The Power of AV-over-IP: The Next Generation in Audio-Visual Technology

The AV world is shifting from point-to-point HDMI/SDI to networked AV — and not all AV-over-IP systems are the same. This guide walks installers and IT managers through the standards, network design tradeoffs, and actionable pre-install tests so your first AVoIP job won’t become your most expensive lesson.

Which standards exist and when to pick them
There are multiple transport/codecs and competing ecosystems — NDI for low-barrier local production, SDVoE for low-latency video switching, SMPTE ST 2110 for broadcast-grade timing, and IPMX (an AV industry-friendly ST 2110 adaptation) as a pro-AV interoperable standard. Choose based on your latency, interoperability and scale needs. Promwad

Network fundamentals you can’t skip

Managed switches: non-negotiable for multicast, VLANs and QoS.

IGMP snooping & querier: prevents multicast storms by restricting multicast only to subscribed ports.

VLAN segmentation & QoS: separate AV traffic, prioritize it and prevent congestion.

Adequate uplink capacity and buffering: AV streams (especially uncompressed or high-bitrate compressed video) need sustained throughput — don’t skimp on SFP uplinks and switch buffers. Crestron Documentation

Design choices & tradeoffs

Low-latency live switching (sports/production): prefer SDVoE or dedicated switching hardware.

Flexible campus distribution (meeting rooms, signage): NDI or IPMX with multicast and centralized management is often a better fit.

Broadcast workflows: ST 2110 provides sample-accurate timing and is the standard of choice in broadcast facilities.

Installer playbook — step-by-step

Assess requirements: resolution, latency tolerance, scaling, and remote management.

Choose the protocol & codec that matches those needs.

Specify network hardware: managed PoE switches, adequate SFP uplinks and monitoring-capable core switches.

Pre-install tests: run bandwidth tests (sustained), simulate multicast traffic, check switch buffer behavior under load, and validate IGMP behavior.

Redundancy & monitoring: plan for SNMP monitoring, redundant links and NMS alerts.

Checklist: switch / VLAN settings

Enable IGMP snooping (and set a querier for the AV VLAN).

Create a dedicated AV VLAN with strict ACLs.

Define QoS markings for AV RTP/RTCP streams.

Reserve capacity on uplinks (calculate worst-case simultaneous streams).