Getting Started: Network Setup for AV over IP

Overview

AV over IP relies on a properly configured managed network switch to function correctly. This article covers the essential switch settings required for stable, high-quality IP video distribution across all KanexPro AV over IP codec families (JPEG2000, H.265, SDVoE).

Important: Unmanaged switches are not supported. All encoders and decoders must connect to a managed switch with the settings below applied.

Required Switch Settings

1. IGMP Snooping

IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) snooping must be enabled on the switch. AV over IP uses multicast to stream video — without IGMP snooping, multicast traffic floods every port on the switch, saturating bandwidth and causing dropped frames or no signal.

• Enable IGMP Snooping globally on the switch
• Enable IGMP Snooping on the VLAN used for AV traffic
• Enable IGMP Querier on the AV VLAN (required if no dedicated multicast router is present)

Recommended switches: Cisco SG350/SG550 series, Netgear M4250, Cisco Catalyst 9000 series.

2. Jumbo Frames (MTU 9000)

JPEG2000 and SDVoE streams use large packet sizes. Enable jumbo frames (9000-byte MTU) on all switch ports connected to encoders and decoders. Failure to enable jumbo frames may result in degraded video quality or intermittent signal loss.

• Set MTU to 9000 bytes on all AV ports
• Applies to JPEG2000 and SDVoE deployments
• H.265 deployments can use standard 1500-byte MTU

3. Flow Control

Disable flow control (IEEE 802.3x) on all switch ports connected to AV over IP devices. Flow control can cause buffering and latency spikes in real-time video streams.

4. Port Speed

• JPEG2000 and H.265: 1Gbps port speed required on all encoder and decoder ports
• SDVoE: 10Gbps port speed required on all encoder and decoder ports
• Set ports to auto-negotiate or force to the required speed

VLAN Configuration (Recommended)

Isolating AV traffic on a dedicated VLAN prevents interference from corporate data traffic and simplifies network management.

1. Create a dedicated VLAN for AV traffic (e.g., VLAN 100)
2. Assign all encoder and decoder switch ports as untagged members of the AV VLAN
3. Enable IGMP snooping and IGMP querier on the AV VLAN
4. If the IP controller needs to communicate with encoders and decoders, ensure it is also on the AV VLAN or that inter-VLAN routing is configured

IP Addressing

All encoders, decoders, and the IP controller must be on the same IP subnet.

• Recommended subnet: 192.168.100.x / 255.255.255.0
• DHCP or static: Either works. Static IPs are recommended for production installs to prevent address changes on reboot.
• Default device IPs: KanexPro AV over IP devices default to DHCP. Assign static IPs via the web GUI after first connection.

Bandwidth Planning

For JPEG2000 systems, use a non-blocking switch with sufficient backplane capacity for all simultaneous streams. A 24-port 1G switch supporting 12 encoders and 12 decoders requires at least 12 Gbps of backplane throughput.

Multicast vs. Unicast

KanexPro JPEG2000 and H.265 devices use multicast by default, allowing one encoder to stream to multiple decoders simultaneously without additional bandwidth overhead. SDVoE uses unicast point-to-point connections.

KanexPro AV over IP Products

JPEG2000

• AVO-IPJP2K — 4K60 JPEG2000 Encoder/Decoder — Dante Ready
• AVO-IPJP2KS — 4K60 JPEG2000 Encoder/Decoder — Slim
• AVO-IPJP2KD — 4K60 JPEG2000 Encoder/Decoder — Dante Dual LAN

H.265

• AVO-IP265-4K — 4K60 H.265 Encoder/Decoder
• AVO-IP265-HD — HD H.265 Encoder/Decoder

SDVoE

• AVO-IPSDV-4K — 4K60 SDVoE Encoder/Decoder — Zero Latency

Controllers

• AVO-IPCTL-JP2K — IP Controller for JPEG2000
• AVO-IPCTL-265 — IP Controller for H.265
• AVO-IPCTL-SDV — IP Controller for SDVoE

Related Articles

• Getting Started with AV over IP
• JPEG2000 Product Guide
• H.265 Product Guide
• SDVoE Product Guide
• Troubleshooting: No Signal Between Encoder and Decoder