AV Control Platforms Enter a New Era of IP, Data and Automation
An AV control platform is an integrated hardware and media control software environment that coordinates audio, video, data, and automation workflows across live event production and fixed installations, increasingly relying on AV-over-IP routing, scalable architectures, and AI-assisted tools to simplify complex multi-vendor systems for integrators and enterprise teams. The latest wave of platforms debuting at InfoComm reflects a clear shift toward converged AV and IT environments, where routing, processing, and control live in unified ecosystems instead of siloed boxes. From live event production to campus-wide enterprise deployments, vendors are focusing on end-to-end AV workflow automation, spanning design, operations, and long-term service. Stage Precision, Green Hippo, Visionary, D-Tools and XTEN-AV are each addressing different links in this chain, but share a common goal: reduce friction, centralize control and data, and make large-scale AV systems easier to design, deploy, and maintain over their full lifecycle.
Stage Precision’s SP Grid Evolves as a Data-Driven Control Backbone
Stage Precision’s SP Grid ecosystem continues to mature into a central AV control platform for live events, studios, and permanent installations. At its core is Grid Studio 2.1, a low-code environment that ties together control logic, data management and third-party systems through new Grid Extensions. The update adds security and reliability features such as project-level password protection, always-on background monitoring for faster recovery, and a warning system that alerts operators to potential issues before they interrupt a show. Redesigned camera calibration with clear visual feedback and real-time status shortens setup for complex productions that mix tracking, video, and interactive elements. By bringing NMOS and other third-party connections into SP Grid, Stage Precision aims to unify device management and data flows across broadcast, experiential retail, museums and virtual production, allowing teams to standardize workflows even as content and venues become more hybrid and IP-centric.
Green Hippo Estuary: Media Control Software for Massive Pixel Canvases
ACT Entertainment’s Green Hippo Estuary Series represents a new class of media control software and hardware targeted at high-end live event production. Built on tvONE’s CALICO video processing architecture, Estuary is engineered for ultra-smooth, multi-layered switching across huge LED walls, with one-frame end-to-end latency and 10-bit/HDR processing across up to 256 layers. According to ACT Entertainment, Estuary supports four canvases up to 64,000 × 64,000 pixels while exposing a fully open control ecosystem, including DMX/sACN, HippoNet, Companion and REST API. This makes the platform equally at home as a lighting-driven pixel controller or as the main media hub for concerts, touring shows, immersive environments and large-scale installations. By aligning its workflow with popular lighting consoles such as grandMA3, Estuary brings media servers and lighting rigs into the same control language, shrinking programming time and helping design teams push more creative content through a unified visual stack.
Visionary’s nexAV We-Cosystem Unifies AV-over-IP Routing and Control
Visionary’s nexAV We-Cosystem targets converged AV and IT environments with an emphasis on AV-over-IP routing and software-driven control. The platform pulls together video switching, audio DSP processing, room and enterprise control, device discovery, workflow orchestration and user-interface development in one environment. Visionary says the Flex Architecture DSP framework with an integrated Audio Engine supports template-based workflows, allowing integrators to start from proven designs and customize them for hospitality, conferencing or enterprise-wide deployments. Native Dante and AES67 support let the nexAV Audio Engine fit into modern networked audio systems, from single rooms to campus-wide networks. A notable choice is building the control layer on Node-RED, the open-source, flow-based automation framework. Visionary argues that this open foundation allows continuous improvement and community-driven integrations at a scale closed platforms struggle to match, helping integrators design AV systems around operational needs instead of vendor-imposed constraints.
Cloud Platforms and AI Automation Redefine Integrator Workflows
D-Tools and XTEN-AV are reshaping how integrators manage projects, from initial design to long-term service operations. D-Tools is highlighting new advances in its System Integrator v24 and D-Tools Cloud platforms, including Inventory Asset Management that gives every device its own digital identity with serial number, warehouse location, project assignment, firmware, MAC and IP addresses, and a complete change history. This connects warehouse intake, project allocation, field installation and post-install service in one model, while AI-driven search and scope-of-work generation reduce manual proposal tasks. XTEN-AV focuses on AV workflow automation from design through service, extending its AI-powered design and proposal tools with X-PRO Service for post-install management. By pulling service calls, maintenance schedules, technician coordination and recurring support into the same connected AV operations platform used for design and documentation, XTEN-AV reduces fragmented spreadsheets and ticketing tools and gives integrators and enterprise teams clearer visibility into ongoing AV operations.