Dante Certification Level 1 – Chapter 6: Introduction to Dante AV

Level 1 – Chapter 06 – Introduction to Dante AV

Now that we’ve covered the basics of digital video, let’s dive into what Audinate brings to the table With our Dante video lineup here at Audinate, we’ve been working hard to build a powerful AV over IP platform, not just for audio and video, but also for control, monitoring and management. It’s all about making the entire system work better together. In this chapter, we’ll break down the various Dante AV solutions so you can get a clear sense of what each one offers. Before diving into the Dante AV world, let’s take a moment to look at what AV systems were like.

Before Dante, when everything relied on point-to-point wiring and lots of hardware boxes, first you had to deal with a whole mess of different cables, H-D-M-I-U-S-B, analog audio control lines, each with its own connector, its own limitations, and its own set of rules. It wasn’t just complicated, it was chaotic, and those cables didn’t go very far either. USB 2.0 maxed out around five meters. USB 3.0 around three meters, and HDMI about 15 meters.

If you needed to run a signal across a larger space or between rooms, you had to start adding extenders, amplifiers, or converters just to help the signal survive the trip. Then there was analog audio. It worked great, but it introduced the potential for noise and interference, and if something went wrong, good luck tracking it down quickly. On top of that, everything was local signals stayed in the room where they originated.

If you wanted to send media to an overflow space or share content with a different area, you were facing a serious cabling project. Troubleshooting was another headache altogether. If there was a problem, someone had to physically go into the room, open up the rack, trace cables and swap boxes. It was time consuming and frustrating.

Finally, and most importantly, scalability was a real challenge. Most systems only had a limited amount of io. If you wanted to add another mic, a second display, or an extra camera, it often meant replacing gear or running even more cable. Dante AV completely changes how we think about AV system design.

Instead of relying on dedicated AV cabling and proprietary point-to-point connections, Dante moves everything to a standard IP network. That means audio, video, synchronization, and control signals all travel together over a single ethernet cable, no special cabling and no complex infrastructure. If you’ve already already built your network for Dante Audio, you’re good to go. Dante video runs right alongside it.

This kind of flexibility makes it easy to create overflow spaces, centralize your signal processing or route media elsewhere on the network, and if something goes wrong, you don’t need to be in the room. Troubleshooting can be done remotely for those managing larger systems. You can take advantage of remote monitoring and control with Dante domain manager and Dante director, whether you’re troubleshooting from across the hall or across the country, you’ll have full visibility into your AV setup. We’ll dive deeper into manage Dante features in levels two and three, but for now, just know it’s all designed to make your life easier, and of course, interoperability is part of Dante’s DNA.

Your Dante AV gear will work seamlessly with over 4,000 Dante enabled audio devices already on the market, and the ecosystem keeps growing every day as more manufacturers adopt the platform. Dante AV is available in three distinct variants, each tailored to specific applications. Dante AV Ultra, Dante a VA, and Dante a VH plus a software solution called Dante Studio. Before seeing each solution separately, let’s take a moment to compare the three main versions of Dante AV and most importantly, where each one really shines.

If you are working in live venues, lecture halls, or large meeting spaces, Dante AV Ultra is the right solution for you. It delivers incredibly low latency, pristine image quality, and supports eight channels of audio. If you’re setting up AV for sports bars, hospitality spaces, corporate lobbies, or casinos, then Dante a VA is your best choice. It’s designed for one to many video distribution offers single frame latency and supports two channels of Dante audio.

It’s a great fit for spaces where multiple displays need to stay perfectly in sync. And finally, for smaller meeting rooms or classrooms, you can use Dante a VH. It’s a cost-effective software-based solution that works with Standard H 2 64 and H 2 65 video devices. Latency isn’t the main focus here.

It’s about accessibility and integration. Plus, Dante a VH works seamlessly with our video software solution called Dante Studio and PC based tools for lecture capture, streaming, or unified communications. Okay, let’s dive a bit deeper into Dante AV Ultra. Dante AV Ultra is a hardware based solution that delivers high quality visually lossless compression, all over a standard one gigabit network.

It supports a single video channel up to 4K 64, 4 4, while consuming no more than 700 megabits per channel. Alongside the video, it also delivers eight channels of uncompressed digital audio and supports USB, infrared CEC, and serial control, giving you a complete set of tools for professional AV integration on a single platform. Video between Dante AV Ultra devices achieves subframe latency. That means video travels between endpoints on the network incredibly fast with precise timing.

All devices follow a single clock leader, which ensures that audio and video stay perfectly aligned, and if you need to make adjustments for perfect lip sync, you can even fine tune the timing of the audio coming from your transmitters in the device config tab of the device inside Dante controller. Now, let’s talk about AV Ultra’s video latency. We just mentioned that Dante AV Ultra can achieve subframe latency, but how well Dante AV ultra devices encode in stripes, so the top of the frame is encoded scent and starts rendering on the decoder before the whole frame has been encoded. Video encoding transport and decoding have come a long way, but they’re still not as fast as audio, so while Dante audio typically runs at just one millisecond of latency or even less video with Dante AV Ultra comes in at about half a frame.

Hold on. Didn’t we just say that audio and video are time aligned for perfect lip sync? Well, they are, and here’s how that works. The audio arrives right on time at its latency setting, let’s say one millisecond.

Then it’s buffered for the duration of the video processing, which is about half a frame. That way, both audio and video are played out together perfectly in sync. Dante AV Ultra originally used the JPEG 2000 codec, but today’s products have moved to something even better, a codec called Collibra. This next generation codec is specifically optimized for real-time applications and delivers incredible clarity, especially when you’re working with detailed content like spreadsheets.

It’s all about getting the highest possible quality while still maintaining low latency. Looking ahead manufacturers using Dante AV Ultra will also be able to implement advanced features like multiview and encryption, making the platform even more powerful as it continues to evolve. Okay, continuing with our lineup, let’s take a look at Dante a VH, the most cost effective variant of Dante Av. Dante, A VH is a solution that exposes parts of the Dante API to video devices transforming them into Dante endpoints without the need for additional hardware.

In other words, Dante a VH brings Dante functionality to devices that already work using H 2 64 or H 2 65 codex for transporting video over ip. And yes, Dante a VH itself also uses H 2 64 and H 2 65 codex. These are widely used video compression standards that make video streaming on IP networks much more efficient. As we explained in the previous chapter, we’re not sending a series of full resolution frames one after another that would be far too bandwidth intensive.

Instead, these codecs take advantage of how little things change between frames. To do that, they use a process called interframe encoding, which only stores the changes from frame to frame. In Dante, a VHA new iframe is sent every 20 frames. This is what we call the interframe gap.

That helps keep bandwidth consumption to a minimum, which is great for bandwidth constrained network environments. However, it does introduce a bit more latency because the decoder needs to wait for that key frame to build a full picture. As a result, Dante a VH typically achieves a few frames of latency. For many use cases like classrooms, overflow spaces, or video signage, that level of latency is perfectly acceptable and the trade off is a more flexible, more affordable way to move video across your network using off the shelf devices.

Okay, now let’s talk about the Dante a VA solution. Dante a VA is another game changer for AV distribution. It provides one to many multicast video streaming with visually lossless 4K 64, 4 4 video, and ultra low latency at approximately 700 megabits. It also integrates directly with existing Dante audio networks, making it a cost-effective solution for large AV deployments that distribute between encoders and decoders.

This version of Dante AV is perfect for environments like sports bars, hospitality, corporate lobbies, and casinos, places where you often need to send the same video feed to numerous displays at once. Dante a VA also gives you the flexibility to break out the audio from an A VA stream and route it separately to any Dante enabled power amplifier or loudspeaker on the network. Next, let’s talk about the software side of Dante AV because one of the most powerful tools in this family is Dante Studio. Think of Dante Studio as the video equivalent of Dante virtual sound card.

It brings Dante video into your computer and makes it incredibly flexible and easy to use, especially for software based workflows. Dante studio is made up of three main components, Dante Video, RX, Dante video, tx, and Dante video viewer. Let’s start with Dante Video rx. This component allows you to receive Dante AV Ultra or Dante a VH video signals, whether it’s coming from a hardware encoder, PTZ cameras or even another computer with Dante Studio.

From there, you can route that video into whatever streaming or production software you prefer, like Microsoft Teams OBS or vMix. Next is Dante video tx, which works in the opposite direction. It turns your PC into a Dante video transmitter, so you can share video content out to a decoder or even to another PC running Dante studio. And finally, there’s Dante Video viewer.

This tool gives you a simple preview of any Dante video flow on the network, so you can check your sources before routing them to your main program or recording workflow. If you want to see the latest computer requirements to run Dante studio or you want to learn more about it, you can go to the following link and see the user guide. Okay, let’s open Dante Controller. Dante AV devices are automatically discovered and synchronized the same way as Dante audio devices.

If we go to our filter tab on the top left hand side, let’s look at the media type. If we click on devices that have video channels, we’ll now only see video devices. More info about filters in Dante controller will follow in a later chapter. If we click this plus symbol, we’ll see all the available channels on the transmit device.

For now. If we want to make a subscription between this encoder to this decoder, we just click in the intersection and the picture will start flowing immediately. The same is true with the audio channels. You can also route the audio from your encoder to a mixer or DSP, process it, and then route it back to the decoder.

This way, your audio will be more polished and still be reinvented in your video stream. It doesn’t matter if you are routing audio to your mixer or any other Dante audio device. All Dante AV devices share uncompressed PCM audio, and they are compatible with any other Dante AV endpoint, even ones with different video codex. Next, let’s talk about the ancillary channels on Dante AV devices.

You might be wondering what are they actually used for? Well, imagine this scenario. You’re standing on stage in an auditorium ready to start a presentation for a school. The vision mixer and your computer are set up way back in the small control booth at the top of the auditorium.

Then it hits you. You need a clicker to advance through the slides, but it’s too far away. The signal won’t reach all the way back there. A little stressful, right?

But then you spot a decoder right next to you on the stage connected to the big screen. Here’s the trick. We plug the USB receiver for the clicker into the decoder. Then connect A-U-S-B-C cable from the encoder USB host port to the computer.

Finally, make the subscription in Dante controller from the decoder to the encoder. Just like that, when you press the clicker, you’re controlling the slides. Great, right? This could be a clicker or a mouse or a keyboard.

It doesn’t matter. It’s the same case with an infrared transmitter and receiver. For instance, if you want to manage your media player remotely, you can do it just like we did with the USB. We can also configure our video streams by opening the device view and selecting the video config tab.

If we do it for this encoder, we’ll see different parameters that can be adjusted such as the video resolution, frame rate, color space, and the bit depth. If you leave these options set to auto. The Dante AV transmitter uses edited to communicate supported video resolutions and timings to the connected source device like a camera or a computer. The source then selects a compatible format and starts sending video.

The transmitter compresses the video accordingly and sends it over the network to Dante AV receivers. The receivers in turn use edited to check what resolutions the connected display supports. If possible, they pass through the video at native resolution. If the display can’t support the source resolution, the receiver down scales the video to match.

The Dante AV receiver supports downscaling video resolution when needed. For example, it can scale from 40 96 by 2160 P down to 38 40 by 2160 p or from 38 40 by 2160 P down to 1920 by 10 80 p. However, it’s important to note that Dante AV does not do frame rate conversion. If the source sends video at 60 frames per second, every connected display must support 60 FPS as well.

In most cases, frame rate is prioritized over resolution. If the display can’t handle the resolution but can handle the frame rate, the receiver will downscale the resolution while keeping the same frame rate. For example, if we have a source sending 38 40 by 2160 P at 60 FPS, but the display only supports 10 80 P at that frame rate, then the output might be changed to 1920 by 10 80 p in order to see the video. If the frame rate isn’t supported at all by the display that’s connected to the receiver, no video signal will be passed.

If you prefer more control over your video settings, Dante controller lets you manually configure a Dante AV transmitter. You can set the input resolution frame rate, color bit depth, and chroma sub sampling yourself. When you do this, the transmitter will limit its edited list just to those manual settings. That means your HDMI source device, whether it’s a computer camera or player, must support the exact settings you’ve chosen.

Once you’ve saved your configuration in Dante controller, the system triggers an HDMI hot plug detect. Basically, it momentarily resets the HDMI connection. This forces the source device to reread the new EID and renegotiate based on the settings you’ve applied. From there, the video codec and network transmission will follow your custom edited configuration.

On the receiver side, things stay the same. It continues to operate just like it would in automatic mode, adapting to the signal it receives. In the video basics chapter, we talked about HDCP, and now it’s time to see how it works with Dante video, both Dante AV Ultra and Dante a VA support HDCP protected content, so you can distribute HDCP video over the network, whether it’s going to a single device or to many. Just keep in mind that there is a limit.

Right now. Dante supports distributing HDCP protected content to up to 32 devices on the network. As you design your system, make sure you’re designing within that limit. It’s important to note that Dante AV Ultra doesn’t add or strip HDCP from a signal.

It simply passes it through. If the content isn’t protected, you can send it freely without any restrictions, and here’s some good news about the audio. Even if the video is HDCP protected, the audio can still be routed anywhere on the network. Dante audio is always uncompressed PCM, and it’s handled separately from HDCP.

If you’re not sure if your content is HDCP protected, look at Dante controller. If we double click on this Bolin encoder and go to the video config tab, you’ll see the system tell you the resolution of the video and whether the content is HDCP protected or not. Right now, it says the video is HDCP protected because the source is a media player. If I double click on this Dante AV Ultra PTZ camera, it’ll say that the content is not protected.

Some devices will even give you the option to modify the version or even deactivate it, but this is up to the individual vendor. Other Dante AV devices won’t let you modify these parameters directly in Dante controller because they have an external video configuration ui. Like this device. If we go to the video config external tab, we will see that there is an option that can take you to their UI to configure it.

Once we click it and enter the user credentials, we’ll see the options we mentioned before. For example, if I go to the decoder, I’ll be able to see options like video wall configuration or fast switching. If we go back to Dante controller, you also have a really helpful option to adjust the bandwidth of your video flow. Right now, as you can see, the tick box option is deactivated on this Dante AV Ultra PTZ camera.

If we take a look at the network status tab, we will see it as transmitting around 680 megabits per second. If we enable the bandwidth cap and set our flow to 350 megabits, we’ll see that reflected in the network status tab. This bandwidth setting is helpful when you’re working on a shared network or a network with limited bandwidth. Now, let’s move on to Dante Studio.

When you open the Dante studio user interface, you’ll find a simple and intuitive layout that lets you configure key settings for tools like Dante Screenshare in the transmitters tab, Dante receivers in the receivers tab, and the Dante video viewer in the same receivers tab. From this interface, you can also manage your license activation and purchasing, as well as select the appropriate network interface for your Dante video traffic under the settings. Basically, it’s your central hub for getting Dante studio up and running. Okay, let’s start with the Dante screen share option.

For this example, we would like to share our computer screen and send it to another Dante AV receiver. The first step is to select the screen. We want to share if you have too many displays connected and you don’t know which one is which. The Identified displays option will help you with this problem.

This is a very useful tool in production environments since there are usually computers that have several displays connected to them. The Dante video TX solution is used to capture a screen up to 4K 60 on your PC and transmit it on the Dante network, which can then be received by other Dante AV Ultra receivers, Dante Virtual camera, or Dante video viewer devices. Finally, if we enable the screen share option and then go to Dante controller, we will be able to send it to this other Dante AV decoder. Another option could be sending it to a computer with Dante Studio running the Dante Video Rx application.

As of this writing, the screen share option currently only supports Dante AV Ultra for encoding captured frames, which means you can only send it to Dante AV Ultra Decoders or Dante Studio computers. Okay, let’s turn off the screen share option from the transmitters tab and go to the receiver’s tab Here. We’ll be able to see up to four video RX inputs on the right side. We’ll see the resolution column as its name indicates.

This is where we can change the resolution of the Dante AV signals that we are going to receive on our computer. As we mentioned before, when the resolution is configured for either HD or full HD options, there will be four video received channels available. For instance, I have a Dante AV Ultra PTZ camera, and three Dante, A-V-H-P-T-Z cameras. If I subscribe them to Dante Studio Rx channels and then open OBS, we’ll be able to select every Dante studio source from the four video capture devices and see them in action.

However, if I want to receive a stream in 4K, I’ll have to change the resolution from full HD to the 4K option. Only one video receive channel is available when receiving a 4K signal. What if I just want to know which signal I should send to Zoom or Teams? Well, for that, there’s another option called Dante Video Viewer.

For this example, we’ll close the OBS application, and since the subscriptions are still in Dante controller, all we have to do is go to Dante studio and in the video receiver section we’ll see an option called Open in Video Viewer. If we want to see what is on channel one, we simply press the option and the video will appear in a new window. The same goes for channels two, three, and four. Okay, let’s summarize this chapter.

We kicked things off with a high level overview of Dante av, a game changing suite of technology that brings video into the world of Dante Audio. Now everything runs over the same IP network with the same simplicity and rock solid synchronization we expect from Dante. Dante AV Ultra is our top of the line variant, utilizing the Calibri codec, which gives you visually lossless video, extremely low latency, and full support for USB and serial control. Dante A VH is a more lightweight option that works with standard H 2 64 and H 2 65 codex.

It’s ideal for budget conscious installs like meeting rooms and classrooms where latency is not a concern, but bandwidth is. Dante a VA is a great fit for spaces that require one to many multicast distribution. Finally, Dante Studio is a software suite that makes it easy to bring video from your computer into a Dante AV network. It lets you capture, send, and receive high quality video streams like a webcam feed or a desktop screen using just your pc.

It’s perfect for live production streaming or remote collaboration, all without extra hardware. So that’s the big picture. Dante AV is here to simplify and streamline how we handle audio, video, and control on IP networks.