There is currently no officially published information, but within the community, hints are surfacing about a new product from Ubiquiti: the Unifi EAV Bridge. After Unifi’s entry into the audio market, the company now seems to be moving towards Video over IP.
First Details From the Rumor Mill
According to the reports circulating so far, the EAV Bridge could feature 4 HDMI, 4 USB-C, and 4 audio ports – each accompanied by one of the small screens already familiar from other Unifi devices. At first glance, the device looks like a collection of four HDMI encoders, designed to take input from Apple TV, PlayStation, computers, or other sources and convert that signal into network packets.
On the receiving end, decoders would translate those packets back into HDMI output for displays. The concept strongly resembles existing AV over IP (AVoIP) solutions, widely used in professional environments today.
Use Cases: From Sports Bars to Digital Signage
A likely scenario would be a sports bar: multiple games run in parallel on different streaming boxes, each connected to an encoder. Through the network, numerous screens could be supplied with various contents – with control presumably handled via a central management interface, in typical Unifi fashion.
Accompanying Products: Switches for AV over IP
Alongside the bridge itself, there may also be specialized networking equipment:
- EAV 24 PoE: A specially tuned Ethernet switch to efficiently route the packets while also powering the encoders and decoders.
- EAV Aggregation: A solution to connect multiple such switches for larger installations.
Still Pure Speculation
Since there are no official announcements from Ubiquiti yet, all of this remains speculation. However, the concept would fit seamlessly into the company’s known strategy: combining networking, audio, and potentially video into one cohesive, easy-to-manage system.
If confirmed, the Unifi EAV Bridge could become an exciting product, particularly for hospitality, sports bars, and digital signage applications.
