Blackmagic Design Expands Live Production with SMPTE ST 2110, Fairlight Live, and URSA Cine Immersive: NAB Show 2026

Broadcast Infrastructure Is Moving Toward High-Bandwidth IP Networks

For many broadcasters, the transition to SMPTE ST 2110 is no longer a future planning exercise. New facilities are being designed around IP from day one, while existing broadcast plants continue integrating IP technologies alongside established SDI workflows.

This hybrid environment creates several engineering challenges. Production teams must transport uncompressed video, audio, metadata, and ancillary signals across larger facilities while maintaining synchronization, redundancy, reliability, and scalability. As camera counts continue increasing and resolutions move from HD to UHD, HDR, and immersive formats, traditional network bandwidth quickly becomes a limiting factor.

Blackmagic Design’s response is an expanding family of SMPTE ST 2110 products built around 100 Gigabit Ethernet infrastructure, setting up the next discussion of network capacity.

During the NAB interview, Bob Caniglia explained that Blackmagic standardized its newest ST 2110 products on 100 Gb Ethernet to eliminate concerns about network capacity as productions grow. Instead of designing systems that immediately approach bandwidth limitations, engineers gain significant headroom for future expansion.

The company’s growing ecosystem now includes 100 Gb Ethernet switches, IP-based production switchers, HyperDeck recorders, Cloud Store storage systems, Media Dock products, and conversion hardware that bridges traditional SDI environments with IP-based workflows.

For engineers evaluating long-term infrastructure investments, this approach offers an important advantage. Organizations can begin deploying portions of a 100 Gb infrastructure today while maintaining compatibility with existing network speeds. As Caniglia explained during the interview, the products automatically negotiate to lower network speeds when necessary, allowing facilities to expand incrementally rather than requiring an immediate facility-wide upgrade. This gradual path leads naturally into the bridge between SDI and SMPTE ST 2110 workflows.

Building Practical Paths Between SDI and SMPTE ST 2110

One of the most significant obstacles to IP adoption has never been the technology itself. It has been migrating.

Most broadcasters have invested heavily in SDI routers, production switchers, replay systems, monitoring equipment, and camera infrastructure. Replacing every component simultaneously is rarely practical from either an operational or financial perspective.

Blackmagic Design’s expanding 2110 IP Converter family helps address this challenge by providing bridge technologies between SDI and SMPTE ST 2110 environments.

Rather than forcing organizations to choose between maintaining SDI and fully committing to IP, these converters enable facilities to gradually integrate IP workflows. SDI cameras, monitors, production equipment, and infrastructure can continue operating alongside newer IP-based systems while engineering teams gain experience with ST 2110 deployment.

This phased migration approach reduces operational disruption while allowing engineering departments to build confidence in IP workflows before larger infrastructure transitions. That flexibility also helps explain why modernization projects move forward.

For systems integrators and broadcast engineers, this flexibility often determines whether modernization projects move forward. Infrastructure upgrades become significantly easier when new technologies integrate cleanly with existing operational workflows rather than requiring a complete replacement.

Why 100 Gigabit Ethernet Creates Room for Future Growth

Bandwidth requirements continue increasing across nearly every area of live production.

Higher frame rates, HDR acquisition, multiple simultaneous program feeds, ISO recording, remote production, replay servers, graphics engines, and immersive content all consume additional network resources. Engineering teams increasingly design facilities that must support current production requirements while anticipating technologies that may become standard several years from now.

Blackmagic Design’s emphasis on 100 Gb networking reflects this long-term planning philosophy.

During the interview, Caniglia described the objective as creating infrastructure that broadcasters “don’t have to worry about” as production requirements expand. Instead of continuously calculating available bandwidth across individual network segments, engineers gain significant capacity reserves, simplifying facility planning.

This additional headroom becomes particularly valuable when organizations begin introducing emerging production formats that generate dramatically larger data volumes. One example receiving considerable attention at NAB Show 2026 was immersive video production.

One example receiving considerable attention at NAB Show 2026 was immersive video production.

Immersive Production Pushes Broadcast Infrastructure Even Further

One of the most visually impressive demonstrations at NAB Show 2026 centered on Blackmagic Design’s continued development of the URSA Cine Immersive camera platform. Originally developed for Apple Immersive Video, the system captures stereoscopic 8K imagery designed for next-generation immersive viewing experiences.

Although immersive production currently represents a specialized market, it illustrates where portions of the broadcast industry are heading. Capturing synchronized, ultra-high-resolution imagery from multiple sensors generates enormous amounts of data, which in turn requires storage systems, network infrastructure, and production workflows capable of handling bandwidth orders of magnitude higher than that of traditional HD or UHD productions.

Blackmagic demonstrated how its Cloud Store and Media Dock products integrate with these larger media workflows, enabling production teams to ingest, manage, and edit extremely large media files more efficiently. This same infrastructure supports conventional broadcast operations, so many of the investments required for immersive production—high-speed Ethernet networking, scalable storage, and IP transport—also strengthen existing workflows.

As immersive production expands into sports, entertainment, and premium live events, organizations that have already modernized their IP infrastructure will be better positioned to adopt these formats without major architectural redesigns.

Fairlight Live Brings Software-Defined Audio to Live Production

Video often receives the most attention during live production, but audio remains equally critical to delivering a professional broadcast.

Large sporting events, concerts, houses of worship, news operations, and live entertainment productions routinely manage hundreds of audio sources simultaneously. Operators need flexible routing, low latency, powerful mixing capabilities, and intuitive control surfaces that can adapt quickly to changing production requirements.

At NAB Show 2026, Blackmagic introduced Fairlight Live, extending the company’s DaVinci Resolve Fairlight audio platform into live production environments.

Rather than relying solely on dedicated hardware consoles, Fairlight Live enables software-based live audio production while integrating with professional control panels that provide tactile operation familiar to broadcast audio engineers. The platform combines mixing, processing, automation, and routing within a flexible software environment that supports a wide range of production scales.

For organizations already using DaVinci Resolve for post-production, Fairlight Live also creates greater workflow continuity between live production and post-production audio, reducing the learning curve and simplifying operator training.

Software-defined production is becoming a growing trend across broadcasting, enabling facilities to scale functionality through software while reducing dependence on specialized hardware appliances. Fairlight Live reflects this shift toward more flexible, upgradeable production environments.

Software and Hardware Continue Converging

Another recurring theme throughout the interview was Blackmagic Design’s philosophy of tightly integrating software and hardware into unified production ecosystems.

Historically, production systems often consisted of equipment from numerous manufacturers connected through carefully engineered signal paths. While interoperability remains important, today’s production environments increasingly benefit from tighter integration across switching, recording, storage, networking, graphics, editing, and audio, reinforcing the move toward unified production workflows.

Blackmagic’s expanding product family reflects this integrated approach. Cameras feed directly into ATEM production switchers. HyperDeck recorders integrate with IP infrastructure. Cloud Store supports collaborative editing. Fairlight handles both post-production and live audio. DaVinci Resolve connects editing, color correction, visual effects, and audio finishing within a single platform.

For engineering teams, this integration reduces system complexity, simplifies deployment, and improves operational efficiency while preserving professional capabilities.

What These Announcements Mean for Broadcasters

Although each product announcement addressed a different area of production, together they reflected several broader industry trends that were evident throughout NAB Show 2026.

Broadcasters continue moving toward hybrid SDI/IP facilities rather than abrupt technology replacements. Higher-bandwidth networking is becoming foundational infrastructure instead of optional future planning, and that shift supports software-defined production across switching, recording, graphics, editing, and audio. Cloud-connected workflows are becoming increasingly common, while immersive production formats are beginning to influence infrastructure decisions well before they reach mainstream adoption.

Perhaps most importantly, vendors are focusing less on isolated products and more on complete production ecosystems that help organizations modernize gradually while protecting previous investments.

That practical approach strongly appeals to engineering managers who must balance innovation with operational reliability.

Helping Organizations Deploy Next-Generation Production Workflows

Selecting the right equipment represents only one portion of a successful broadcast infrastructure project. Designing complete workflows, integrating multiple technologies, validating interoperability, training operators, and supporting deployments often determine long-term success.

VidOvation works closely with broadcasters, sports networks, production companies, government agencies, houses of worship, and systems integrators to evaluate, design, integrate, rent, and deploy complete live production solutions.

Whether organizations are migrating toward SMPTE ST 2110, expanding remote production capabilities, modernizing facility infrastructure, deploying IP-based routing, or evaluating emerging production technologies, VidOvation helps customers identify solutions that align with their technical requirements, operational goals, and long-term investment strategies.

Looking Beyond NAB Show 2026

Blackmagic Design’s announcements at NAB Show 2026 demonstrated that the industry’s evolution is no longer centered around isolated technology upgrades. Instead, the focus has shifted to building scalable production ecosystems that can adapt to changing workflows over the long term and support broadcasters as they prepare for what comes next.

High-speed IP networking, software-defined production, integrated audio, hybrid SDI/IP migration strategies, collaborative storage, and immersive production are increasingly becoming interconnected components of modern broadcast infrastructure, shaping how facilities will evolve going forward.

For broadcasters planning their next generation of facilities, the challenge is no longer deciding whether these technologies will become important—it is determining how to implement them strategically while maintaining operational continuity and building for the future.

As Blackmagic Design continues to expand its professional production ecosystem, broadcasters have additional tools to build flexible infrastructures that support today’s live productions while preparing for tomorrow’s evolving content formats and the demands they will bring.