How to Broadcast audio and video from Microsoft Teams with NDI
There are two different formats available for streaming meeting content using Teams, which include NewTek NDI® (Network Device Interface) and SDI (Serial Digital Interface). Both formats are capable of providing a different level of functionality when it comes to displaying meeting content.
This technology, available from Newtek, enables audio and video streams to be streamed from a Teams meeting directly to a remote location which is connected to a local network, so that no matter where you are in your local network, you can receive the streaming audio and video from Teams meetings. When you use NewTek’s NDI® technology during a Teams meeting, you will be able to view video streams which will allow you to utilize the unique streams that you will have on the network to create your own productions which will require you to utilize the unique streams of your meeting.
There has been a widespread use of SDI in broadcast productions since 1989; many studio hardware devices have been used for decades, and they are all compatible with SDI, even if they were designed for another format. It is now possible to connect legacy broadcast systems that use SDI cables to hardware devices from AJA Video Systems and Blackmagic Design.
Turning on NDI® technology in Teams
There is a need for an administrator to turn on NDI®-out on an individual basis for each person. The Teams app will automatically be updated to include NDI®-out once it has been enabled.
Note: Teams does not support NDI®-in at the present time.
You can make a change to your settings by clicking the Settings and more button, located in the lower right hand corner of Teams, next to your profile picture. From the drop-down menu, select the Settings option. There is a toggle next to Production Capabilities in the Permissions section, which must be enabled once you have selected App Permissions.
It is possible to have NDI® technology enabled in Teams by selecting More actions and choosing Broadcast over NDI as part of the meeting controls.
NDI®-out features
There will be several streams available as soon as the NDI® technology is turned on:
Primary speaker:
The system will generate a stream that will automatically switch from each of the incoming streams to the one that is actively speaking. Please note that your own audio/video won’t be included in the program.
Local:
As you send the audio and video files from your computer to the meeting, a stream will be created from the podcast you are sending. The meeting as well as your local NDI® production will be able to access the same audio/video audio/video file.
Individual users:
NDI® will be able to provide individual users with a stream over which they can view. Meeting audio is mixed together for all individual streams of users taking part in the meeting, meaning that the audio for all streams will be the same. It is important to note that the quality of the video displayed by the stream will depend on the type of stream used and whether or not it was received by the client when it was being transmitted.
Screen sharing: NDI® streams can be accessed as an NDI® stream if any incoming screen sharing is gathered.
Large gallery and Together mode:
There will be separate NDI® streams available for each of these modes of operation.
SDI hardware-out devices
You must enable NDI/Broadcast policy by your administrator to be able to enable SDI hardware-out capabilities, just as you did for NDI®-out capabilities. AJA Video Systems, Blackmagic Design (BMD), or Blackmagic Design product hardware must also be used with the system.
In order to enable you to broadcast in Teams, you will first need to grant your admin permission in order to enable it. Once that has been done, you can enter Settings and more by clicking the picture of your account next to your profile, which will take you to the section where you can enable the feature. If you are unable to complete the process, go to Settings > App permissions > and then toggle on the Production Capabilities toggle switch. In the Video Hardware Out section, you will be able to see any SDI devices that are connected to your computer.
Notes:
It is possible, in certain cases, to use hardware-out to stream video from a meeting to the hardware. This option will appear next to the name of a participant in the meeting when you have the hardware-out option enabled.
It is important to note that if there are more than one type of device that we can provide, they will be listed alphabetically if there are more than one type we can provide. You will be able to choose from a list of output options when a device is capable of generating more than one A/V stream.
By selecting Stop sending to someone next to the name of the person you wish to stop the video from playing, you will be able to stop a particular video from playing.
Technical limitations
In order to make the most out of NDI® Technology, the following technical issues must be considered:
- The number of streams that your Teams client is able to receive is limited by the quality of the streams and by the number of NDI® signals you can broadcast from Teams.
- In order to make sure that a particular video stream stays connected during a meeting, it is a good idea to put the video stream on the “pinned” list in Teams. If you select More actions under the name of the participant in that meeting, you will be offered the option to pin that person.
- You might want to consider using only two or three NDI®-out video streams on any one computer if you want to limit the number of streams. A good example of a good strategy is to ensure that most users will be able to consistently experience good performance and stability.
- The video streams of other members in the meeting will not come through your computer as long as you change the meeting layout to a different one such as Together Mode or Large Gallery. As a result of this, only the selected layout will be able to be streamed using NDI® on the machine. In order to restore the video streams, you will need to return to the Gallery layout.
- At the moment, Hardware-Out is not supported on Apple Macs with M1 processors.