Working with Sources

Sources are the NDI® feeds you want to monitor — cameras, graphics machines, replay servers, encoders, whatever’s sending NDI® on your network.

Discovering Sources

Manual Discovery:

Menu → Sources → Refresh Sources

This triggers an NDI® discovery scan. Laika will search for all NDI® sources on your local network using mDNS (multicast DNS) by default. Discovery typically takes 2-5 seconds on a healthy network. Found sources populate in the right-click menus of all viewer tiles.

Automatic Discovery:

Laika performs background discovery periodically while running. New sources that appear on the network should populate automatically within 10-15 seconds. You can still manually refresh at any time if you need immediate discovery.

Discovery Methods:

Laika supports two discovery methods:

• mDNS (default): Automatic multicast discovery works on flat networks and small VLANs
• Discovery Server: Required for cross-subnet or complex network topologies

If your NDI® sources are on a different subnet or VLAN, you’ll need to configure a discovery server. See Discovery Server Config.

Source Information

When you right-click a viewer, the source list shows:

• Source name (as advertised by the sender)
• Machine name/IP address (where the source originates)
• Visual indicators for source type (local/network)

Recent sources appear at the top of the list for convenient access.

Assigning Sources to Viewers

The Simple Way:

1. Right-click the viewer tile you want to assign
2. Select the source from the list
3. Wait 1-2 seconds for video to appear

Video frames start appearing immediately once the connection establishes. Audio meters activate as soon as audio data arrives.

Reassigning Sources:

To change a viewer’s source, right-click and select a different source. The old connection drops and the new one establishes. Simple as that.

Removing Sources:

Right-click → Clear Source

This disconnects the source and returns the viewer to an empty state. The viewer tile remains in the layout, ready for a new assignment.

Clearing All Sources

Menu → Sources → Clear All Sources

This disconnects all viewers from their sources simultaneously. Useful when resetting for a new show or troubleshooting network issues.

Layout remains unchanged — only source assignments are cleared.

Source Availability

Available sources show in white/normal text in the context menu.

Unavailable sources (previously discovered but currently offline) show in grey/dimmed text. You can still assign them — Laika will attempt to connect and will automatically establish the connection when the source comes back online.

This is particularly useful for equipment that powers on later or sources that temporarily disconnect.

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