NDI HDX SUPPORT

for app store apps

January 2018 :  The HX in the app store issue has been resolved and all Sienna App store apps now  support HX.  What's more, they have HX embedded meaning that you do not need to install HX drivers separately.

 

Sandboxing

All apps distributed by Apple's App Store must adopt sandboxing security.  This mechanism is designed to isolate applications from one another for system stability and to protect users from viruses, trojans, and other malware.  However Sandboxing can introduce a number of limitations to applications, preventing them from performing operations which might seem harmless.

 

NDI|HX

NewTek NDI|HX is an extension to NDI which adds support for a range of NDI|HX devices such as Connect Spark and PTZ Cameras from NewTek, PTZOptics and Panasonic. In order to connect to HX devices, the NDI Library must load the HX plug in - and in sandboxed applications, loading arbitrary plug ins are forbidden.  This means that when NDI attemtps to load the HX plug in, macOS will intervene and prevent this operation. The end result is that mac App store apps will not be able to see or access NDI|HX sources.

 

A Solution

Its possible that longer term our App Store apps may get special dispensation from Apple to access the HX plug in. For now, we have decided to publish a special version of NDI Monitor which is not sandboxed and *can* see the NDI|HX Sources.  This version of NDI Monitor can not be distributed in the App Store, and you will need to download it directly from Sienna.tv

 

Notes

NDI|HX is not as compatible as regular NDI with respect to hardware platforms. In particular the NDI HX driver is not compatible with some later generation silver MacPros, and installing the HX drivers will make any NDI application immediately crash on launch, even if you dont have any NDI HX devices. It's possible other NDI compatible macs are also incompatible with NDI HX. If you mistakenly install the NDI HX drivers, you can remove them by deleting the HX Driver folder at /Library/Application Support/NewTek/NDI/

You may also need to delete the json in the hidden at ~/.newtek/

in terminal, enter the command -     sudo rm ~/.newtek/ndi-plugins.v1.json

 

Download

To get the NDI|HX Version of NDI Monitor, fill out the form to get the Free Sienna NDI Tools for Mac.