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We offer a comprehensive curriculum developed by an international team, experienced teachers, and a focus on individualized and project-based learning.
For years, HDMI has been the go-to for audio-visual distribution in classrooms, lecture halls, and campus event spaces. It’s simple, reliable, and widely supported. But higher education is evolving fast—and traditional AV setups are struggling to keep up.
Enter AV over IP: a smarter, more flexible way to distribute media across your entire campus. In 2024 and beyond, AV over IP in higher education is no longer a niche solution—it’s becoming the standard.
So when does AV over IP actually beat HDMI? And how do you make the switch without overwhelming your IT team or blowing your budget? Let’s break it down.
AV over IP (Audio-Visual over Internet Protocol) refers to the transmission of audio, video, and control signals over a standard network infrastructure (Ethernet), rather than traditional AV cabling like HDMI or SDI.
Instead of point-to-point connections, AV over IP uses:
This makes AV systems far more scalable and flexible—ideal for modern campus environments.
Universities today are dealing with:
Here’s why AV over IP in higher education is emerging as the smarter long-term strategy:
HDMI works well in single-room setups—but starts to fall apart when you need to extend AV across multiple buildings. AV over IP makes it easy to scale to dozens (or hundreds) of endpoints using your existing network backbone.
Instead of running new HDMI cables through walls, you’re using Ethernet—simplifying installation and reducing costs significantly as your system grows.
With AV over IP, administrators can monitor, configure, and troubleshoot AV devices from a single dashboard. Want to push a lecture to overflow rooms or a dorm lounge in real time? One click. No need to send tech staff across campus with a cart and cable bag.
Using multicast, a single AV stream can reach multiple destinations without clogging your network bandwidth. This is perfect for:
It’s efficient, scalable, and tailored for large networked environments like universities.
Modern AV over IP solutions use built-in Quality of Service (QoS) features to prioritize AV traffic over less critical data. Combined with low-latency encoding, these systems deliver real-time audio and video with minimal delay—making them ideal for live lectures, discussions, and even performance spaces.
Advanced protocols like NDI (Network Device Interface) are especially useful in broadcast-quality AV environments where latency is a deal-breaker.
To fully understand the switch, it helps to get familiar with the components that make AV over IP work well in campus settings.
AV endpoints—like cameras, displays, or encoders—can be powered directly through Ethernet cables using PoE. This eliminates the need for separate power supplies, reducing complexity and failure points.
To protect bandwidth and security, smart AV over IP systems often use network segmentation—dedicated VLANs or subnetworks that isolate AV traffic from academic or administrative data. This helps prevent bottlenecks and ensures critical AV applications get the performance they need.
NDI is a low-latency, high-quality IP video protocol developed for professional broadcast and increasingly used in education for lecture capture, livestreaming, and remote production. It’s ideal for performance arts departments, journalism programs, or AV-intensive disciplines.
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to AV infrastructure. The right choice depends on your room type, network capacity, and long-term strategy. Here’s how AV over IP compares to HDMI in a higher ed context:
| Use Case | AV over IP | HDMI |
| Room Count & Distribution | Ideal for multiple rooms or campus-wide distribution | Best for single-room installations |
| Scalability | Highly scalable without major rewiring | Limited scalability, especially across buildings |
| Hybrid & Overflow Support | Seamlessly supports overflow rooms and remote viewers | Requires additional hardware or workarounds |
| Centralized Control & Diagnostics | Enables remote monitoring, switching, and updates via network | Requires physical access and manual configuration |
| Cost Efficiency Over Distance | Ethernet is more cost-effective over long runs | HDMI extenders are expensive and less reliable over distance |
| Network Infrastructure Requirement | Requires robust network, multicast, QoS, and sometimes NDI support | Minimal—no IP configuration needed |
| Best Fit For | Future-ready campuses, hybrid learning models, event streaming | Budget-sensitive upgrades, legacy systems, small rooms |
The smartest move for many institutions? A hybrid deployment. Use HDMI in legacy classrooms or small meeting spaces, and deploy AV over IP in lecture halls, learning commons, and high-impact collaboration zones.
Need help designing a mixed system that plays well together? Get in touch with our team—we’ll help you create a smart AV roadmap tailored to your network and pedagogical goals.
Before overhauling your AV infrastructure, address these critical questions:
Work with a vendor that understands both the AV and IT side of education. At Future Classroom, we specialize in building scalable, future-ready AV systems for schools and universities—designed to grow with your needs.
As higher education shifts toward hybrid instruction, digital-first learning spaces, and real-time content delivery, AV over IP offers unmatched flexibility and efficiency. When done right, it gives your AV infrastructure the same scalability and agility you expect from your data network.
Whether you’re starting from scratch or expanding beyond the limits of HDMI, now’s the time to explore what’s possible with AV over IP in higher education.
Need help designing a smart AV strategy that fits your infrastructure and vision? Contact Future Classroom for a consultation or to request a campus-wide AV assessment.
