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Microsoft Teams over NDI

From Canvus 26.09.4, Canvus sends and receives NDI video over the network. The Microsoft Teams desktop app does both as well, so a Teams computer and the wall can exchange video with no capture card, no spare video output and no video cables.

  • Teams into Canvus. Teams broadcasts the meeting as NDI sources: the active speaker, each participant, the shared screen and the gallery. Each one is a separate input in Canvus. Place the people and the shared screen as separate windows wherever the wall needs them.
  • Canvus into Teams. A virtual NDI output in Canvus sends one window, an area or the whole wall. On the Teams computer, it becomes a camera that Teams sends to the meeting, or a picture that Teams shares as content.
  • Touch control of Teams, optional. The Teams computer's screen comes onto the wall as an NDI input too, and a SANDER makes the wall its touchscreen.
How a Microsoft Teams computer connects to a MultiTaction wall over NDI The Teams computer and the wall computer are on the same local network. 1. Teams broadcasts the meeting over NDI and each stream opens as its own window on the wall. 2. A virtual NDI output of Canvus goes back to the Teams computer, where NDI Webcam Input makes it the Teams camera or Studio Monitor shows it for sharing. 3. Optionally, NDI Screen Capture brings the Teams computer's screen onto the wall and a SANDER plugged into the Teams computer makes the wall its touchscreen. MultiTaction wall running Canvus Primary speaker Each window placed anywhere Teams screen, touch controls Teams (optional) Sent to Teams: a widget, an area or the whole wall Display outputs Wall computer Canvus 26.09.4 or later NDI inputs: one window each screen.xml: virtual NDI output [output:Teams], audio off Teams computer Windows, Microsoft Teams, NDI Tools Broadcast over NDI NDI Webcam Input Studio Monitor Screen Capture Teams plays and picks up the meeting audio Speakerphone and camera Remote participants Local network NDI, wired gigabit 1 Meeting streams, one window each 2 The wall as Teams' camera or content SANDER 3 Optional: SANDER on USB, Teams by touch Touches on the Teams screen window

This uses the Teams desktop app on an ordinary computer. Microsoft Teams Rooms devices are not covered by Microsoft's NDI documentation. For those, use the VC system integration.

What you need

  • Canvus 26.09.4 or later on the wall computer.
  • A Windows computer with the Microsoft Teams desktop app: the Teams computer. A USB speakerphone or the room's microphones and speakers connected to it.
  • NDI Tools on the Teams computer, free from NDI. It has NDI Webcam Input, Studio Monitor and Screen Capture.
  • A Teams licence for business, and a Teams administrator who can change meeting policies.
  • A local network that carries NDI between the two computers. A wired gigabit connection for each is best. Both computers must be able to discover each other. On an Ubuntu wall computer, avahi-daemon must be running.
  • Optionally, a SANDER touch bridge for touch control of Teams from the wall.

1. Allow NDI in Teams

A Teams administrator turns on NDI for the users who run the meeting on the Teams computer.

  1. In the Teams admin center, go to Meetings > Meeting policies.
  2. Select a policy, or create one for these users.
  3. Under Audio & video, turn Broadcast production with NDI and SDI hardware on.
  4. Select Save.

Or with PowerShell:

Set-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy -Identity "<policy name>" -AllowNDIStreaming $true

Microsoft recommends a dedicated policy instead of the global one. See Allow broadcast production in Teams meetings with NDI and SDI hardware.

2. Turn on NDI on the Teams computer

  1. In Teams, select Settings and more, then Settings > App permissions.
  2. Under Production tools, select the download link and install the NDI components that Teams offers.
  3. Turn Production tools on. Some versions of Microsoft's documentation call it Production capabilities.

You cannot turn the switch on during a meeting. Teams can turn it off when it updates, so check it before every important meeting. See Broadcasting audio and video from Microsoft Teams with NDI and SDI technology.

3. Bring the meeting onto the wall

  1. Join the meeting on the Teams computer.
  2. Select More actions in the meeting controls, then Streaming > Broadcast over NDI. Teams tells the participants that broadcasting is on.
  3. On the wall, open the video inputs menu. The Teams streams are listed by the names the Teams computer publishes.
  4. Select the streams you want. Each opens as its own window on the canvas.

Teams sends these streams:

Stream Content
Primary speaker Whoever is speaking, switched automatically. It does not include the Teams computer's own camera.
Local What the Teams computer sends to the meeting: its own camera and microphone.
One per participant Each participant's video.
Screen sharing A screen that a participant shares.
Large gallery The large gallery layout.

Teams can only broadcast the video it receives. Microsoft suggests two or three video streams per computer. Pin a participant in Teams to keep their video coming. The Large gallery layout stops the individual video streams.

4. Send the wall into the meeting

  1. Set up a virtual NDI output on the wall computer as described in Set up a virtual NDI output. Name it so the room recognises it, for example <source-name type="">Canvus to Teams</source-name> and [output:Teams].
  2. Add <audio type="">0</audio> to the output's <output> element. Without it, the stream carries Canvus's whole audio mix, and the participants could hear the meeting back from the wall.
  3. Restart Canvus. Choose what to send with the video output menus, as for any output. See Run a call.

On the Teams computer, receivers list the output as WALLCOMPUTER (Canvus to Teams). Teams can use it in two ways.

As the camera, which is the simplest:

  1. Start NDI Webcam Input from NDI Tools. It runs in the system tray.
  2. Right-click its tray icon and select the Canvus output.
  3. In Teams, choose NDI video as the camera, in the device settings or in the meeting's camera menu.

As shared content, which keeps a real camera on the people in the room:

  1. Open the Canvus output in Studio Monitor from NDI Tools, full screen on a second display of the Teams computer.
  2. In the meeting, share that screen.

5. Control Teams from the wall

This step is optional. It brings the Teams computer's screen onto the wall and makes the wall its touchscreen.

  1. On the Teams computer, start Screen Capture from NDI Tools. The computer's screen becomes an NDI source.
  2. On the wall, open the Teams computer's screen from the video inputs menu.
  3. Plug a SANDER into a USB port of the Teams computer. Windows detects a touchscreen with no driver.
  4. Connect SANDER to that input's remote touch port, and pin the window, as described in Set up touch control.

The Teams computer's own screen should show only the Teams window, at the resolution of its main display. Touch then lands in Teams exactly where you tap on the wall.

Audio

Let the Teams computer handle the meeting audio through its speakerphone or the room's audio system, so Teams cancels the echo.

Keep the Teams inputs muted in Canvus. Every participant stream carries the same mixed meeting audio, so the room would hear the meeting twice or more. With the virtual output's audio turned off, Canvus sends no sound back into the meeting.