From replays and signage to backstage monitoring and broadcast feeds, video now touches every corner of a live venue. Matrox Video explores how connected infrastructure can keep pace.
As live venues demand greater flexibility and scalability, AV-over-IP is transforming how video is distributed, managed, and experienced. By replacing dedicated point-to-point infrastructure with network-based workflows, organisations can build systems that are easier to scale, simpler to manage, and better equipped to support the growing demands of live events.
The growing demand for connectivity
Today's large venues rely on AV technology far beyond the displays seen by spectators. Behind every live event is a complex network responsible for transporting high-quality video, audio, and data between cameras, production equipment, control rooms, LED displays, digital signage, broadcast systems, and monitoring stations.
As productions scale, the amount of video moving throughout a venue continues to increase. Higher resolutions, additional display endpoints, interactive experiences, and simultaneous in-venue and broadcast productions all place greater demands on the underlying AV infrastructure. Traditional point-to-point systems can quickly become difficult to expand and maintain, particularly as venues introduce new technologies or reconfigure spaces for different events.
This is one of the primary reasons many organisations are transitioning to AV-over-IP architectures. Rather than relying on dedicated video cabling, video signals are transported across standard Ethernet networks, creating a more flexible and scalable infrastructure capable of adapting to changing production requirements.
Open standards are accelerating this transition. Technologies such as SMPTE ST 2110 and IPMX provide interoperable frameworks for transporting professional media over IP, allowing venues to integrate equipment from multiple manufacturers while avoiding vendor lock-in. They also make it easier to support a wide range of applications, from live production and digital signage to monitoring, replay, and remote collaboration.
Designing for performance and flexibility
For venues, flexibility is becoming just as important as performance. A stadium may host professional sports one evening, a concert the next, and a corporate event later in the week. Similarly, theatres frequently modify stage layouts and production workflows between performances. Modern AV infrastructures need to accommodate these changing requirements without requiring significant hardware changes or extensive rewiring.
At the same time, reliability remains non-negotiable. Live events operate on fixed schedules with little tolerance for technical disruption. Whether displaying instant replays on a stadium video board, routing camera feeds to a production gallery, or providing confidence monitoring backstage, video systems must deliver consistent performance with extremely low latency and precise synchronisation.
Eliminating the bandwidth tradeoff
Network efficiency has also become a major consideration. As video quality increases, so too do bandwidth requirements. Achieving the highest image quality often means consuming significant network capacity, forcing organisations to choose between visual performance and infrastructure costs.
Advances in video compression are helping eliminate many of these tradeoffs. New generations of AV-over-IP technology can deliver visually lossless 4K60 video with exceptionally low latency while requiring only a fraction of the bandwidth traditionally associated with professional AV codecs. This allows organisations to deploy more endpoints, reduce network congestion, and often leverage existing network infrastructure instead of investing in costly upgrades.
The benefits become particularly apparent in large, multi-space venues where video must be distributed to numerous locations simultaneously. Efficient streaming enables organizations to expand systems incrementally while maintaining high image quality across the network.
Connectivity in action: Trøndelag Theatre
A good example is Trøndelag Theatre in Trondheim, Norway, which recently implemented the country's first IPMX-based theatre infrastructure using Matrox ConvertIP, an ST 2110/IPMX baseband converter and encoder/decoder. The theatre aimed to modernise an aging analogue video distribution system while avoiding the expense and disruption of replacing its existing network.
Instead, the organization deployed an IPMX-based AV-over-IP workflow operating over a standard 1 GbE network. High-quality, low-latency video can now be routed between multiple stages, rehearsal spaces, production areas, and monitoring displays using a flexible network infrastructure rather than dedicated cabling. The upgrade has simplified signal management, improved operational flexibility, and provided a scalable platform capable of supporting future productions without requiring significant infrastructure changes.
While theatres have unique production requirements, the same principles apply across stadiums, arenas, race circuits, concert halls, and other large venues. IP-based infrastructures allow operators to distribute content wherever it is needed while adapting quickly to different event types and evolving production workflows.
Building for what’s next
Connectivity has become a strategic asset rather than simply a technical requirement. As broadcast and ProAV workflows continue to converge, venues are increasingly investing in infrastructures that prioritise interoperability and efficient use of network resources.
For manufacturers, this means delivering solutions that not only provide exceptional image quality and low latency but also reduce bandwidth demands, simplify deployment, and integrate seamlessly within standards-based ecosystems. Ultimately, the goal is not simply to move video across a network, but to enable more connected, adaptable, and resilient venues that can deliver exceptional experiences for audiences while giving technical teams the flexibility they need behind the scenes.
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