IPMX: Open Standards Meet Commercial AV

Why an AV engineer should care

IPMX aims to make AV-over-IP equipment from different manufacturers work together using open standards. It builds on the same technologies used in broadcast facilities, then adds the things commercial AV actually needs: HDMI behavior, HDCP, EDID, security, and operation at practical network speeds. USB interoperability is a separate developing work area, not a universal certification guarantee.

The important lesson is that IPMX is not one codec or transport protocol. It is a family of standards and capability profiles. Two products can both carry the IPMX logo while supporting different tested media profiles and optional capabilities. Check the current qualification requirements and product record. IPMX technical documents.

That distinction belongs in the project specifications.

Learning objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Explain what IPMX adds to ST 2110 and NMOS.
• Identify the roles of RTP, PTP, NMOS, JPEG XS, and AES67.
• Understand why IPMX certification does not mean every certified endpoint supports every feature.
• Write a basic IPMX capability requirement for a project.
• Recognize the network infrastructure an IPMX system still requires.

IPMX is a stack, not a single protocol

Think of IPMX as a coordinated toolbox:

• Ethernet and IP provide the network.
• UDP and RTP carry real-time media.
• ST 2110 concepts define how video, audio, and related data travel as separate streams.
• PTP provides accurate timing when synchronized operation is required.
• NMOS provides discovery, registration, connection management, and related control.
• JPEG XS offers low-latency video compression.
• AES67-compatible audio provides interoperable network audio.
• Additional specifications address EDID, HDCP, encryption, and commercial-AV control; USB interoperability work is tracked separately.

AIMS describes IPMX as an extension of the ST 2110 transport and NMOS control families, with compressed video, simplified timing, HDCP, encryption, and defined application profiles for professional AV. Do not equate the broader roadmap with the features certified in a current product.

This is different from a proprietary AV-over-IP platform in which one company defines the encoder, decoder, controller, discovery system, and management software.

With IPMX, the goal is a common technical language that multiple manufacturers can implement.

The separate-essence idea

An HDMI cable carries video, audio, metadata, control behavior, and content protection together. To the installer, it looks like one signal.

ST 2110-style systems separate those into essences:

• Video is one stream.
• Each audio group can be another stream.
• Ancillary data can be another stream.
• USB and control use their own mechanisms.

That separation creates flexibility. A receiver could subscribe to video from one source and audio from another. A DSP could receive the audio without processing the video. Different resources can switch independently.

It also creates more engineering responsibility. The designer must document which flows belong together, how they are discovered, and how the controller reconstructs the user’s expected “source.”

A button labeled Laptop 3 may actually perform several coordinated operations:

1. Route Laptop 3’s video flow to the display receiver.
2. Route its audio flows to the DSP.
3. Establish USB connectivity if required.
4. Apply the appropriate EDID.
5. Complete the HDCP exchange.
6. Update the control-system state.

The user experiences one route. The network sees several relationships.

NMOS: the control layer

NMOS is especially important because IP multicast alone does not provide a pleasant control system.

Several NMOS specifications matter here:

• IS-04: Registration and discovery. It tells the system what devices, senders, receivers, and flows exist.
• IS-05: Connection management. It tells a receiver which sender to join.
• IS-11: NMOS Stream Compatibility Management, including sender constraints and input/output EDID. AMWA IS-11.

A typical system has endpoints, an NMOS registry, and one or more control applications. Endpoints register their resources. A controller queries the registry, displays the available routes, and uses IS-05 to establish connections.

The registry is not the media path. Losing it should not automatically stop an already established stream, although discovery and new routing operations may be affected. The commissioning team should verify this behavior during commissioning because actual controller and endpoint recovery behavior can differ.

Uncompressed video versus JPEG XS

Uncompressed video provides predictable image quality and avoids compression artifacts, but it consumes enormous bandwidth.

For example, the active pixel data for 3840 × 2160 at 60 frames per second is approximately:

• 4:2:2, 10-bit: 9.95 Gb/s before transport overhead
• 4:4:4, 10-bit: 14.93 Gb/s before transport overhead

The first case does not safely fit through a 10 Gb/s Ethernet interface once packet and link overhead are included. ST 2110-20 carries active video, not SDI blanking. These formats usually push the design toward 25 Gb/s or faster infrastructure.

JPEG XS uses lightweight compression to reduce the required data rate while keeping latency extremely low and image quality visually lossless for suitable applications. Depending on the format, compression ratio, and profile, it can make 4K transport practical over 1 or 10 Gb/s links.

JPEG XS is designed for low-complexity, low-latency image coding. JPEG committee overview.

“Supports JPEG XS” is still incomplete as a specification. The sender and receiver must have compatible:

• Resolution and frame-rate support
• Chroma sampling
• Bit depth
• JPEG XS profile and level
• Maximum bitrate
• Network-interface speed

Timing and PTP

IPMX supports both referenced and asynchronous operation. Under the v1.1 qualification requirements, senders use PTP when a reference is present and free-run when it is absent; receiver participation in PTP is optional. Synchronized multi-receiver playback requires the appropriate receiver timing capabilities. IPMX qualification requirements, §4.1.1.

That flexibility matters when ordinary HDMI laptops, cameras, and signage players enter the system. These sources may have unrelated clocks. An endpoint may buffer, frame-synchronize, or otherwise adapt the source before placing it onto a synchronized network.

For tightly timed switching, broadcast workflows, or large systems, PTP architecture still matters:

• Identify the grandmaster source.
• Document the PTP domain.
• Define boundary- or transparent-clock behavior.
• Verify endpoint lock and recovery.
• Prevent competing grandmasters.

IPMX reduces some timing barriers. It does not repeal time.

The commercial-AV additions

IPMX addresses several features that pure media transport does not solve:

• EDID and DisplayID: Communicate supported display formats.
• HPD: Represents HDMI hot-plug behavior.
• HKEP: Supports the exchange required for protected HDMI content.
• HDCP 2.3: Protects compatible content through the signal chain.
• USB extension: Optional USB capabilities require exact implementation and test evidence. The VSF USB recommendation is marked draft, and AMWA USB interoperability work is in progress; a video certification is not a USB guarantee. VSF recommendations and AMWA specifications.
• PEP: Protects media flows through encryption.
• CEC, serial, GPIO, and related control: May be supported as declared capabilities.

These features are not automatically present in every product. Current certification records show exactly which profiles and capabilities were tested, along with the firmware version and test plan.

Certification is a capability matrix

IPMX certification is scoped to tested media profiles and optional capabilities, not every feature in the ecosystem. Inspect the applicable qualification version, firmware and product record. IPMX certification information.

Therefore:

IPMX certified does not mean supports everything in IPMX.

The working system is determined by the intersection of the sender’s and receiver’s capabilities.

For each IPMX endpoint, record:

• Certification or registry identifier
• Product and tested firmware version
• IPMX baseline/PQCR version
• Required video profile and modes
• Resolution, frame rate, sampling, and bit depth
• Audio profile and channel requirements
• Interface speed
• IS-04, IS-05, and IS-11 requirements
• HKEP/HDCP requirement
• PEP encryption requirement
• USB class and mode requirements
• PTP domain and timing expectations

AIMS announced 14 additional certified products in September 2026. Always inspect the individual tested profiles and firmware rather than interpreting certification as universal interoperability. AIMS announcement.

Commercial-AV example 1: divisible meeting facility

Imagine a conference facility with twelve rooms, combinable spaces, and centralized sources.

JPEG XS IPMX endpoints use 10 Gb/s access ports. Video and audio travel as separate multicast flows. An NMOS controller updates the routes when partitions move.

The specification should require:

• Compatible certified JPEG XS profiles at both ends
• Adequate switch and uplink bandwidth
• IGMP snooping and an operational querier
• A documented PTP design
• HDCP/HKEP support for protected laptop content
• Registry and controller recovery testing
• Saved endpoint, switch, and controller configurations

The design should also identify what continues working if the NMOS registry or controller becomes unavailable.

Commercial-AV example 2: operations-room KVM

An operator needs to view and control several secured computers from multiple desks.

An endpoint advertising IPMX video support may still be unsuitable. The designer must confirm:

• The exact supported USB modes and classes
• Keyboard and mouse behavior through hubs
• HDCP requirements
• EDID and hot-plug behavior during route changes
• Encryption of media and control traffic
• Whether USB and video can route independently
• Maximum USB bandwidth and latency

A tested profile for video does not quietly guarantee flawless USB cameras, touchscreens, storage devices, or every strange peripheral somebody finds in a drawer.

Practical exercise

You have two certified IPMX products:

Sender A

• Baseline certified
• JPEG XS video
• PCM audio
• HKEP/HDCP
• PEP encryption
• No matching USB extension capability

Receiver B

• Baseline certified
• Uncompressed video
• PCM audio
• Vendor-specific USB extension
• No JPEG XS profile
• No HKEP capability

Can they form a complete protected-video-and-KVM connection?

No. They share a PCM audio profile, but they have no common video profile. The receiver cannot decode the sender’s JPEG XS stream. Receiver B’s separate USB support is irrelevant because Sender A does not provide the matching USB capability. Protected HDMI also fails because Receiver B lacks the required HKEP capability.

The logo got them into the same conversation. The capability matrix decides whether they speak the same sentences.

Compact glossary

• AIMS: Alliance for IP Media Solutions, the industry group supporting IPMX.
• Essence: An individual media component such as video or audio.
• HKEP: HDCP Key Exchange Protocol.
• HPD: Hot Plug Detect.
• IPMX: Internet Protocol Media Experience.
• JPEG XS: Low-latency, lightweight image and video compression.
• NMOS: Networked Media Open Specifications.
• PEP: Privacy Encryption Protocol for media protection.
• PQCR: Product Qualification and Certification Requirements.
• RTP: Real-time Transport Protocol.
• ST 2110: Standards family for transporting separate professional-media essences over IP.

Review questions

1. Why might two certified IPMX products still fail to exchange video?

2. What is the difference between NMOS IS-04 and IS-05?

3. Why is JPEG XS useful in commercial AV?

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Answers

1. They may support different media profiles, modes, resolutions, bit depths, or compression formats. Certification is capability-specific.

2. IS-04 handles registration and discovery. IS-05 manages connections between senders and receivers.

3. It greatly reduces video bandwidth while preserving very low latency and high visual quality, allowing practical transport over 1 or 10 Gb/s networks.

Where this sits in the course

This lesson connects the earlier networking, multicast, PTP, QoS, and NMOS concepts into an open commercial-AV architecture.

Lesson 23: ST 2110 in greater detail—separate essences, packet timing, PTP, ST 2022-7 redundancy, and why a broadcast network can look familiar while behaving very differently from a typical AVoIP VLAN.