Ryan Majchrowski, CEO of MMG Events, faced an extraordinary task: producing 150 hybrid and virtual sessions that spanned four days and ran around the clock. Each session needed to be live-streamed across six concurrent channels and made available on-demand within minutes. Coordinating AV teams across 26 countries required rigorous signal testing and onboarding to ensure seamless integration of hybrid and virtual components.
Adding to this complexity, MMG needed to prepare over 600 presenters for their virtual appearances, ensuring they were familiar with the environment and technology. With an audience of more than 60,000 attendees, the event demanded flawless reliability, stable connectivity, and robust redundancy to mitigate potential disruptions.
“Live only happens once — redundancy is key,” emphasized Ryan. This principle guided MMG Events’ approach to ensuring every layer of the production was secure, scalable, and adaptable to the demands of such a dynamic event.
To overcome the event’s multifaceted challenges, MMG Events implemented a meticulously designed workflow with NDI technology at its core. The preparation phase included months of planning and extensive onboarding programs for AV teams and presenters. Using video content and live testing sessions, MMG ensured all signal flows were proven and optimized well in advance of the event dates.
Using the Cvent platform as an endpoint allowed all live sessions to be available instantly. MMG Events also brought in a full edit team working in the background to overwrite the recordings with fully edited content at a very fast pace.
During the event, MMG deployed over 200 NDI signals across their network. This setup provided exceptional flexibility, allowing signals to be redirected anywhere within the studio. Monitoring was centralized using NDI Studio Monitor, combined with:
Proactive monitoring allowed the project manager to follow all onboarding, watch streams go live, and identify and address technical issues before they could disrupt the live event.
Signal transmission from the hybrid London hub featured multiple layers of redundancy:
The team also used Atomos Ninja Ultra devices to encode and pass through NDI signals. This approach allowed real-time validation of signal quality while ensuring smooth processing. Combined with triple-layer backups for internet and power, MMG built a rock-solid production environment capable of handling any challenge.
This workflow demonstrated how NDI can enhance flexible products. Atomos monitors, such as those from the Ninja and Shogun lines, are typically used in filmmaking studios. However, they can also function as NDI encoders or decoders, confidence monitors, or even visual signal testers. These monitors were well-equipped to meet MMG’s specific requirements for a live stream of this scale.
We love working on the R&D with Atomos Products and hope many more see the capability of their products in new ways!
Ryan Majchrowski, CEO of MMG Events
An NDI-based Workflow
With over 200 NDI signals in use, the setup offered unmatched flexibility and redundancy:
The event concluded with outstanding success. Of the 150 sessions produced, only two encountered minor technical issues, both of which were resolved within seconds. All live sessions were made available for on-demand viewing within minutes, ensuring attendees could access content without delay.
Client feedback underscored MMG’s exceptional delivery: “Our experience with MMG was seamless from start to finish. MMG was extremely organized and proactive, providing clear directions and prompt support throughout. Their responsiveness made a significant difference in our collaboration.”
MMG were a pleasure to work with throughout. Ryan goes above and beyond to collaborate on as many areas of the event as possible. Their expertise is always concise and actionable, making executing such a large-scale event like this a smooth experience.
Shannon Donnelly, Senior Account Manager at Cvent
In addition to the glowing endorsements, MMG’s approach delivered measurable benefits:
NDI is one of the most significant technology changes in the last decade for AV production. It’s a game-changer for delivering seamless, global events.
Ryan Majchrowski, CEO of MMG Events
The Motonautico Hydro Grand Prix has been running for 62 years and is the second stage of the UIM Powerboating World Championships. The intense competition features high-speed boats racing around 1.5 Km circuits along the river Po, posing a challenge for the MediaNews team, responsible for setting up the multi-camera production to broadcast live on Facebook.
Roberto Musso, MediaNews’ CEO/CTO and Technical Director at NDIThe main issue in productions like this is that we need to set cameras very far from the OB Van that runs the whole show. In some events, cameras can be somewhere like one kilometer away. We needed to wire a long extension of fiber cable, with a lot of people in the middle. It’s really not an ideal situation.
The team has been producing the event for many years, and even though the transition from traditional SDI setups to an IP-based workflow already brought much more flexibility and control over the production, having to connect cameras that are far away from the operation center in a rough, wild environment still presents some drawbacks:
Building upon the success and efficiency of the NDI-based setups used in the last three years of the event, Roberto Musso, MediaNews’ CEO/CTO and the Technical Director at NDI, decided to tackle these challenges by taking the setup one step further and harnessing the power of Wi-Fi.
Before the racing weekend started, Roberto and his team set up the usual multi-camera workflow. But this time, they decided to test one new connection: a +150m-long camera connected wirelessly over Wi-Fi. This experiment was only possible due to the recent introduction of 60 GHz Wi-Fi, as Roberto explains:
“With 60 gigahertz, you can get much more bandwidth than previous versions. We’d been trying to run NDI over 5 Ghz, and the jittering always caused some frame drops. But now it was the right time to give Wi-Fi another go.”
The test runs worked out so well that the production’s director felt confident using the wireless setup for the entire live streaming over two days without redundancy connections.
According to Roberto, the Wi-Fi point-to-point connection was able to deliver an NDI 1080p50 feed while performing above all expectations:
Even though the setup used for this edition only featured one Wi-Fi connection, the results were so good that the team plans to use point-to-point Wi-Fi connections in many of their live productions. And Roberto expects many productions to start doing the same:
“When production teams see this setup performing to the standard of a fiber cable connection, it becomes a no-brainer for anyone to implement similar setups in their live productions.“
With the 60 GHz point-to-point Wi-Fi connection, the MediaNews team was able to keep all the differentiating features of NDI — like bidirectionality, instant discoverability, tally support, metadata transport, and PTZ control — while gaining the flexibility and ease of setup of wireless connections:
With wireless connectivity becoming more common in these setups, production teams will gain more flexibility than ever. The low power consumption of NDI means cameras and network switches could all be powered by nothing more than a portable battery.
Connecting in real-time over wireless creates new opportunities for indoor and outdoor live productions involving big audiences as wireless setups become even less invasive to the public.
Part of our goal as live production teams is also to be able to broadcast the events to a larger online audience while not interfering with how the audience is experiencing the live event. When we join the capabilities of NDI with the seamlessness of Wi-FI, we get a near-invisible setup.
Roberto Musso, MediaNews’ CEO/CTO and Technical Director at NDI
To herald the European launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 in 2019, video game company Activision enlisted Gamereactor to produce and deliver a special e-sports event whose workflow was based around NDI video connectivity technology and BirdDog’s encoder/decoders.
It was inevitable that expectations would be high surrounding the 15th instalment in the Call of Duty series when Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 was scheduled for 2019. But those expectations extended far beyond the game itself and meant, for example, that the online launch event had to be seamlessly well-produced and professional.
To deliver this event, Call of Duty developer Activision engaged the services of Gamereactor, a Scandinavian online media network covering video games in multiple languages. The primary challenge facing the Gamereactor team was to deliver ten Playstation 4 console feeds into a live production computer enabled with vMix live video streaming software, as well as a live camera from the stage that was to be used for interviews throughout the event.
For the production and live-stream, the Gamereactor team opted to base its workflow around NDI technology and a total of 11 BirdDog Mini encoder/decoders, which were designed around BirdDog’s custom NDI silicon chip. Dóri Halldórsson, who at the time of the project was a Video Editor & Content Creator for Gamereactor, explained the thought process behind the decision.
“We had the option of going old school and buying a bunch of SDI converters, converting all those HDMI signals to SDI, and then getting up a more powerful computer to handle it. But clearly the best option was to embrace the future and go with NDI, which is what we did. And this approach saved a lot of headaches.”
The Gamereactor team used one BirdDog Mini on each of the consoles and one on the camera, which then fed into an Ethernet router, allowing a single Ethernet cable to send info to a vMix machine with all NDI sources.
The workflow proved to be highly successful, as did the game it helped to launch. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 was so popular it became the best-selling digital launch in Activision’s history to that point, surpassing 2017’s Call of Duty: WWII. And, once again, NDI and Birddog were behind the curtains to make it happen in real-time.
The athletics program at Harvard University relied upon a traditional baseband infrastructure for its video requirements for many years. But more recently, the Multimedia & Production department has been overseeing a gradual migration to IP via the use of NDI® video connectivity technology to benefit from greater flexibility and easier control at-distance.
With the largest athletics program in the US National Collegiate Athletic Association, Harvard University has a significant video requirement that includes the production and transmission of nearly all home games – amounting to about 300 broadcasts per year. Historically, the Multimedia & Production team depended upon baseband video along with fiber optic and copper cable between facilities for camera and audio feeds, but in recent years there has been a gradual shift towards the use of IP-based technologies.
“We’ve really started relying more on IP technology, such as Dante for audio and NDI for video. Our goal is to rely on NDI more and more, and the best way to do that is just using cameras with built-in NDI.”
Imry Halevi, Assistant Athletic Director for Multimedia & Production
In the past, the department had its usual SDI cameras connected to NDI converters and run into the various control rooms. For 2023, the team opted to go one stage further and utilise cameras from BirdDog with built-in NDI capabilities.
For the latest stage of its IP journey, Harvard University athletics department has invested in several A200 and one P200 NDI PTZ cameras from BirdDog, supporting NDI High Bandwitdh.
“We’ve purchased a few of the [A200 Weatherproof NDI PTZ] cameras, which allow us to mount them permanently at our facilities and control them remotely”, said Halevi.
“We can sit at our control room and remotely control these cameras, get the feeds into our switcher and into our replay system while placing our commentators wherever they need to be on campus.”
Halevi is enthusiastic about the benefits of native NDI and the combination of the connectivity technology with BirdDog hardware. Further equipment purchases, which would have the effect of extending the use of NDI around the athletics facility, are under consideration: “We’ve just purchased our first P200 camera and we’re looking at the 4K line and definitely some of the Mini decoders to connect to more of our monitors around the facility.”
NDI® video connectivity technology was an integral part of the workflow when ATX Event Systems and WiFi Joe delivered the streaming production of last year’s Consensus cryptocurrency conference, which took place at seven venues situated in Austin, Texas.
Dealing with variable IT infrastructure across multiple venues was among the challenges confronting ATX Event Systems and WiFi Joe when they began working on event plans for the 2022 edition of Consensus. Described as a showcase and celebration of all things crypto – including blockchain, Web3 and the metaverse – the conference called for effective streaming from a total of seven venues in the Texan capital of Austin.
While they were able to liaise with the city of Austin to use existing underground fiber at some venues, many of the older buildings lacked effective IT infrastructure. This contributed to WiFi Joe’s decision to deliver internet to these venues via point-to-point microwave links.
With an available load-in window of a mere 27 hours, it was imperative that the primary connectivity solution be easy to deploy and offer rock-solid reliability.
Faced with these challenging conditions, the two companies determined that the use of single cable NDI® video connectivity built into the BirdDog P400 cameras would be ideal in achieving a rapid set-up time.
From WiFi Joe – which specialises in building and deploying affordable, high-quality wifi networks for events, venues and arenas – Ralph Muellen commented: “What was really helpful with the BirdDog cameras was that all we had to do was run one cable, which does power, remote PTZ control, audio and video. In terms of how many cables and boxes we had to move, it was so advantageous [logistically].”
The combination of NDI® with BirdDog – two brands that have enjoyed a long and productive technology partnership – proved to be perfect for this demanding event. In addition to the P400 cameras, the event companies utilised BirdDog Cloud for central control of the distant sources, which allowed operators to be positioned at the most convenient location in each case.
ATX Event Systems’ Anthony McCoy recalled: “We needed something that would enable us to be as flexible as possible – be everywhere and anywhere at any time so we figured that BirdDog Cloud would be a perfect tool. [It meant we were] able to give our clients a zero latency feed very quickly; for example, if they needed to see the main stage at the Austin Convention Center or what’s happening at another venue, we could give them those feeds using the BirdDog technology extremely quickly. We’ve been using BirdDog quite a bit for the past two years and they’ve become an integral piece of most of our shows
ATX Event Systems’ Anthony McCoy
Butler University in the US has put itself in the vanguard of the global esports revolution with the creation of a dedicated new Esports Park. To ensure plug & play connectivity and high-quality live production, the university has settled on a combination of NDI video connectivity technology and NewTek media production equipment.
Located in Indianapolis, Butler University today encompasses six distinct colleges: Arts, Business, Communication, Education, Liberal Arts & Sciences and Pharmacy & Health Services. In recent years, thanks in no small part to a student-led initiative, it has also become a leading player in the growing esports movement with its varsity esports teams participating in a number of prominent tournaments.
For the latest stage in this journey, Butler has developed a first-of-its-kind Esports Park featuring a 7,500 sq ft facility with 40 gaming PCs, gaming consoles, a virtual reality area, cafe and community office spaces. Tthe identification of suitable, high-quality broadcast production systems became a priority from day one.
“Our facility required adaptable livestream technology which was easy to understand and use.This was especially important given our efforts to host various livestream competitions while also providing students with hands-on production experience and learning opportunities.”
John Lacheta, Manager of Facilities and Operations
Butler University decided to go for efficiency and flexibility and selected a solution based around NewTek media production equipment and NDI technology. Specifically, it is using the NewTek TriCaster TC1 video production platform and NewTek 3Play 3P1 sports video production solution, along with three NewTek NDI|HX PTZ cameras.
While the TriCasters make it possible to connect and switch between multiple cameras used to film esports competitions, NDI – which is supported by all NewTek products in the workflow– allows users to connect devices such as cameras, microphones, intercoms, and lighting through Ethernet cabling, as well as providing two-way communication, all without having to set up complicated custom networks
Initially, the Cranfield team used a TriCaster Mini with NewTek TalkShow VS 4000, an NDI-enabled multi-channel video calling system designed to simultaneously connect up to four remote guests in real-time. But to increased demand and the highly enthusiastic reaction to the new production environment, the university team has now upgraded to NewTek’s premium TriCaster 2 Elite, which supports the most updated versions of NDI and provides extra functionality and capabilities.
The new installation has fully satisfied the facility’s requirement for quality and flexibility, and equipped Butler University with the tools to host major esports events, like BIG EAST Esports championships, held in Butler’s esports park in March 2023. This event showcased the university’s new facility and the live production capabilities enabled by the combination of NDI technology and NewTek’s equipment.
“The flexibility of this system allows us to support a plethora of events of different shapes and sizes,” he says. “The agility of the NDI standard plays a massive role in how we can shift from classroom to open play and live event modes quickly and with intent. Given that we host so many high-profile esports events, it was necessary for us to have the technology that could easily ingest a magnitude of virtual signals and tie them all into a network quality product for our fans and players. TriCaster with NDI did just that – all while not requiring an intense production set-up.”
Nathan Duke, Manager of Esports Programs and Facility Operations
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