16 channels of 3G-SDI I/O, enabling up to 16-channels of HD, up to four channels of 4K/UltraHD, or a mixture of HD and 4K/UltraHD NDI encodes or decodes
• Dual 10GigE onboard NICs for NDI I/O
• UYVY and UYVA 4:2:2, 8-bit NDI I/O and support for P216 NDI output
• YCbCr 4:2:2, 10-bit support for SDI
• Reference inputs to properly time SDI outputs
• Video processing for scaling NDI inputs with non standard rasters
• Video and key support for both NDI (Video plus Alpha) and SDI (dual 3G-SDI)
• Up to 16-channels of audio, uncompressed float, 48 kHz sample rate, per NDI connection
• Up to 16-channels of 16- and 24-bit SDI embedded audio, 48 kHz sample rate, synchronous per SDI connection
• A compact 1RU chassis with redundant power supplies
• An intuitive user interface and system administration screen for simple, secure setup
• A robust web-browser based UI that allows users to view and manage content and preferences locally or across the LAN
• AJA’s three-year international warranty

“As IP’s advantages become more readily apparent, NDI is picking up steam across the broadcast, production and proAV markets. Going all-in on IP, however, isn’t a reality for facilities with significant SDI infrastructure, which is why we’ve created BRIDGE 3G NDI,” shared Nick Rashby, President, AJA Video Systems. “Facilities can use BRIDGE NDI 3G to easily integrate a range of 3G-SDI sources into NDI workflows. It’s designed to help customers make the most out of their current gear while taking advantage of popular IP video advancements in the market.”

BRIDGE NDI 3G is available now through AJA’s worldwide reseller network for $11,995 US MSRP.