Inavate + AJA Video Systems: The best of all worlds

• Features

• 12/10/2021

AJA has released BRIDGE LIVE v1.12, a game-changing software update for the turnkey multi- channel live video solution for remote production, contribution, collaboration, streaming and delivery. Bryce Button, director of product marketing, AJA Video Systems, details: “AJA has been quietly working on developing NDI-enabled technologies for a while, with the end goal of delivering tools that address pressing market needs and provide AV professionals with a broad set of capabilities for NDI workflows. AJA BRIDGE LIVE, which has received a multitude of feature additions since launching a year ago, is our first NDI enabled product to hit the market via the latest v1.12 update, and we plan to continue building out its feature set with input from the community.”

The new feature set enabled by BRIDGE LIVE v1.12 was guided by market research and direct interactions with customers. Button says: “In conversations with BRIDGE LIVE customers this past year, it became apparent that NDI – with its ability to use one gig infrastructure and widespread accessibility – was increasingly attractive to enterprise networks, schools, houses of worship and other AV environments. The fact that NDI is also supported by thousands of standard pro AV technologies helped accelerate our decision to integrate support for it into BRIDGE LIVE. With NDI support now integrated, BRIDGE LIVE is a powerful gateway device that can simplify installs and day-to-day operations.”

The BRIDGE LIVE v1.12 update brings a host of powerful new features such as bidirectional NDI input, output and transcode; HLS output; video preview; and more to the table.

Bi-directional NDI-SDI conversion allows users to receive NDI and decode to SDI, as well as input and encode SDI to NDI. Bi-directional NDI-IP video stream conversion makes it easy for users to receive NDI and transcode to IP Video Streams (i.e., H.265, H.264); receive IP Video Streams (i.e., H.265, H.264) and transcode to NDI; integrate remote NDI and non-NDI equipment and facilities via RTP, UDP or SRT; and tap directly into the NDI network to provide a conduit to CDNs or other delivery mechanisms.

With the update, BRIDGE LIVE users also gain access to new UI improvements that provide more intuitive pipeline configuration and options like ‘start detecting input’ and ‘set as input’ buttons, and enhanced responsiveness, in addition to an alternative, more rapid method to access factory reset directly from the boot menu.

Button comments on how these features were designed to make an impact. He says, “The goal of adding bi-directional NDI-SDI and NDI-IP stream conversion to BRIDGE LIVE is to make it even easier for professionals to combine traditional baseband infrastructure with IP technologies. Many cameras, recorders, and other critical point-to-point infrastructure rely on SDI for the reliability, uncompressed video support, and the security it offers.”

He continues, “Having the ability to convert between both makes it simple to decide where in the pipeline it makes the most sense to use NDI, streaming codecs, or SDI, and it becomes much easier to mix and match these between sources and destinations. In the end, it provides the best of both worlds, allowing users to achieve a higher quality picture in a more cost-effective way, expand their geographic reach, and use the products best suited to each required task. There’s never been a gateway device as flexible as this, and we’ve seen a huge demand for it since launch.”

BRIDGE LIVE v1.12 is available now for download from AJA’s website. The latest update comes standard with all newly purchased BRIDGE LIVE units and is also available to existing users with an active maintenance agreement.

For more details, visit: www.aja.com/ products/bridge-live