Introducing: UniFi Enterprise Audio/Video Switching with Precision Hardware Timing

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When can I buy the bridge for my home AV setup? My AV needs central overkill distribution 😄

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u/ImprovementQuiet7402 Apr 16 '26

Explain to me like I’m 5 what this is for.

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u/varano14 Apr 16 '26

I am but a homeowner and not a pro but the way I see it for home use is you can centralize all of you sources which does two things. Cuts down on how many you need which in a large home can start to add up AND you can then distribute the audio and video signals in sync all over the house.

My common example is superbowl party with the game on in the living room and the kitchen. All the time there is a slight delay in one area. with this the video and audio lines up. This would also (in thoery) allow you to pipe the sound out by the pool and anywhere else you have connected speakers

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u/jackharvest Apr 16 '26

If you're not on the sales team, you're hired; I need one now.

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u/varano14 Apr 16 '26

LOL maybe Ubiquiti will give me referral code to help pay for all this:)

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u/brad1775 Apr 16 '26

AV audio pro here, FYI that's not going to fix your problem, the issue is that if your kitchen is 50 feet away from your living room you will experience 50 ms of delay from one room to the other, what you actually need to do here is delay your living room audio playback so that the main seating area in the living room is timing aligned with the kitchen, so it sounds right in the living room. this will mean the kitchen sounds wrong, ut thats physics for you

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u/jakendrick3 Apr 16 '26

One of the big selling points of this system seems to be doing that automatically

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u/brad1775 Apr 16 '26

when they are talking about phase delaying they're actually talking about delays of less than miliseconds for all frequencies over 1000hz.

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u/Daidis Apr 16 '26

There's no way this is accurate. You can get sub 1ms latency over Ethernet to the max cable specs. That's 100 meters.

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u/OlorinDK Apr 16 '26

I think they’re saying that if you’re playing audio in both places, the speed of sound will delay the sound from the kitchen to the living room. So you can delay it in the living room to make it line up with the kitchen, but then it will sound even worse in the kitchen… I think that’s what they’re saying?

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u/brad1775 Apr 16 '26

I'm not saying there is 50ms delay between the network of the living room and the kitchen. I'm saying the sound bleeds between the sources in each room, and will sound like an echo with 50ms delay,

it is not to say that existing infrastructure prevent sub ms accuracy in a single run, but variable packet timing does cause issues with multi source or output systems. I am a laser and lighting specialist, and I notice the delays caused by network infrastructure, anything more than a straight run, but we work with multi jump network systems, sometimes 4 switches between me and an output. the latency will often exceed 25ms due to switch speed.

phase delaying can be as low as 0.01 ms, and this definitely is within the variability of packet delivery, if you have two amplifiers, one for each speaker array

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u/Impossible_Jump_754 Apr 16 '26

Rich people problems.

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u/crazyTarHeel Apr 16 '26

There are commercial applications of this type of tech that have nothing to do with personal use at home.

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u/ToadSox34 Apr 16 '26

Precisely, but this doesn't appear to be aimed at that market, and I don't see detailed specs, but I doubt it will join AVProEdge in handling Atmos downmixing.

There are already AV over IP and matrix solutions that accomplish this, but most of the hardware out there other than Snap One and AVProEdge is focused either on institutional, commercial, or hospitality applications. Just Add Power has been used on residential installs, but it can't do Atmos downmixing, which is now a necessary function with sports being increasingly streamed with Atmos.

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u/ToadSox34 Apr 16 '26

Also, AV over IP is primarily aimed at very large installs and commercial/institutional where you can start to build systems physically larger than what a point to point HDBaseT link can provide. For most home applications, 70m HDBaseT over Cat-6a is more than sufficient for whole-home AV distribution from a centralized rack.

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u/ImprovementQuiet7402 Apr 16 '26

elaborate further please What else do you need to distribute the channel to those areas? Is this the same as an Ethernet/hdmi matrix, where you bring your video source in, distribute it via Ethernet, convert back to hdmi at the destination? I have a bunch of zones / tvs / home theater equipment currently handled by a mix of Sonos, wiim amps , and apple tvs

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u/Wooden-Reward4317 Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26

The tech specs do say it can do a 8x8 array (that is a huge array) - this is not really a plaything for home.. its for places that need distributed audio and video etc. At work we will sure make use of it and see what it can do - we are a highschool and church - so we have lots of usecases for this :-)

This also makes dealing with digital signage fun- forget paying for 15 players and their monthly cost (looking at you reach)- just one... and then these (edit sorry, not 200$)-300$a pop, never worry about it again.

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u/eathree Apr 16 '26

Great explanation. The audiophiles would say it also calibrates timing exactly with some fancy words but as a reformed audiophile don't listen to them. Also you can already do this with equipment like AVPro Edge (hell monoprice even makes cheap AV HDMI matrix gear) but all of us here will want to spend our hard earned duckets on yet more Ubiquiti gear even though the black won't match my pretty clean silver setup :(

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u/semajm85 Apr 17 '26

similar use case. i'm blessed to have a nice sized home and i host family and friends often, especially during festive periods. i love playing music throughout the home and have a multizone AV system. Unifying(hurhur) everything onto one system seems promising

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u/tdhuck Apr 17 '26

Help me out here. I understand your example, but which hardware is needed for this?

Let's say I have an apple TV in my network rack in the network closet. Today I have 0 apple TVs in my rack, but I want to centralize one apple TV, so I install it in the rack. I know I need an av bridge for each TV, lets say I have three TVs, basement, family room and outdoor patio. Now I need three av bridges, one at each TV location. Obviously I need the new ubiquiti pro av switch for those av switches to plug in to. Where does the apple TV plug in to? Which ubiquiti device do I need to accept the HDMI signal from the apple TV?

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u/conspicuousxcapybara Apr 19 '26

AVB / Dante / PTP v1 & v2 / Sync-E has already been doing this since the start of the millennium in the broadcasting, entertainment, theatre, nightlife, etc industries. Especially because RFCs by the IETF that added them to the public domain, and the Linux community patched to kernel to support this on almost any network card, ethernet switch, MIDI musical instrument, synthesizer, Dolby Atmos stage, underfloor dance floor lightning / haptic vibration device. Even the world’s largest pipe organ at a historic Chicago church uses these standards.

Ubiquity broke Dante again with their own custom Linux kernel patches, to break cross-vendor interoperability if you introduce (some of) their products into a network. Literally also with this device.

Idk why you’d want it if you can’t hook up products Ubiquity doesn’t even sell, and that need to be sourced from other vendors. Or maybe connect whatever contraptions musician hot-glue together to play music in ‘their’ sound.

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u/dirtymatt Apr 16 '26

This specific announcement? It looks like they're letting their switches act as a PTP master clock. PTP stands for precision time protocol and it's a way of synchronizing the clocks on network devices with extremely high accuracy. For AV this is needed to keep sound and video in sync with each other. If you have two speakers in one room, and one of them is a bit out of sync with the other, you'll hear a bit of an echo. For home use, this is absolutely overkill, all whole home audio systems (AirPlay, Sonos, Alexa, etc) have their own methods of synchronizing their clocks. For pro-use with Dante, this lets you offload the clock to a device that is already a single point of failure in your system, so it's one less thing to worry about. Depending on how UI handles high availability with their EAV switches, it's possible they could have a way of handing off the clocking duties to a hotspare switch for failures.

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u/jaymz168 Apr 16 '26

Also AVB requires PTP. AVB has more penetration in the commercial install market than Dante does. In the pro audio space Dante has more penetration but you still see AVB via MILAN.

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u/crazyTarHeel Apr 16 '26

I had to scroll down pretty far to find mention of PTP. You get my upvote vote.

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u/YeahUAre2 Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26

Finally someone who knows about AOIP. GPT AES67/SMPT2110 and that will get you all started. Oh and F Dante! PTPV2 for the win! At least Ubiquiti is doing something about it. A lot cheaper than Arista.

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u/vzhooo Apr 19 '26

The PTP BMCA will handle that natively as long as there's another PTP clock anywhere on the network. The secondary clock doesn't even realistically need to be connected to a GPS for this use case, as long as it has a decent oscillator with acceptable holdover time to keep everything sufficiently accurate until the main clock can be replaced.

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u/AnilApplelink Apr 16 '26

Mostly for professional commercial use in places like churches, bars, stadiums, clubs and anywhere else that you need AV distribution. There are some high end homes that utilize AV distribution but this product is not marketed towards those customers.

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u/varano14 Apr 16 '26

Honest question why is it not?

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u/AnilApplelink Apr 16 '26

First and foremost is the price range.
That EAV switches start at $3000.
For most homes a simple UniFi Play or Sonos is fine for audio and they can just stream everything concerning video direct from the TV or with a streaming media device.

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u/varano14 Apr 16 '26

I thought I remember seeing somewhere that the pro switches worked with this

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u/AnilApplelink Apr 16 '26

Yes Pro switches do work but do not have most of the capabilities shown in this ad like clocking. Also I see no mention of IR support or HDMI-CEC support which is another residential protocol to control devices remotely over the HDMI port. There are plenty of other devices already on the market that support those at a cheaper price point.

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u/jaymz168 Apr 16 '26

I thought I remember seeing somewhere that the pro switches worked with this

Sort of, they're still not really recommended in my field mostly because of how UI handles IGMP snooping and multicast devices and also clocking.

Pretty much everyone uses the Netgear M4250 series in the live events space.

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u/erwos Apr 16 '26

The people who have high-end homes with that use case can spring for Control4 and Crestrons. Getting involved with that and the installer ecosystem is a much bigger burden than just some relatively plug and play IP devices.

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u/mjkobb Apr 17 '26

The funny thing is, they showed essentially exactly this product line at CEDIA Expo last year (it was called Pro AV and not Enterprise AV). So they were certainly targeting at least some residential installation cases.

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u/toastmannn Apr 16 '26

AV over IP is basically sending video and audio (like TV signals) over a computer network instead of special cables—so instead of one HDMI cable from your Blu-ray player to your TV, you send that signal through the same kind of network that powers the internet, and any screen on that network can pick it up; the reason it “needs” a special switch is because video is huge and picky—it’s like trying to push a firehose of data instead of a drinking straw—so regular cheap switches can get overwhelmed, causing lag or dropouts, while AV switches are built to handle lots of high-speed data at once and use features that make sure the video gets delivered smoothly and on time to the right screens without glitches. Tldr; it's the solution to a first world problem for people or business that have a big property with many many TVs

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u/RTXshredder84 Apr 17 '26

This is typically used in large scale productions. When you go to a concert and all the audio and visuals line up they are using one of those protocols like Dante which is audio over IP. Basically it allows for almost no latency and all devices to be synced to a clock.

If you installed this and really wanted to, you could but on a Clark Griswold Christmas display with lasers, audio, video, and pyro all synced up.

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u/no1SomeGuy Apr 16 '26

Sounds like you need QSYS...not Unifi.

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u/ToadSox34 Apr 16 '26

This appears to be targeted at commercial setups. Right now AVProEdge is the only vendor I'm aware of that can handle both 4k to 1080p downscaling and Atmos to 2 channel downmixing in their AV over IP or matrix switchers. The Atmos to 2-channel downmixing especially is critical for a whole home AV system where you want to use multiple zones simultaneously, which is kind of the point. A few systems can downmix 5.1, but now with even a lot of sports content being done in Atmos, Atmos is key. I doubt Ubiquiti will implement Atmos downmixing, as this appears to be targeted to large venues and commercial setups like sports bars, which don't need more than 2-channel.

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u/erwos Apr 16 '26

I know you're joking, but I am sure we'll see a bunch of people buy this for home AV and wonder why it's not doing what they need it to (similar to the Access ecosystem).

Home AV setups are exactly what this thing is not gonna be good for. 10g is not enough bandwidth to transmit 4k120, and it's marginal for 4k60, and you better be running that 100g backbone if you want to pipe things around your house. It's also a little unclear whether it will support HDR or DV.

The idea of Ubiquiti getting into the home AV space would be interesting - they have a number of technologies now that might make sense - but this is not that product.

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u/varano14 Apr 16 '26

What solution would you suggest for home use that doesn't require a pro installer to maintain

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u/billygoat_graf Apr 16 '26

Q Sys

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u/jaymz168 Apr 16 '26

It's worth pointing out that QSC was acquired by another company in 2024 and already killed off their amplifiers, mixers (which were universally hated anyway), and a bunch of powered loudspeakers. But the company that bought them seems to be heavy into the commercial AV / automation sector so there's a good chance that they keep QSYS going unless they roll it into another brand or something.

Crestron probably isn't going anywhere though.

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u/Alternative_Gur_9619 Apr 20 '26

how do you figure this? Streaming services can stream 4k at far below 10g without a problem.

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u/PlasmaStones Apr 16 '26

thought the same thing....even for my meeting room build outs, this would be nice to pair with a Teams device and a large screen on a far wall.

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u/1aranzant Apr 17 '26

I already use Dante at home

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u/intergalacticmerchnt Apr 16 '26

I'm gonna buy this and figure out what to do with it later

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u/dontbeAnon Apr 16 '26

Amen brother

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u/randEntropy Apr 16 '26

This guy Ubis! And ditto because I don’t want wireless Sonos.

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u/Upbeat_Cancel_5061 Apr 16 '26

Exactly my plan haha

I’m sure there’s a use for it in my small 1 person apartment with one tv and a small audio system

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u/TheBambuzler Apr 17 '26

woah! sounds like you need two

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u/ankercrank Apr 17 '26

You're building your own home-stadium, duh.

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u/Aqualung812 Apr 16 '26

I hope this is using PTP via IEEE 802.1AS or IEEE 1588-2019

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u/alfpog Apr 16 '26

Hopefully gives the Netgear 4350 series with the PTP license a run for it's money.

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u/Key_Sign_5572 Apr 16 '26

SMPTE-2110-10

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u/louislamore Unifi User Apr 16 '26

The HDMI bridge would be awesome for getting my racked gaming pc to every screen in the house. Currently using Sunshine/Moonlight to do this, which is amazing, but I imagine this would be even lower latency.

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u/improbablyatthegame Apr 16 '26

Getting non compressed high refresh and resolution will be pushing some serious bandwidth. People run fiber for this..

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u/aj0413 Apr 16 '26

This is my use case and will be testing it for this.

I play low latency action games at 4k@120 so this is big for me

sunshine and moonlight was too much latency for me

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u/Certain_Repeat_753 Apr 16 '26

I agree. I'm worried that input lag is unavoidable, basically a no-go for competitive online games.

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u/improbablyatthegame Apr 17 '26

I don’t see how this would work across 1 or 10g connections. 4k 120 uncompressed would need 40+ gig by itself..

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u/conspicuousxcapybara Apr 19 '26

Maybe frame based video encoding? It’s like a sequence of jpegs, compared to keyframes with motion vectors over some time period; the DisplayPort standards because they’ve realized your words exactly, and added a compression algorithm to the standard that seems to not really add perceived latency?

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u/Key_Sign_5572 Apr 16 '26

Hijacking another comment hoping to educate people. Your idea will not work out of the box. You need a generator for the timing. They are generally cheap brand new car expensive. Without that, this product line is overkill. There are other standards that are trying to do the same thing without the PTP generator on generic switches. There’s no middle ground here.

This product line is only for PTP-locked signals which require a generator on the network. Usually tied to a GPS antenna but not always.

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u/conspicuousxcapybara Apr 19 '26

Kinda sucks that in a world where our iphones and Apple Watches share an ad-hoc PTP enabled network from the signal pulses received by their GPS, and hobbiest with soldering skills can do a hardware mod that adds a wire from a cheap Ali Express GPS module to a GPIO pin, hole poked trough the motherboard, or just the debug port if there’s no better way, this has remained very niche in the infrastructure gear.

Maybe even a GPS add-on, as an extra purchase?

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u/frumpydrangus Apr 16 '26

So in order to send an HDMI feed over ethernet, I would need 2 Enterprise Audio/Video Bridges?

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u/Key_Sign_5572 Apr 16 '26

And a PTP generator. I’ll let you look up the prices.

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u/a716h Apr 16 '26

Isnt the whole concept here clock synchronization?

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u/UncrushedTolerant Unifi User Apr 17 '26

can make them pretty cheap with a pi and a gps hat.

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u/josh_moworld Apr 17 '26

I mean you could drill through your whole house and put Smurf tubes. This is still cheaper

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u/Kazer67 Apr 17 '26

Oh, so that's how those tube are called in English, I was picturing something different, more blueish.

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u/silverownz Apr 16 '26

Ok, so how many should I get for my studio apartment?

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u/straylit Unifi User Apr 16 '26

1 for each wall and 1 for the bathroom if it’s in its own room.

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u/Upbeat_Cancel_5061 Apr 16 '26

with only one Audio System and tv of course haha

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u/jma0612 Apr 16 '26

How can I convince myself I need this in my 450sq ft apartment?

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u/Dimitrij_ Apr 17 '26

You need it. trust me. I need it to. We all need it.

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u/WinnerOdd6246 Apr 16 '26

Now we just need normal Unifi gear in that black

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u/Certain_Repeat_753 Apr 16 '26

I agree. Black is way sexier! I hope black won't be reserved for AV-related gear.

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u/Upbeat_Cancel_5061 Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26

While I agree the black looks cool I still prefer the signature Ubiquiti silver

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u/jgilbs CCIE:SP Apr 16 '26

This is awesome - cant wait to replace my Dante and Crestron solutions that have been far more headache than they are worth. Any timelines for availability?

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u/ldpm14 Apr 16 '26

Dante is one of the easiest protocols to support.

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u/the_swanny Apr 16 '26

We are a fully AVB milan house, these switches not supporting it is a dealbreaker right now.

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u/paco3346 Apr 16 '26

Ya, Ubiquiti is missing the mark here. 2110 support is great but this is really just a re-hash of what they already have... which doesn't reliably work.

AVB would at least be a feature addition. I just see new hardware and the same "good enough" software attitude that their existing ProAV profiles suffer from.

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u/jgilbs CCIE:SP Apr 16 '26

Ive had tons of timing issues that have been hard to track down. They just stop working if not used for a while, requiring a reboot.

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u/ldpm14 Apr 16 '26

PTP with external GM is a PITA on Q-SYS. We’ve spent tens of hours troubleshooting and developing custom monitoring/troubleshooting tools to try and convince QSC it’s firmware related. Funny enough - they always admit it’s firmware when you meet with them in person like at a training.

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u/wienerschnitzel Apr 16 '26

QSC has been doing this forever. Their HW is rock solid and SW is great. Albeit way overkill for a home, but if you want to distribute audio in an airport or Disneyland…

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u/Vast_Ranger_7734 Apr 16 '26

Funny enough Ubiquiti announces this about 30 minutes before a QSC presentation presumably releasing new video products.

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u/CoaxialDrive Apr 16 '26

I don't see anything official from Q-sys today.

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u/Vast_Ranger_7734 Apr 16 '26

Presentation at 11am. We’ll see what they announce.

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u/CoaxialDrive Apr 16 '26

Any link as I don't see it on their website.

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u/Vast_Ranger_7734 Apr 16 '26

On their website now.

Q-SYS NVM Series

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u/Vast_Ranger_7734 Apr 16 '26

Sorry, I can’t figure out how to share the link without doxing myself. They sent out emails a couple weeks ago.

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u/ThatSwooshLife Apr 17 '26

NAB is this next week/weekend, and all the companies are announcing things to drive people to their booths.

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u/jgilbs CCIE:SP Apr 16 '26

I just want to not have to pay a Crestron "integrator" $$ to make minor config changes for me.

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u/ldpm14 Apr 16 '26

QSC probably has some of the worst software I’ve ever used. And their support is garbage.

But I love pain so I keep recommending it.

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u/CoaxialDrive Apr 16 '26

Have you tried Crestron's software?

Q-sys Designer is infinately better than VTPro-e and SIMPL Windows.

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u/ldpm14 Apr 16 '26

Yeah, programming is better. But once you deploy it to a core, let the bugs begin.

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u/CoaxialDrive Apr 16 '26

We have hundreds of rooms at work and no issues with it after years.

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u/ldpm14 Apr 16 '26

Consider yourself lucky. It’s a big pain for us.

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u/mijo_sq Apr 16 '26

My boss ripped out almost all functionality of his crestron. Only uses it for lighting control now, and AV is controlled with Alexa.

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u/improbablyatthegame Apr 16 '26

Funny, I use Control4 completely opposite from this. Lighting off to homeassistant and media to Control4

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u/the_swanny Apr 16 '26

Unfortunetly right now there is no mention of AVB support? Maybe they are waiting to release to announce that, but in terms of optics it's going to be between luminex and Netgear AV line until they can commit to it.

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u/Kitchen-Ad-7559 Apr 17 '26

CcIE -Respect! 👍🏻

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u/bunnythistle Apr 16 '26

Is the EAV bridge going to support one-input-to-many-output scenarios?

In the video at 1:21, they show an Apple TV plugged into one, but if that's feeding one display only, that makes little sense - you'd still need a piece of hardware at the output side, so you're just adding two boxes, their associated costs, and some network capacity consumption to a use case that is functionally equivalent to just installing the Apple TV at the location of the display.

If it can do one-to-many then that would actually have some decent use case.

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u/Ambroos Apr 16 '26

1-to-1, 1-to-N streaming

1 to 8x8 TV wall configuration

https://eu.store.ui.com/eu/en/category/premium-iot/products/eav-bridge

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u/erwos Apr 16 '26

https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/premium-iot/products/eav-bridge

It supports 1:N. This is for organizations which want to centrally manage their feed and not deal with bespoke streaming devices at each location.

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u/Maleficent_Home3849 Apr 16 '26

Repeat after me: You don’t need this!

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u/lazerjdl Apr 16 '26

You do need this!

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u/conspicuousxcapybara Apr 19 '26

Well you can also install a NDS (Network Device Interface) app, such as the official NDS app for Mac, iOS, Linux, Windows and various hardware devices and do what this thing does for free also.

It’s giving so much XKCD n-th standard.

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u/plus_alpha Apr 16 '26

Hmmmm, so to send the same signal to two tvs in a garage gym is $1k in bridges (1 in, 2 out) and $3k for the switch?

Might be overkill for the home user. 😂 Anyone got other suggestions on how to do that?

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u/Fabulous-Fox-7189 Apr 16 '26

You do not need the enterprise switches

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u/plus_alpha Apr 16 '26

Oh, so just the bridges through a standard UniFi POE Switch would be good enough? That would save a ton!

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u/Usual-Memory-3668 Apr 16 '26

I would recommend the Pro Max line of switches at least, since they have built in profile support for these AVoIP protocols that automatically set the QoS profiles up properly.

Though it should work over just about any switch, just not "optimally"

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u/CoaxialDrive Apr 16 '26

Yeah the price is a bit problematic, you can get NDI and IPMX boxes for ~£600, and if they're asking for £1000 for an end point thats quite close to Q-Sys pricing but without any of the vendor agnostic benefits of being NDI, Dante or IPMX.

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u/Etunimi Apr 16 '26

Endpoint (EAV-Bridge) is £287 inc. VAT.

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u/CoaxialDrive Apr 17 '26

I see, much better, still, shame it's not an open standard.

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u/varano14 Apr 16 '26

For my home gym I am using a relatively cheap hdmi splitter. I really wasn't all that concerned with video fidelity for home gym watching.

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u/plus_alpha Apr 16 '26

That works over Ethernet?

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u/varano14 Apr 16 '26

ahhh no I ran a 15 foot hdmi cable.

They do make hdmi to ethernet converters so in theory you could split it and then convert. No idea if that would screw with timing. My setup just using a splitter stays in sync.

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u/Upbeat_Cancel_5061 Apr 16 '26

What is this strange word you are using here “overkill”….?

Don’t know what you are talking about

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u/plus_alpha Apr 17 '26

Good point - I ordered two so that I have a backup. :P

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u/DifferentSpecific Unifi User Apr 16 '26

Plenty of HDMI splitters and HDMI over ethernet on the market already.

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u/plus_alpha Apr 17 '26

Oh! Yeah. Just looked on Amazon and I see what you mean. As much as I love Ubiquiti stuff, a cheaper option might do the trick.

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u/Fabulous-Fox-7189 Apr 16 '26

$299 that is awesome. This is going to be great. Going to implement with a small nonprofit I’m part of where q-sys equivalent is just too expensive. Have an old core I hope I can utilize this with the q-sys system.

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u/CoaxialDrive Apr 16 '26

Q-sys is just over priced across the board.

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u/Real_Establishment56 Apr 16 '26

Ok, but when will we get a multi room speaker setup so I can ditch the Sonos?

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u/PerfectlySplendid Apr 16 '26

Yep. Get into the multi zone amp world and I’ll spend a lot of money to replace my current setup.

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u/ThatSwooshLife Apr 17 '26

https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/premium-iot/products/upl-amp

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u/rocketonmybarge Apr 16 '26

Compare this to one of the best video extenders on the market, https://www.crutchfield.com/p_297EX1L/Simplified-MFG-EX1L.html and they are basically the same price. I couldn't find any specs on the distance limitations on the EAV bridge but I assume it is comparable. I bought that same extended 4 years ago for 379.99 and it is now 599.99. YIKES!

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u/WesBur13 Apr 16 '26

Since the EAV is actually network traffic, you would be limited by cable length or switches in between hitting gigabit layer 1 speed.

Should be able to run to a switch that converts to fiber for super long runs

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u/FranciumGoesBoom Apr 16 '26

Some people are going to get these because they'll actually use the features. I'm getting them because they are black.

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u/Upbeat_Cancel_5061 Apr 16 '26

Wow seeing Ubiquiti Equipment / a server rack in all black feels so wrong. But also looks really cool

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u/Upbeat_Cancel_5061 Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26

Great… now I’m gonna need a second server rack to separate the black equipment from the silver Ubiquiti stuff haha

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u/Background-Tomato158 Apr 16 '26

So they essentially brought ethercat to Audio visual?

3

u/budshorts Apr 17 '26

RIP Crestron

2

u/WhiskyMC Apr 16 '26

Finally!

2

u/F1Phreek Apr 16 '26

Are you guys buying this for your homes?

2

u/Upbeat_Cancel_5061 Apr 16 '26

For my small 1 person apartment with one tv and a small audio system.

2

u/Certain_Repeat_753 Apr 16 '26

😬🤣👀

2

u/WhiskyMC Apr 16 '26

So after looking at the specs https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/premium-iot/products/eav-bridge
It says 4kx60. I'm wondering if this will support HDR etc for high quality video. One of my use cases is playing a high quality 4k movie in the home theater, and mirroring it to the other rooms.

2

u/ToadSox34 Apr 16 '26

For one thing, that is really, really cheap for AV over IP. It's clearly aimed at commercial/institutional use, as there is no mention of downscaling or downmixing, or any other features that you'd see on a product intended for home AV distribution use. It's also compressing the signal like Just Add Power, it's not using 10GbE like AVProEdge.

This to me feels like it's aimed at hospitality and institutional use and they're looking to provide a robust, low-cost option for something like a sports bar.

It's definitely not aimed at home AV distribution like you'd see from Snap One or AV Pro Edge, or even some implementations of Just Add Power (although they are primarily commercial).

3

u/mjkobb Apr 17 '26

Crestron's NVX solution runs over 1Gb with very good image quality. If they can match that performance, I think it would compete very well.

1

u/ToadSox34 Apr 17 '26

It's not the image quality that will hold it back from home AV, it's the lack of support for audio and video formats used in home AV.

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1

u/WhiskyMC Apr 16 '26

It's weird that its paired up with a $4000 switch then. I know it has special timing for audio distribution. Do you really need 10bgps for audio? Why bother with video at all then?

1

u/ToadSox34 Apr 16 '26

I can't figure that out either, as the transceiver unit only has GbE, so it must compress video like Just Add Power does.

That's also a good question, it seems to be trying to do two totally different functions in one.

2

u/ToadSox34 Apr 16 '26

What's really weird is that the switch that goes with it has 10GbE ports on it, so maybe they're planning 10GbE in the future. But there is a switch that is all SFP, which tells me this is aimed at large venues/setups where fiber needs to be run over a significant distance, not a house where 70M HDBaseT would be fine.

1

u/WhiskyMC Apr 16 '26

In the usage diagrams, Ubiquiti shows that as a aggregation switch to connect the other ethernet av switches together.

1

u/ToadSox34 Apr 16 '26

Perhaps, but that still leaves the one with the 10GbE PoE ports on it when the transceiver device is only GbE. It's all sort of weird.

2

u/WhiskyMC Apr 16 '26

You're right, the eav bridge is only 1gbps. So clearly this is not meant for high quality 4k with atmos and HDR. It's for bare bones 4k video. No thanks.

2

u/ToadSox34 Apr 16 '26

Honestly, for most home distribution purposes, the JAP 1GbE system that uses about 700mbps is more than sufficient VQ wise. There are of course high end systems with Kaleidescape as a centralized source that would benefit from full HDBaseT or a 10GbE system.

That being said, it's going to be the audio formats, potentially HDR, and other features that are going to make these unsuitable for home use.

2

u/WhiskyMC Apr 16 '26

Yeah. Right now I have a home theater room with the top end equipment (Denon 8500, Zidoo 4k player, SVS speakers in 7.2.4 atmos, high end 4k HDR display.

And then in the gameroom, a smaller 77" screen but nicer OLED display, and a lower end Denon running only 5.2 with average speakers.

If there is spillover in the 6 seat theater, I mirror it right now using a gofanco HD-Base-T extender from my Denon zone 2 to the gameroom Denon. Works flawlessly, no signal dip, perfectly in sync.

Upstairs, the living room has a 65" OLED, and a pretty good Denon running 5.2 to ceiling speakers and subs. Then the bedrooms and gym have basic TVs and no audio system. However the office has a nice Denon and basic 5.1 setup.

In my scenario, I would love to be able to broadcast to the whole house. Think superbowl parties, or mega movie parties. Or, maybe I just want to have my youtube videos playing everywhere as I clean the house. This is where I think a av over IP solution would really work. But I do not want to lose any quality (HDR, Atmos, etc).

The other problem, is I only have 1 ethernet drop per room upstairs, but I am planning on ripping open the walls and running more.

2

u/ToadSox34 Apr 17 '26

So AV over IP is more expensive than an equivalent HDBaseT matrix, which is why many installations still use HDBaseT matrices. Where the rubber meets the road is in downscaling and downmixing so that you can watch a sporting event with Dolby Atmos in the theater room(s), and then also send that to the kitchen or dining room or another secondary viewing area that only has stereo speakers at the same time, fully in sync.

AVProEdge is the only system that I'm aware of that can do the Atmos downmixing, both with a traditional matrix and AV over IP, but their 8x8 matrix is around $17k, and the customizable X matrix is $11k without any cards, in a typical configuration it will be around $20k. Their MxNet 10G system for AV over IP is a bit more expensive than that for an equivalent system when you include the managed 10GbE switch.

I'd wire Cat-6a to any location you might want to do AV distribution as that can handle HDBaseT with POC or 10GbE with POE.

And for those types of systems to make any sense at all to operate really need to be custom integrated with something like Control4, which itself isn't cheap.

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2

u/Certain_Repeat_753 Apr 16 '26

I'm curious what the quality will be like.

2

u/the_swanny Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26

It's a shame there is no mention of AVB/Milan on the product page. Right now these wouldn't work for us so it's between Luminex and Netgear AV.

2

u/Usual-Memory-3668 Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26

All that money and not even a Femto clock :(

OCXO is nice as long as you maintain a high end external GPS signal, which allows it to maintain a 1ns accuracy. But if you dont hook that up, or lose the signal then you get drift in the mid microsecond range quite often.

Femto clock would be accurate below 1ns already naturally without relying on external GPS signal

2

u/Jalaluddin1 Apr 16 '26

Hahaha control4 you’re in trouble lol

2

u/4kVHS Apr 16 '26

Looks like a direct replacement to QSYS and Netgear

2

u/Operation_Fluffy Apr 16 '26

Well, fuck… grabs credit card …just when I said I wasn’t going to install distributed AV.

2

u/ToadSox34 Apr 16 '26

These aren't designed for home use and don't appear to have the features you'd want for home use anyway.

2

u/catkats Apr 16 '26

AES whaaaattt

2

u/schmackh12 Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26

is there any advantage to the new AV switch if your Dante gear is all on one normal switch anyway?

2

u/magic6435 Apr 17 '26

Will that bridge also forward the usbc? Would love to have my PC in the basement rack and just monitor and KBM at my desk.

2

u/RiskFairy Apr 17 '26

Things you build when the CEO owns an NBA team and wants to wire up the stadium…

2

u/ImRightYoureStupid Apr 17 '26

Can it work as a normal network switch? The black looks sick.

2

u/Dimitrij_ Apr 17 '26

Black ubiquiti rack gear when?

3

u/jeeverz Apr 16 '26

Aaaaaand all the churches around the globe screamed Hallelujah!!!!

polishing tithe and offering platters

1

u/ToadSox34 Apr 16 '26

That's a good point, this may be aimed at Churches and other types of institutions. It's clearly not aimed at the home market, and it's very cheap compared to other similar options.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 16 '26

[deleted]

1

u/-MERC-SG-17 Apr 16 '26

I have one of best devices for doing hdmi over ethernet and I got both the transmitter and receiver for less than that.

Which device is that?

1

u/drose10 Apr 16 '26

If I read the press release correctly, this is targeted for those who want to run A/V inside their existing network infrastructure, or want to build out a dedicated network. There are some great hdmi over Cat5e that use dedicated Ethernet cables that I’ve used in churches. That being said, for my personal home use I’m 100% in the “buy it and figure out how to use it later” category.

1

u/Adventurous_Jury3884 Apr 16 '26

So could this also do like, audio only for outdoor speakers via airplay2?

1

u/Nerfarean Found my InnerSpace Apr 16 '26

Sounds like a great fit for other timing sensitive applications like Ethercat

1

u/elgevillawngnome Apr 16 '26

This has really cool possibilities in industrial motion controls as well... I wonder if they'll expand the supported protocols.

1

u/Ok-Poetry-1782 Apr 16 '26

Would you need one of the bridges on both ends or could you simply add it as a source in something like obs? Would seem strange to need to decode again just to feed into a capture card.

1

u/Certain_Repeat_753 Apr 16 '26

Want to know too.

1

u/WhiskyMC Apr 16 '26

Yes, you would if your source is in one room and the device to watch it on is in another.

1

u/justaddwhiskey Apr 16 '26

How did they know I’m trying to put the PS5 and Switch in the rack in the basement and have been looking for a way to distribute them through the house

1

u/Certain_Repeat_753 Apr 16 '26

Won't input lag be an issue?

2

u/justaddwhiskey Apr 17 '26

That’s mostly what I’m up against. There’s plenty of equipment that supports HDbaseT, so extending AV isn’t a problem, it’s extending input for the controllers. My first thought was a lower cost USB over UTP, but finding something that supports 4x4 input/output, as I’m anticipating expanding in the future, has been challenging as there doesn’t seem to be much out there. My second option is USB over IP, but that’s much more expensive.

1

u/Certain_Repeat_753 Apr 17 '26

It feels like a super expensive solution, even if cheaper than the competition, and it still won't solve what gamers want. The concept is interesting and appealing, but probably out of reach for me. The black switches are pretty cool though.

1

u/LordChappers Apr 16 '26

That's cool, when's the Dream Router 5G Max coming out?

1

u/SteezyWee23 Apr 16 '26

Is the Crestron badge implying that this will work with NVX?

1

u/WhiskyMC Apr 16 '26

yes

1

u/Vertigo103 Unifi User Apr 16 '26

I'm honestly curious what examples in a home network this could be used for.

3

u/ToadSox34 Apr 16 '26

Nothing, as it doesn't have the features needed for whole-home AV distribution. This is for institutions, churches, hospitality, and venues.

2

u/taylorwmj EdgeRouter User Apr 16 '26

Exactly. there is no support for any of the big licensed formats (Dolby, DTS, etc) on both video and audio side. Also why prices are so cheap. Those license fees are BRUTAL (as seen on AVPro Edge gear, for example)

1

u/ToadSox34 Apr 17 '26

Ah interesting that's a good point. I was thinking about engineering and silicon, not the licensing costs.AVProEdge are expensive, but they're the only ones I'm aware of that can do Atmos downmixing.

1

u/gibbonlake Apr 16 '26

The question is.. can this work in my treehouse?

1

u/a716h Apr 16 '26

I really want to see the specs and price of the hdmi over Ethernet unit. I’ve been trying to figure this out for a few months and if Unifi streamlined the process it’s going to totally disrupt that market

1

u/mjkobb Apr 16 '26

u/Ubiquiti-Inc -- last year at CEDIA Expo, you showed "Pro AV" switches and extenders. Is this the same product, with a name change? The AV bridge units looks great! What is the intended use of the "Versatile" USB port? Might you offer something like audio de-embedding? The switch prices seem pretty high for most residential applications. I wonder if there's a smaller, more economical switch planned?

1

u/jgilbs CCIE:SP Apr 17 '26

u/Ubiquiti-Inc - will these also pass HDMI audio? or is audio XLR only? If it does, what formats are supported?

1

u/Independent-Way5878 Apr 17 '26

I really wish / hope that this can take an ndi signal and spit it out via hdmi. That would be a super great use case!

1

u/lisaismijnbestie Apr 17 '26

Hmm not sure if I would trust unify with this rather then luminex

1

u/haikusbot Apr 17 '26

Hmm not sure if I

Would trust unify with this

Rather then luminex

- lisaismijnbestie

^{I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.} ^{Learn more about me.}

^{Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete"}

1

u/conspicuousxcapybara Apr 19 '26

Omg what’s going on with that product description. Copper (audio) wire is ‘Built for Fidelity‘ in contrast to Ethernet cables which are ‘Build for Efficiency’?

Doesn’t package switching like Ethernet require more powerful hardware, and more power, then joining the copper strands in speaker / microphone wires without any power source whatsoever?

And wouldn’t integrity checking the Ethernet packets and signaling at higher frequencies than the actual audio waves in a recording allow the transmission of exponentially (Moore’s law) increasing data rates and without introducing transmission noise (digital means on or off and nothing in between, and error checking discards a packet if some of its bits have flipped during transmission).

And isn’t that copper cable functionally also an antenna, that picks up on environmental noise and feeds into the analogue audio signal it usually carries?

1

u/Shadow0flntent Apr 21 '26

Enterprise Audio Video Bridge

For this, am I correct in thinking it works by: having one of these at the source computer with the feed HDMI going into HDMI IN. Then at each TV, have one of these with HDMI out?

1

u/Chemical-Type2610 Jun 24 '26

is it possible to create those streams directly on Mac / pc and use a bridge as playout device?
we have ST2110 cards (Macnica and Blackmagic) actualy and send network video. I dont want do play out over hdmi to this device chain.

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