Magewell Brings NDI Into Conferencing Software

Magewell is now shipping a powerful new model in its popular Pro Convert family of compact IP conversion devices: the Pro Convert IP to USB.

Combining the flexible decoding capabilities of the Pro Convert family with the plug-and-play video ingest of Magewell's renowned USB Capture devices, Pro Convert IP to USB lets users bring an NDI®, NDI® HX or streaming source into video conferencing and other types of software over a standard USB interface.

While direct support for NDI video connectivity technology in third-party software has grown significantly, many AV professionals have continued to find themselves unable to join the NDI ecosystem. Software solutions without native NDI integration may support it through NDI Tools, but stringent IT restrictions in many environments often preclude the installation of such utilities. The Pro Convert IP to USB hardware overcomes this issue and eliminates complexity by converting the NDI source into a USB output that software sees as easily as a webcam.

In addition to NDI® High Bandwidth, NDI® HX2 and NDI® HX3, Pro Convert IP to USB also supports H.264 or H.265 source streams in protocols including SRT, RTMP, RTSP, RTP, UDP and HTTP. This allows users to easily bring live network sources in any of these formats into their software. Even users of software that natively supports NDI or streaming sources can benefit from Pro Convert IP to USB, as decoding these inputs externally in the device reduces the processing burden on the host system’s CPU or GPU.

Pro Convert IP to USB decodes IP video sources up to 1920x1080 resolution and can bring them into software as uncompressed video at full 60 frames per second or as MJPEG-compressed video at 30 frames per second. While 30fps is adequate for some video conferencing software, the 1080p60 capabilities of Pro Convert IP to USB flexibly support higher frame rate applications including telepresence solutions, live production software and more. Two channels of 16-bit, 48Khz audio can also be captured.

The Pro Convert IP to USB device is compatible with Windows®, Mac® and Linux® operating systems. Compliant with the UVC specification, it offers driver-free installation and immediate compatibility with a wide range of video conferencing (such as Zoom® and Microsoft Teams®), streaming and production software. The compact device is powered through its USB connection to the host computer, with no additional power source required.

Users can manage and control the Pro Convert IP to USB through an intuitive, browser-based web interface for device configuration, input selection and status monitoring. Multiple Pro Convert devices can also be centrally configured and controlled through Magewell's optional Control Hub management software.

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