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NDI and SDI ingest

Bring live camera feeds, broadcast graphics and remote sources into CanvasPro as first-class assets. Once ingested, a live source behaves like any other asset: drop it into a scene, cue it from a queue, schedule it on a channel.

NDI ingest

NDI sources on the same network are auto-discovered.

  1. Open Assets, then Add live source.
  2. Pick NDI.
  3. Choose a source from the discovered list. Sources are named host.source-name.
  4. The NDI feed appears as an asset card. Drag it into a scene as you would a video file.

CanvasPro supports NDI 6 with audio, alpha and metadata.

Video inputs: SDI, HDMI and USB

A capture device on the player brings a live picture in: an SDI or HDMI capture card (Blackmagic DeckLink, Magewell, Elgato, AVerMedia), a USB capture device, or a webcam. Supported SDI standards:

Standard Resolution Frame rate
12G-SDI 4K UHD up to 60p
6G-SDI 4K UHD up to 30p
3G-SDI 1080p up to 60p
HD-SDI 1080i / 720p up to 30
  1. Install the card maker's driver (for Blackmagic cards, Desktop Video) and connect the source to the card's input.
  2. CanvasPro finds the input and adds it to Assets as a Video Feed, named after the device. Just plugged it in? Open Assets, click +, choose Video Feed and click the refresh button next to the input list.
  3. Rename the asset after its role: Cam-1, Graphics-Bug, Replay.
  4. Add a scene with the Video Feed template and pick the input as its source.

On players where inputs are set up in the device's settings instead, configure them there first, then create a Video Feed asset numbered by the order of the inputs.

Format, interlacing and sound

CanvasPro picks the best format the device offers for the frame it plays in: full HD for a full HD frame, smooth motion before size, and the format that needs the least work. Usually there is nothing to set.

  • Capture cards only deliver a picture in the format of their input signal. If a card's feed stays black while its source is connected, create the Video Feed asset yourself from the Video Feed tab and set Format to the input's format, for example 1080i50, 1080p25 or 1920x1080@50.
  • Interlaced sources (1080i over SDI or HDMI) are deinterlaced to full motion: 1080i50 plays as 50 frames a second. Deinterlace set to Automatic detects it; choose Always or Never to override.
  • Sound from a capture card's own audio input plays with the picture. Turn Play its sound off to keep it silent. Webcam microphones are never played.

When the input goes away

If the source is unplugged or the signal drops, the feed shows black and the player keeps trying. The picture comes back by itself when the signal does, with no need to restart anything.

Using a live source in a queue

A common pattern: schedule a channel with prerendered content, then drop into a live source on cue.

  1. Add the live source to a scene.
  2. Add that scene to a queue.
  3. Put the queue on air with Force Live from On Air, a control panel button, or a request to CanvasPro's HTTP API from another system. See Control CanvasPro from another system.

When the queue goes on air, the channel cuts to the live source. When the queue ends, the channel resumes.

Source health

Each live source carries health signals visible in the asset rail:

  • Connected: receiving frames
  • Stale: frames have stopped arriving
  • Lost: no signal

When a source is stale or lost, CanvasPro can fall back rather than going to black; configure fallback behaviour on the scene that uses the source.

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