AV over IP: A transformational journey

AV over IP: A transformational journey

With several significant anniversaries looming on the horizon, it’s a timely moment to reflect on the development of AV over IP to date – and consider what the future might hold

Words David Davies

If you had to date-stamp the year in which the AV industry truly began its long and fruitful journey with IP technologies, then you might well select 2006. For it was then that Audinate introduced Dante – an AV over IP (AVoIP) technology offering high-quality, low-latency digital audio distribution – crucially, over standard IT network switches and infrastructure. Nearly two decades later – with Dante subsequently diversifying into networked video, not to mention its Dante AV solutions – it is still a key technology in pro AV, with over 4000 products being Dante-enabled.

The growth trajectory of Dante has been especially noteworthy, but there have been plenty of other milestones in media networking along the way. In 2009, the Avnu Alliance was established in order to promote the adoption of the AVB (Audio Video Bridging) standards. Although highly regarded, AVB did not immediately take off in the same way as Dante due to its requirement for dedicated network switches – which, for a long time, were both expensive and not produced by many vendors. However, the technology has witnessed a resurgence since 2018 following the announcement of AVB Milan – a new, user-driven protocol.

Meanwhile, the last decade has also seen a growing convergence between IP networking for broadcast and pro AV. Incorporating several existing standards – such as the Video Services Forum’s TR-03 and TR-04, as well as AES67 for audio over IP interoperability – SMPTE ST 2110 was published in a number of parts, beginning in late 2017.

Aimed initially at broadcast and distribution facilities requiring quality and flexibility, ST 2110 has since been incorporated into Internet Protocol Media Experience (IPMX) – a set of open standards and specifications geared towards IP networking in the pro AV market, with extra sector-relevant provision for control, copy protection, connection management and security. Increasingly, along with NDI, this tech looks like one to watch in many areas of pro AV.

For this article, LIVE invites a group of leading vendors to reflect on the story of AVoIP to date, including those aspects that have surprised them the most; their own IP-related milestones; and what impact the cloud and AI – among other current developments – are likely to have on the AVoIP deployments of the future.

Rapid industry acceptance

Robbie Bruce, director of product at Barco, indicates that the rate of adoption of AVoIP has been particularly surprising: “Many experts initially predicted a longer timeline for widespread adoption of AV over standard 1Gb Ethernet networks.” He credits ‘proprietary solutions like NDI and Dante’ with lowering entry barriers and enabling broader adoption, but also acknowledges that the subsequent ‘convergence around industry standards – for instance, ST 2110, AES67 and IPMX – was rapid’. He continues: “Thanks to aggressive promotion and proactive industry associations, interoperability and ecosystem growth occurred faster than traditional AV industry norms.”

Bruce also believes that the pandemic led to an ‘unexpected acceleration’ in the use of IP: “The rapid adoption triggered by Covid-driven hybrid workflows was genuinely unforeseen. The pandemic significantly accelerated investment in AVoIP infrastructure, bringing AV tech to IT methodologies faster than predicted.” On the other hand, there has been a slower-than-anticipated adoption of uncompressed, high-bandwidth video ‘outside top-tier broadcast’, he says.

Lawo’s A__UHD Core features low-noise cooling

The Home Multiviewer makes better use of resources

Chris Scheck, head of marketing content at Lawo, professes ‘no real surprise’ at the developmental trajectory of AVoIP, ‘except perhaps that it took the broadcast industry much longer to jump on the IP bandwagon than expected’. He elaborates: “Lawo has been actively promoting AVoIP for over a decade, and networking since its inception. Initially, the pro AV industry was significantly keener to network its audio tools than the broadcast and installation folks were. Just look at the impressive number of solutions that support Dante today –  that number continues to grow, with more coming online almost by the day.”

Scheck highlights Lawo’s instigation and contribution to the development of the Ravenna audio transport protocol, ‘which in turn inspired the AES67 standard’. The company continues to regard ST 2110 and Ravenna as “robust and versatile, especially for large projects – such as those in large arenas, stadiums, concert venues and broadcast – with tens of thousands of audio channels and a huge number of video streams that must be delivered not just on-premises but also elsewhere in the world,” he says.

Brian Fraser, head of product and technology at Adamson, depicts a present state-of-play that is more complex. When asked whether the adoption of IP has reached the level he expected at this point in time, he responds: “No, it’s not where I expected it to be. Adoption is still pretty fragmented. Different parts of the industry are using different tools, and even different parts of a single system might rely on separate protocols. For example, the integration world leans toward AES67, loudspeaker manufacturers like us are leading the charge with AVB/Milan, and then a lot of people are using Dante because it has so many tools available.”

IP milestones

Invited to consider Lawo’s own IP milestones, Scheck first discusses an event held nearly ten years ago that marked the shift from legacy (SDI) connectivity towards the IP world. “In 2016, Lawo V__remote devices were used for the Euros in France to transport production streams from the OB trucks at the venues to an International Broadcast Centre over fibre optic,” he recalls. “Back then, this was a revolution. V__matrix, a software-defined processor, was released only a couple of years later, providing gateway duties between SDI and IP, while simultaneously venturing into video processing.

“The C100 processing modules it contained could be repurposed by uploading different software to them. This changed how soccer was covered – at first in Australia and later also in the rest of the world.”

For Barco, Bruce highlights the development of its Nexxis platform, which was developed for integrated digital operating rooms. “Nexxis enables uncompressed, high-resolution video and audio sharing with near-zero latency, making it a game changer for surgical precision and collaboration,” he explains. “This solution paved the way for Barco’s interest in creating and supporting a standard for compressed and uncompressed workflows. Through this effort, we contacted Aims to see if they would be interested, and a few months later, it was put to a vote at IBC. Michael Cronk, chair of the Aims group, was surprised by the overwhelming support for the initiative, and IPMX was born.” The company has a number of new products supporting ST 2110 and IPMX, including the IO-H1, IO-H25 and IO-S25 gateways.

Latest innovations

Invited to nominate its latest major innovation for audio over IP, Scheck mentions Lawo’s Home Apps for IP infrastructures, which are single-purpose applications that run on generic servers and in the public cloud where the latter is required.

“Their containerised microservice architecture means that they automatically scale to future server generations with ever more processing cores,” he explains. “This flexibility is due to the fact that they were programmed from the ground up for a disruptive – at least for broadcasters – approach, without the slightest legacy elements likely to slow their performance down or making certain things downright impossible even though operators require them.”

Originally designed for surgery, Barco’s Nexxis platform helps low-latency video use in live events

Home Apps are available for video, audio, ancillary and utility workflows. One recent development means that some of them can now be operated from a mobile device for commentary, video monitoring and mixing scenarios that involve two or more mixing consoles of different sizes.

Scheck adds: “The next chapter for Home Apps will be to run alongside processing applications from other vendors, complete with the ability to exchange data via a shared-memory approach on a so-called Media Exchange Layer (MXL). IP will still be required, of course, but clever scenarios are being developed to further compress latency. However, users will always need gateways for signal input/output, and controllers such as mixing consoles.”

Agnostic or not?

With a variety of transport formats continuing to be used in live and other areas of pro AV, it’s to be expected that many vendors continue to prioritise the accommodation of different network technologies – and Lawo is among them.

“Multi-format support is probably more important today than it was five years ago,” says Scheck, “because, depending on the importance of the event to be covered, different equipment requiring different IP protocols is used. This calls for infrastructure that speaks several protocols fluently and translates them when they are received or distributed – whether to rightsholders, broadcast partners or online streaming platforms.”

Adamson, however, takes a different approach. Asked whether it aims to be ‘as agnostic as possible’ with regard to network technologies, Fraser responds: “No. We were one of the first and earliest advocates for AVB, going back to 2011. We built our own proprietary AVB stack, and later updated it to match the Milan working group requirements. We’ve had a fully redundant AVB stack in place since launching the CS Series in 2020.”

The CS Series is a range of intelligent loudspeakers with on-board amplification, DSP and Milan-certified AVB connectivity. Around the same time, Adamson also released a series of rack-mounted processing and power units, including the Gateway, a 16x16 matrix operable with Milan, AES/EBU and analogue; plus the Bridge – a converter that lets users integrate systems with older amplification that may not support modern Milan AVB.

As for Dante, “the only reason that Dante is available to some of our users was because of earlier products, such as the pairing with Lab Gruppen PLM+ and D Series amplifiers, which have Dante capability,” says Fraser. “The only product we manufacture that works within the Dante infrastructure is a version of our Fletcher Machine [a reference-class spatial rendering system for applications requiring immersive mixing]. As a result, the immersive engine is sold with two different options – as an AVB/MADI interface or as a Dante interface.”

With the availability of AVB Milan switches improving, and costs of implementation gradually reducing, Fraser agrees that the technology is witnessing a resurgence of interest.

“I might be a little optimistic, but I think if you’re using one of the top-tier loudspeaker systems and networked audio, you’re probably using Milan. Most Milan-supporting manufacturers, including us, have built patching tools into their software.

“Ours, Array Intelligence, includes a Milan patcher page that works like a familiar matrix interface. Once it’s set up, devices remember their patching assignments until you change it. As long as you’re aware of things like switch hops, there’s not much to worry about.”

Next steps

Considering other aspects of the AVoIP outlook, Bruce confirms that AI-driven automation – ‘which means faster production cycles’ – and cloud-based scalability are set to have a profound effect: “AI-powered tools will improve real-time video processing, automated quality control and other aspects of live events – making them more dynamic and accessible.

“Meanwhile, the shift to cloud infrastructure will enable remote production for the broadcast markets and extend into pro AV with flexible and cost-efficient operations. I also think that adopting ST 2110 and JPEG XS [video compression standard] will improve compatibility and efficiency in AVoIP workflows.”

Satisfying hybridisation is likely to be one of the greatest ongoing priorities for vendors and service providers. “The primary challenge will be hybrid models in which customers want the benefits of the cloud, but also low-latency requirements for camera workflows requiring local processing,” Bruce notes.

Telos Alliance helped pioneer AoIP for broadcast

Axia Audio launched the first Ethernet-based studio gear in 2003

In terms of specific applications and environments, interviewees cited a host of sectors where they expect to see continued adoption of AVoIP – including corporate, education and houses of worship. However, in light of challenging economic conditions, rising ticket prices, as well as a swathe of mergers and acquisitions in the touring and rental market, the outlook for live music currently seems a little harder to call.

“We are focused on premium audio solutions, so we’re not chasing the live market specifically,” Fraser comments. “Live saw a big post-Covid boom, but the area that’s been growing steadily for over a decade is integration, public spaces, houses of worship and other fixed installs.”

Fraser also points out that whether or not a venue adopts AVoIP often comes down to budget, mindset and whether it’s a new build or retrofit. “In our experience, new venues tend to go with networked infrastructure. It cuts down on copper, simplifies the cabling and positions them as forward-thinking. The main challenges mostly come up in retrofits – where you have an existing speaker system and amp room, and people don’t want to rerun cables or move hardware around.”

Nonetheless, the trajectory for AVoIP in live and other pro AV sectors is plain to see. As the product ecosystem expands, so will the strength of the argument for moving away from legacy connectivity towards the flexibility of IP-based configurations. With automation set to make certain aspects of deployment even simpler and more maintenance-light, the next decade will surely be every bit as transformational as the last one.

Lowering latency: unlocking IP potential

Costa Nikols, M&E strategy advisor for Telos Alliance, does not hesitate when asked about the aspects of IP development that have really surprised him during the last ten years – and many of them relate to the further minimisation of latency.

“If I look back ten years to how video and audio would be encoded, and the applications that you could work with because of bandwidth limitations, you would be using compression – often you still do. But instead of adding hundreds of milliseconds, you could potentially be adding seconds,” he says. “That is doable for interviews, but think about something like remote production – for instance, when you need to control an interface or devices like a production switch or replay system remotely. It would be almost unusable having even 200 or 300ms of latency.

“So one of the most remarkable things that has happened is that IT technologies have come to allow for the wrapping, compressing, unwrapping and round-trip efficiency in an acceptable amount of time. To an operator that is working on a production remotely, it’s almost seamless. And that is a big leap in terms of where we were ten years ago.

“You’re probably better off with a latency of between 80 and 120ms, but somewhere between 150 and 200ms is certainly usable. To have that kind of capability has made [AVoIP applicable] in so many other areas.”

This feature was first published in the May/Jun 2025 issue of LIVE.