The broadcast AV convergence: From parallel paths to a shared platform

Words by Suzana Brady, senior vice president worldwide sales and marketing for Cobalt Digital

Broadcast and pro AV have traditionally travelled along parallel tracks, sharing the same strong desire to deliver a quality experience but rarely sharing the same tools or infrastructure to reach their goals. That division is dissolving as more traditional broadcast vendors move into the pro AV sector.

More than ever, broadcasters are facing pressures long associated with pro AV: tighter budgets, smaller footprints and the need to do more with fewer resources. Conversely, the pro AV community is increasing its demand for reliability, scalability and interoperability – qualities usually aligned with broadcast.

As a result, today’s conversation has shifted from if these worlds will converge to how systems can be designed to serve both worlds and do more with less – without compromise.

Broadcast AV convergence comes with expectations

The emergence of the IP Media eXperience (IPMX) set of Technical Recommendations from the Video Services Forum (VSF) is a major factor driving this trend. At the core, IPMX and SMPTE ST 2110 are essentially the same technology, but each address different applications – at least for now. IPMX is a more relaxed and more cost-effective interpretation of ST 2110. It enables high-quality, low-latency audio and video transmission across common IP infrastructures, supporting formats like 4K/60p 4:4:4 and even higher resolutions. IPMX serves as an ‘entry-level’ path to ST 2110 for smaller broadcasters and provides the pro AV community with a vendor-agnostic playing field as opposed to closed proprietary solutions.

One platform, many workflows

As IP becomes foundational across both markets, the idea of deploying separate devices for every task is becoming harder to justify. True convergence isn’t about replacing one approach with another. It’s about building platforms that adapt and support hybrid workflows.

Cobalt Digital is committed to this transition and has added IPMX support to its extensive family of ST 2110 products. One standout example is Cobalt’s ARIA AUD-MON, the industry’s only fully IPMX-compliant audio monitor.

Designed for pro AV environments migrating toward IP, ARIA AUD-MON combines broadcast-grade audio performance with a compact, rack-mount form factor. It supports a wide range of inputs, including IPMX, SDI, MADI, AES and analogue, while offering flexible control via an intuitive touch interface or web browser. Features such as live video thumbnails, redundant power options and configurable metering make it equally at home in control rooms, venues and enterprise installations. Its uniqueness lies not just in IPMX compliance, but in treating IP audio monitoring as a priority rather than an add-on.

Cobalt’s support for IPMX extends across the entire company platform, notably in our SAPPHIRE converters, TOPAZ multi-processors, INDIGO ST 2110, PACIFIC encoders/decoders and UltraBlue multiviewers. These problem solvers bring IP closer and streamline integration without locking customers into a proprietary solution.

The result is flexibility by design, not by workaround.

Doing more with less: It’s in our DNA

Across both markets, customers are asking the same questions: How can we maximize our tools and control costs without sacrificing performance?

Compact, multifunction solutions provide the answer. Cobalt packs each openGear® card, each module, each standalone unit with abundant functionality. Just one example of our Swiss Army Knife mentality is our TOPAZ 9904-UDX-4K multi-processor series. In just one card, the user receives access to frame synchronization, ST 2110/IPMX signal processing, conversion, embedding/de-embedding and advanced HDR conversion saving space, power and money.

Looking ahead

Convergence is no longer on the horizon; we’re living it in real time. Systems must be easier to deploy, easier to scale and easier to operate, both technically and financially.  With configurable licensing and modular functionality, users have access to exactly what they need today and are prepared for what they need tomorrow as projects arise and technology evolves.

Ultimately, the promise of broadcast – AV convergence is not that everything becomes the same, but that everything works together for a better result. By embracing open standards like IPMX, flexible architectures and efficient design, the industry is moving toward a future where creativity, reliability and practicality coexist on the same network.

At ISE, Cobalt will highlight all our IPMX compliant products, but we’ll also be introducing new products that offer an a la carte menu of endless options and licenses to meet varying needs and budgets across a wide spectrum of applications.

Visit Cobalt and see them all at ISE, Booth #4J900.

Check out the January 2026 Signal here.