BirdDogPlay 4K NDI Player

For those complaining about the audio and video lag, it's more than likely due to their network structure, NOT the BirdDog device. Your network switch must be able to handle AV or else it will not work smoothly. BirdDog even recommends using the Netgear AV 4250. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these units. They work beautifully!

*******************Updated Review*******************Well, it looks like the majority of the video stuttering was not caused by the Birddog Play. I found that Ecamm's NDI output was mostly responsible for the poor performance. When I display NDI from other ProPresenter or Proclaim, the output is smoother. However, a barely noticeable stutter still remains.On another note, the unit has an audio jack and usb port on the side. I was hoping the audio jack would split sound out, but so far, that's not working.After my initial disappointment, I planned to send the unit back. Instead, I'm keeping it and upping the rating to four stars. If a future firmware update activates the audio out, I'll bump this little baby to five stars.*******************Original Review*******************I was really excited about getting this little unit. I watched several reviews, but they were mostly just unboxing, plug it in and look, "it works!" They really didn't talk much about how well it works.Setup on this unit is super simple. It is a very well designed process. Plug it into the monitor and the unit displays an IP address. Bring up that address in your browser, and link the unit to the desired NDI signal. Almost instantly, the display comes up.As long as you are only displaying still images, this works fine. However, if you are streaming video, the image is plagued with stuttering, dropped frames, ghost images, and blurring. I changed frame rates, resolutions, and about everything else I could think of to get a good picture, but no dice.Just to be sure the NDI signal wasn't the problem, I captured it in OBS on another computer and it handled it just fine. I'll be returning the product and waiting a little longer for an affordable NDI-HDMI converter to reach the market.

I had 4 of these units. I'm only sending 1080p HD video in 60fps, not even 4K and yet, the video is basically NEVER smooth on any units. All units directly connected to a 10G network right next to the video source. I can't get smooth video playback, it just stops for a second from time to time, very laggy. It just seems to be too slow to process the video properly.I tried to render the same video sources on my mobile phone, also on other computers on the same network, and even over wifi, it was butter smooth.I really like the units, the price, the web UI - but unfortunately, its unprofessional. Maybe with slower framerate it could work better - who knows. Unfortunately, I have to return and keep looking for a better product.

I bought this to be able to provide sound and picture to a moveable TV in our office complex without having to run dedicated cables around the building. The TV (on a stand) can be moved around the rooms (or building) and just needs a network connection to the Birddog Play mounted behind the TV to receive the NDI signal coming from my computer (in a different room). Works great.

Only one issue with this guy. If you have to power cycle it, make sure the NDI Source is sending on the network. If it powers up and doesn't see the source it connected to last, you'll have to reconfigure it, and the UI is VERY slow. Getting to the page to select a source can take up to 2 minutes.But when it works, it's fantastic.

I purchased this device to replace a windows stick which was set up to boot to NDI studio monitor. The old device had no audio-video synch issues, but it has higher maintenance because it was running windows. So the plug and play birddog 4k play seemed like a great idea.Unfortunately, when I received it I found the audio and video synch to be off considerably and there was nothing I could do. The old device on the same network in the same place didn't have this issue.Customer service is very responsive. They had me apply a firmware update - which did help, but it's still 500-1000ms off. That is not professional.Customer service has offered to repair the device under warranty, but I should not have to go through this. I am not confident that it's my new device at all. Perhaps this problem isn't unique to my device?I have a challenge - because I wanted to buy 3 more after this one was a wild success. But, here we are.I will update you if I get it back working.

Easy to hookup and get going. Found all NDI sources on the network with no problems. Allows us flexibility to pull multiple NDI streams to different areas.

After receiving the device I had trouble from the get go. On connecting to the network it would get an IP address or set its static IP however on entering its IP address to get to the UI it always timed out. 2 days later with Birddog support I got the firmware and instructions on re-flashing. It now works flawlessly however on receiving from Amazon the board shipped with development firmware on it. Not ideal!