Guides & Articles
From Studio to Meeting Room: The New Era of Broadcast and AV Convergence
Broadcast and professional AV have long used similar categories of equipment, including cameras, microphones, displays, and media processing systems. The distinction has been in the way those tools are applied. Broadcast operations focus on mission-critical delivery of live and recorded content for monetization through advertising, licensing, or subscription. Professional AV, in contrast, encompasses a wider range of applications, from live events in entertainment venues to corporate communications, training, education, government, and medical environments.
In recent years, the two sectors have begun to intersect more frequently. Corporate and institutional environments are increasingly using the same high-production equipment and workflows traditionally associated with the broadcast industry. This shift is being driven by a fundamental change in infrastructure: the migration from dedicated, hardwired connections such as SDI or HDMI to flexible, IP-based media systems. Both industries are making this transition, but they are doing so in different ways. This has created compatibility challenges and new opportunities for suppliers and integrators who can address them.
Why Broadcast Technology is Expanding into AV
While corporate, education, and government markets have always been part of the customer base for some broadcast equipment, the adoption of IP has made it easier to apply these solutions outside traditional broadcast. SMPTE ST 2110 has established a robust, standardized framework for professional media over IP in broadcast. In parallel, the IPMX suite of standards and specifications, built on ST 2110, extends this framework for AV and IT by adding features such as USB transport, digital rights management, and encryption.
As IPMX gains adoption, the integration of broadcast-grade production into corporate AV workflows becomes more straightforward without sacrificing the advantages that IP delivers. This creates a growth opportunity for technology providers that can serve both sectors efficiently.
Technology Migration in Practice
LED wall technology illustrates this convergence. In broadcast and film, LED walls are used in virtual production to replace green screen techniques. In AV, they are replacing rear projection cubes in control rooms, projectors in auditoriums, and large-format video walls in commercial spaces. The ability to synchronize LED tile controllers, developed to meet broadcast requirements, delivers the same operational benefits in mission-critical AV environments. Conversely, AV deployments often require broad signal format support, content protection, and flexible scaling. These features also enhance the versatility of LED walls in broadcast facilities.
Another example is in IP gateway products. In the SDI era, broadcasters relied on format converters to integrate a range of sources into house formats. In the IP era, new IP-to-IP gateways allow different media-over-IP systems to interoperate without reverting to SDI or HDMI. This preserves both quality and efficiency.
The Strategic Effect of AV and Broadcast Convergence
As AV infrastructures modernize, they can influence broadcast workflows. Proprietary AV-over-IP solutions, if widely adopted, could force broadcasters to introduce additional layers of complexity and cost to integrate with them. A shared commitment to open standards reduces integration risk, simplifies deployment, and protects long-term system value.
The exchange of technology and requirements between the two sectors is mutually beneficial. Broadcast brings proven standards, operational discipline, and advanced production techniques. AV contributes broader application diversity, new feature requirements, and scale. The result is a more adaptable ecosystem that supports professional-quality media in both the studio and the meeting room.