Configure Sending Zixi Broadcaster to Ingest NDI Stream

Owned by alon.men@zixi.com
Last updated: 21 Apr 2021
5 min read

Step 1 – Log in to Sending Zixi Broadcaster

First, you need to log in to the Zixi Broadcaster that you will use to send the stream.

When the Broadcaster is first installed, the default user name is 'admin' and the default password is ‘1234’.

To log in to Zixi Broadcaster:

  1. In your web browser, navigate to http://localhost:4444.
    A user authentication window opens.

  2. In the User Name field, enter your user name.

  3. In the Password field, enter your password.

  4. Click OK.
    The Broadcaster UI opens on the Status page.

Step 2 - Create a New Transcoding Profile

Create a new transcoding profile that will be used to convert the NDI video to H.265.

To create a new Transcoding Profile:

  1. In the main navigation of the Broadcaster, click Transcoder.

  2. Click + New Profile.

    The Add New Profile window is displayed.

  3. In the Codec Type field, select H.265.

  4. In the Profile Configuration section, in the Bitrate Mode, select VBR from the drop-down list.

  5. In the Average Bitrate field, enter 10000.

  6. In the Max Bitrate field, enter 15000.

  7. In the Performance field, select High Quality from the drop-down list.

  8. In the Advanced Options section, verify that the Copy GOP from Source checkbox is not selected.

  9. In the GOP field, enter 30.

10. Fill in additional parameters as necessary, for more information about configuring  Transcoding Profiles, see Creating New Transcoding Profiles.

11.  Click Apply.

Step 3 - Create a New Audio Encoding Profile

Create a new audio encoding profile that will be used to convert the NDI audio to AAC.

To create a new Audio Encoding Profile:

  1. In the main navigation, click Transcoder.

  2. Click + New Profile.
    The Add New Profile window is displayed.

  3. In the Codec Type field, select AAC.

  4. In the Profile Configuration section, in the Bitrate field, select 512 from the drop-down list.

  5. Fill in additional parameters as necessary, for more information about configuring  Transcoding Profiles, see Creating New Transcoding Profiles.

  6. Click Apply.

Step 4 - Create a New NDI Input

Create an Input on the sending Broadcaster to ingest the NDI stream.

To create a new NDI input:

  1. In the main navigation, click Inputs.

  2. Click + New Input.


    The Add new input stream window is displayed.

  3. In the Stream ID field, enter a unique name to identify this Input on your Zixi Broadcaster, e.g. NDI_Intput.

  4. Select the NDI radio button for the type of input stream.

  5. In the Stream Parameters section, in the Stream field, select from the drop-down list the desired NDI stream.

  6. In the Video profile field, select from the drop-down list the Transcoding Profile you created in step 2 above.

  7. In the Audio profile field, select from the drop-down list the Audio Encoding profile you created in step 3 above.

  8. In the Audio Reference Level field, select AAC 512K from the drop-down list.

  9. In the Transport stream bitrate field, verify that the value is 0 (default).

10.  Fill in additional parameters as necessary, for more information about configuring NDI inputs, see Adding NDI Streams.

11.  Click OK.

Step 5 - Create a New Zixi Pull Output

For this tutorial we will send a Pull Output from the sending Broadcaster to the receiving Broadcaster using Zixi Protocol with the default settings.

The following procedure describes how to manually create a Pull Output on the sending Broadcaster. You can configure your Broadcaster to automatically allow Pull Outputs. Once this feature is enabled, when you create a "Pull Input" on your receiving Broadcaster, the corresponding Pull Output is automatically created on the sending Broadcaster. To enable automatic Pull Outputs, see Authorization in the Zixi Broadcaster UG.

To create a Pull Output on the Broadcaster:

  1. In the Zixi Broadcaster UI, in the Main Navigation, click Outputs.
    The Outputs page opens.

  2. On the Outputs page, click the + New Output button in the Menu bar.

    The New output window is displayed.

  3. In the Output Name field, enter a unique identifier for this Output on the Broadcaster, e.g. DemoOutput.

  4. In the Input Stream field, select from the dropdown list the Input that you created in Step 4 above.

  5. For the stream type selection, select the Pull radio button.

  6. In the Stream ID field, enter a unique identifier that will be used by the receiving Broadcaster to identify this stream. It is recommended to use the identical name as the Input Stream name, e.g. NDI_Input. Make a note of the precise Stream ID (case sensitive) that you assigned. You will enter this Stream ID when you configure the receiving Broadcaster to Pull this stream in the following section.

  7. In the Remote ID field, enter the ID of the receiving Broadcaster that will pull this stream. The ID can be found on the Status page of the UI of the receiving Broadcaster. To learn about additional configuration options, see Adding Pull Outputs in the Zixi Broadcaster UG.

  8. Click OK.
    The new Pull Output with its settings is created and now appears on the Outputs screen of your Zixi Broadcaster UI. The Status should be shown as Offline (blue), since the Output hasn’t yet been “pulled” by the Receiver.