AV-over-IP Explained: SMPTE ST 2110, Dante, AES67 and Where UniFi EAV Fits
What AV-over-IP actually means, why timing is the hard part, and how the open standards (SMPTE ST 2110, Dante, AES67) relate to Ubiquiti's new UniFi EAV switching line.
"AV-over-IP" simply means carrying professional audio and video over a standard IP network instead of dedicated AV cabling and matrix switchers. It's cheaper, vastly more flexible — and unforgiving about one thing: timing. This guide explains the landscape and where Ubiquiti's new EAV line fits.
Why timing is the hard part
Packets on a normal network arrive whenever they arrive. For audio and video that need to stay in perfect sync across many endpoints, "whenever" isn't good enough — even tiny timing differences become audible echo or visible lip-sync errors. AV-over-IP solves this with precise clocking, typically PTP (Precision Time Protocol), so every device shares the same sense of "now."
The standards, in plain terms
- SMPTE ST 2110 — the broadcast standard for carrying video, audio and metadata as separate IP streams; used in serious video/broadcast work
- Dante — the dominant networked-audio ecosystem in pro AV and live sound; easy to deploy, widely supported
- AES67 — an interoperability standard so different networked-audio systems (including Dante) can exchange streams
Where UniFi EAV fits
Ubiquiti's UniFi EAV switching (announced April 2026) brings hardware timing — PTP, real-time latency correction and sub-microsecond synchronisation — into UniFi switches, with native support for SMPTE ST 2110, Dante and AES67. The appeal is doing AV-over-IP inside the same UniFi platform you already manage, rather than a separate specialist AV network. Our EAV announcement covers the products.
What you can deploy today
UniFi hardware for AV-over-IP today
Ubiquiti Pro XG 24 PoE, Professional-grade, 24-port Layer 3 Etherlighting, PoE+++ Switch,(16) 10 GbE, (8) 2.5 GbE, (2) 25G SFP28 Port
Ubiquiti Pro XG 8 PoE, Compact Desktop/Wall-mountable, Professional-grade 8-port, Layer 3 Etherlighting PoE++ Switch With (8) 10 GbE, (2) 10G SFP+
UbiquitiPowerAmp,White,Premium Speaker Amplifier Designed For High-fidelity Multi-zone Audio Streaming & Immersive Spatial Sound Experiences
Ubiquiti PoE Audio Port,White,Digital Audio Streamer,Ultra-Compact,Versatile Design,Intuitive Control System,Multi Music Streaming,Multi-zone Install.
No — it's increasingly used in offices, schools, houses of worship, retail and venues for distributing displays and audio. Scale and standard chosen vary, but the principle is the same.
For small systems, a properly configured managed switch with QoS works. As channel counts and resolution rise, hardware PTP timing (as in UniFi EAV) becomes important to avoid drift.
Audio is light; uncompressed video is heavy. Audio-focused systems run fine on gigabit, but multi-stream or high-resolution video benefits from 10 GbE — which is why 10G PoE switches are a common AV edge.
Related reading
- UniFi EAV switching announcement — the products and the launch detail
- USW Pro XG 8 PoE review — a 10 GbE AV edge switch
- UniFi switch buying guide — choosing switches for demanding traffic
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