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Understanding the NDI® Discovery Server: What It Does & How It Works

April 07, 2025​

Using the NDI ® Discovery Server may help mitigate certain issues related to mDNS traffic on computer networks. This guide will demonstrate how to install and start the NDI ® Discovery Server, then it will show you how to connect your cameras and computer to the server.

  1. The NDI ® Discovery Server is located in the NDI ® SDK. You will need to download the NDI ® SDK here: https://www.ndi.tv/sdk/
  2. The NDI ® Discovery Server is a lightweight application that can run on your computer. You will need to know the IP address of the computer on which it is running. We recommend setting a static IP address on this computer.
  3. Once you have downloaded the NDI ® SDK, you will need to navigate to the Discovery Server folder:

C:\Program Files\NewTek\NDI ® 4 SDK\Bin\Utilities\x64\

  1. The file is “NewTek NDI ® Discovery Service.exeâ€?. Double Click on this application to start the NDI ® Discovery Server. You will see a window like the following:

  1. Right now, there are 0 NDI ® Sources and 0 NDI ® Listeners
  2. Navigate to the NDI ® Config section of a NDIv4 camera. You will enable the discovery server and then enter the server’s IP address:

  1. After Applying this information and rebooting the camera, you should see 1 Source listed in the NDI ® Discovery Server. This is your camera:

  1. Now, we need to point your computer to the NDI ® Discovery Server. Open NDI ® Access Manager, and click on the Advanced tab:

  1. Here you will select “Use Discovery Server� and enter the IP address of your discovery server. Click OK
  2. Open NDI ® Studio Monitor. You should see a new Listener appear in your NDI ® Discovery Server.

NDI ® is now using your computer for discovery instead of mDNS. Do this on all NDI ® sources and listeners on your network.