This guide provides step-by-step instructions for estimating bandwidth requirements for a live video and audio production.

The bandwidth requirements depend on several factors, including the number of live feeds, the type of transport stream used, and the number of screens used for monitoring.

Step 1: Calculate Upload and Download Requirements

The first step in estimating bandwidth requirements is to calculate the upload and download requirements.

This depends on the number of live feeds being transferred from on-premises to the cloud and back. 

For each live feed, consider the following:

  • Video bitrate: This is the amount of data processed per unit of time. High-definition video requires a higher bitrate and therefore more bandwidth.

  • Audio bitrate: This is similar to the video bitrate but for audio data. High-quality audio requires a higher bitrate and therefore more bandwidth.

Add up the bitrates for all live feeds to get the total upload and download requirements.

Step 2: Consider Multi-Viewer Output for Monitoring

Next, consider the bandwidth requirements for multi-viewer output for monitoring. This depends on the number of screens used and the resolution of each screen. 

For each screen, consider the following:

  • Screen resolution: Higher resolution screens require more bandwidth.

  • Frame rate: Higher frame rates require more bandwidth.

Add up the bandwidth requirements for all screens to get the total multi-viewer output requirements.

Step 3: Consider Nice DCV PCoIP Requirements

Nice DCV PCoIP (PC-over-IP) is a high-performance remote display protocol that requires additional bandwidth. The bandwidth requirements depend on the number of screens used and the resolution of each screen. 

For each screen, consider the following:

  • Screen resolution: Higher resolution screens require more bandwidth.

  • Frame rate: Higher frame rates require more bandwidth.

Add up the bandwidth requirements for all screens to get the total Nice DCV PCoIP requirements.

Step 4: Consider Transport Stream Requirements

The type of transport stream used also affects the bandwidth requirements. Different video codecs have different bandwidth requirements. For example, H.264 is a commonly used video codec that provides good video quality with relatively low bandwidth requirements. 

Consider the following:

  • Video codec: Different codecs have different bandwidth requirements. Choose a codec that provides the desired video quality with the lowest possible bandwidth requirements.

  • Error correction: Error correction techniques can improve the quality of the video stream but require additional bandwidth.

Step 5: Plan for Contingency

Finally, it's important to plan for contingency. This means allowing for additional bandwidth to account for unexpected increases in demand or temporary network issues. A common approach is to add an additional 20-30% to the estimated bandwidth requirements.

Following these steps, you can estimate the bandwidth requirements for live video and audio production. This helps ensure that you have sufficient bandwidth to deliver a high-quality live stream without interruption.

References

NDI Full Bandwidth

Resolution

Maximum Bandwidth 

Maximum Bandwidth w/ Alpha 

Proxy (no Alpha support)

1920 x 1080p60

105-132 Mbps

128-165 Mbps

640 x 360 - 30Mbit/s

3840 x 2160p60

158-249 Mbps

197-312 Mbps

3840 x 2160 - 30Mbit/s

NDI HX, NDI HX H264 & HEVC e NDI HX3 H264 & H265

NDI HX

NDI HX H264 & HEVC


NDI HX3 H264 & H265

Resolution

Maximum Bandwidth 

Maximum Bandwidth

Maximum Bandwidth Mbit/Sec

1920 x 1080p60

9.6-15.9 Mbps

6.7-10.9

20-62

3840 x 2160p60

19.1-30 Mbps

13.2-21

70-110

NDI Bridge

Estimate of NDI Bridge bandwidth using 1080p60 as the video format.  Multiply single bandwidth value by number of video inputs to get overall throughput.  NDI Bridge compression uses VBR encoding, actual bandwidth depends on video detail and motion complexity.

NDI Bridge
Compression

H.264 bandwidth
(single 1080p60)

H.264 total
8 channel replay

HEVC bandwidth
(single 1080p60)

HEVC total
8 channel replay

Minimum

1.6 Mbits

12.8 Mbits

1.1 Mbits

8.8 Mbits

Low

4 Mbits

32 Mbits

2.8 Mbits

22.4 Mbits

Medium

8 Mbits

64 Mbits

5.5 Mbits

44 Mbits

High

16 Mbits

128 Mbits

11 Mbits

88 Mbits

Ultra

24 Mbits

192 Mbits

16.5 Mbits

132 Mbits

Calculation Example

Component

Profile

Mbps

Streams

Total Mbps

Upload - to the cloud

Video Input 

1920*1080 60P NDI❘HX H.264

11

8

88

88

+contingency

20%

106

Download - from the cloud

PCoIP

1920*1080 60P NDI❘HX H.264

11

2

22

Multi-Viewer

1920*1080 60P NDI❘HX H.264

11

1

11

33

+contingency

20%

40