SMPTE ST 2110 in 2025: A Practical Overview

ST 2110 has moved from being a disruptive concept to a daily reality. In 2025, it underpins live production environments across broadcast facilities, sports venues, and even corporate studios. What makes it significant is not just the replacement of SDI, but the flexibility it brings when properly engineered.

From SDI to IP

SDI served the industry for decades because it was simple and predictable. But scaling to UHD, HDR, or multi-platform delivery exposed its limits. ST 2110 addressed these by separating essences: video, audio, and metadata each travel as their own streams over standard IP networks. That separation makes routing and processing far more flexible.

By adopting IT networking principles, broadcasters gained access to commodity switches, virtualization, and software-based tools that SDI could never provide.

Core Elements

Three technical elements are central to every ST 2110 setup:

  • Essence streams: Video (2110-20), audio (2110-30/31), and ancillary (2110-40).
  • Time synchronization: PTP (ST 2059) keeps everything frame-accurate.
  • Control: NMOS specifications handle discovery and connection management.

These aren’t optional add-ons — they’re what makes an IP plant stable and usable day-to-day.

Lessons Learned

By now, most large facilities run at least partial IP. The lessons are consistent:

  • Dual networks with SMPTE 2022-7 redundancy are essential.
  • PTP stability needs continuous monitoring.
  • Training operations staff is as critical as configuring switches.
  • Monitoring gear must support native 2110, including compressed flows like JPEG XS.

Hybrid systems are common. Gateways bridge SDI and IP until entire facilities are ready to switch over.

Ongoing Challenges

ST 2110 has matured, but challenges remain:

  • Multicast design can trip up inexperienced teams.
  • Grandmaster failures cause system-wide headaches without backups.
  • Vendor interoperability still requires lab testing before deployment.

These are manageable problems — but only with planning and operational discipline.

The Road Ahead

ST 2110 is now the baseline. Future work focuses on richer metadata (ST 2110-41), more efficient compression (2110-22), and tighter cloud integration. The aim is to make operations as reliable and straightforward as SDI once was, while keeping the flexibility of IP.

For engineers, the task is clear: treat ST 2110 as a production system, not an experiment. With the right design and monitoring, it delivers the scalability the industry needs.