Meet XLink-ONE: 8K AV-over-IP That Runs on the Network You Already Have

If you've ever priced out an AV-over-IP system, you already know the catch. The performance you want — true 4K (or 8K), no perceptible lag, image quality that holds up on a big display — usually comes chained to a 10-Gigabit network. New switches. New cabling throughout the building. Licensing fees stacked on top. By the time you add it all up, the "flexible IP solution" starts to look a lot less flexible than the price tag suggests.

That's the problem XLink-ONE was built to solve. It's a new professional AV distribution platform from BZBGEAR that delivers high-end video — up to 8K, with less than one frame of latency — over the standard 1-Gigabit networks most facilities already have. No 10G overhaul. No per-unit royalties. Let's break down what it actually does and where it fits.

What XLink-ONE Actually Is

At its core, XLink-ONE is an AV-over-IP system: it takes video and audio from a source, encodes it, sends it across a regular IP network, and decodes it at one or more displays. AV-over-IP isn't new — what makes a system good or bad is how it handles the trade-off between image quality, latency, and how much network it demands.

XLink-ONE's answer is a proprietary, hardware-based codec built specifically for Pro AV. Because the encoding happens in dedicated silicon rather than software, it can move enormous amounts of video data while keeping latency under a single frame and image quality visually lossless. It runs over standard 1G Ethernet, with support for 2.5G and 10G when you want the extra headroom, and every stream is protected with AES-256 encryption from source to endpoint.

Think of it like a handshake between the demands of high-end AV and the realities of modern IT. The video team gets the resolution and responsiveness they need. The IT team gets to use the network and switches they already understand.

The Features That Matter

XLink-ONE supports the full HDMI 2.1 standard with 48 Gbps of bandwidth, which is what makes 4K@120Hz and 8K@60Hz content possible without throwing away detail or frame rate. For fast-moving content — sports, gaming, live production — that high-frame-rate support is the difference between smooth motion and a stuttery mess.

A few capabilities stand out beyond raw resolution:

USB over IP. XLink-ONE carries USB across the network, including USB HID, USB 2.0, and USB 3.0 at up to 1 Gbps. In plain terms, you can put a keyboard, mouse, touchscreen, or storage device at any endpoint and control a source sitting in another room — full KVM over IP. That's huge for control rooms, remote workstations, and collaborative setups.

Video walls and multiview. The system handles complex video wall layouts and multi-stream distribution with pixel-perfect alignment, so you can drive a large display array or route several sources at once without fighting the layout.

Flexible Picture-in-Picture. You can monitor multiple sources on a single screen with customizable window size, position, and layering — useful any time someone needs to keep an eye on several feeds at once.

Integrated scaling and A/V sync. A built-in scaler automatically matches each source to the native resolution of whatever display it lands on, so you can mix resolutions across a facility without artifacts. Advanced clock management keeps audio and video locked in sync — no drifting lip-sync across the network.

Here's the thing about that feature list: individually, none of these is unique. Plenty of systems do PiP or video walls. What's notable is getting all of it together, at 8K, with sub-frame latency, on a 1G network. That combination is where XLink-ONE earns its keep.

Why the 1-Gigabit Story Is a Big Deal

To understand why this matters, it helps to know how the alternatives stack up.

SDVoE is widely considered the gold standard for zero-latency AV-over-IP, and it's genuinely excellent — but it mandates 10G infrastructure end to end: expensive switches, Cat6a/7 cabling throughout, alliance membership, and chip licensing. XLink-ONE targets visually lossless quality, including 8K, on standard 1G or 2.5G networks, which can cut total cost of ownership dramatically on a large deployment.

On the other side are software codecs like H.264/H.265 and solutions built on them, such as Dante AV-H. These are affordable and run on modest bandwidth, but they're streaming codecs at heart — designed for YouTube and Netflix, where a one-to-two-second buffer is perfectly normal. That buffering shows up as latency, often 100ms or more, which is a dealbreaker for real-time KVM or any interactive use. XLink-ONE uses intra-frame hardware encoding instead, which sidesteps the "group of pictures" delay those codecs rely on and delivers the instantaneous feel of a direct HDMI cable.

Then there's the licensing angle. Dante AV-H and AV-Ultra both carry per-unit fees from Audinate. XLink-ONE is royalty-free for legally compliant use, and it ships with a complimentary Embedded Linux SDK, so integrators and developers can build custom ecosystems without paying a toll on every endpoint.

So the pitch is straightforward: the low latency you'd expect from premium hardware systems, the cost profile of standard networking, and no licensing overhead. That's a rare combination in this category.

The Product Lineup

XLink-ONE isn't a single box — it's a series, so you can match the hardware to the job. Five distribution models anchor the current lineup, all under the BG-IPGEAR-XTREME name:

BG-IPGEAR-XTREME-CORE is the distance specialist. It's a 4K@120Hz 4:4:4 HDMI 2.1 extender that pushes uncompressed video, high-bit-rate audio, and KVM up to 170m (560ft) over standard Cat5e/6/6a/7 — well beyond the usual 100m — while still supporting point-to-point, point-to-many, and full multicast over 1GbE. It also adds balanced audio in and out on terminal blocks, plus PoC, bi-directional IR, and RS-232, which makes it a clean backbone for larger rooms and longer cable runs.

BG-IPGEAR-XTREME-W is a 4K UHD wall plate encoder/decoder. It extends 4K@120Hz 4:4:4 video and audio up to 100m over standard Cat.5e, with seamless matrix switching, MultiView, KVM, USB 3.0, and PoE — a clean choice when you want the transmitter built into the wall.

BG-IPGEAR-XTREME is the 4K IP multicast system for point-to-multipoint distribution across a Gigabit network. It delivers 4K@120Hz 4:4:4 with VRR and ALLM support, long-distance transmission over Cat.5e, and full network control integration.

BG-IPGEAR-XTREME-PRO steps up to 8K. It's a transceiver — transmitter and receiver in one unit — supporting up to 8K@60Hz and 4K@144Hz, with video wall, MultiView, KVM, and software management across web, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

BG-IPGEAR-XTREME-F is the 8K HDMI 2.1 over fiber extender, built for mission-critical environments. It's a point-to-point transmitter/receiver kit that carries up to 8K@60Hz 4:4:4 (DSC), 4K@144Hz, and uncompressed 4K@60Hz over single-mode fiber at distances up to 10km — with zero-frame latency. Fiber makes it immune to EMI, which is exactly what you want in broadcast studios, hospitals, and secure facilities where signal integrity can't be compromised.

Rounding out the ecosystem is one tool that isn't a distribution endpoint at all. The BG-AVTPG-8K is an award-winning 8K HDMI 2.1 signal test pattern generator and analyzer — the device you reach for when you're commissioning or troubleshooting a system. It generates full-bandwidth 48Gbps test patterns (up to 8K60 4:2:0, 8K30 4:4:4, and 4K120 with HDR), analyzes HDCP 2.3, and includes HDMI loop-through, EDID handling, and 8-channel LPCM audio. A 7-inch touch panel and a rechargeable battery good for up to nine hours make it genuinely portable, so installers can verify sources, displays, and cables right at the rack. It's the practical companion that helps a 48Gbps XLink-ONE deployment go in clean and stay reliable.

Where It Fits

Because XLink-ONE comes in a range of form factors — wall plates, IP multicast encoders/decoders, all-in-one 8K transceivers, and fiber extenders — and scales from a single endpoint to a full 8K backbone, it lands across a wide range of environments. BZBGEAR is positioning it for broadcast studios and command centers, medical imaging and operating theaters, corporate and conference spaces, education, live entertainment and sports venues, eSports arenas, transportation hubs, and high-end residential installs.

The common thread is any project where you need real image quality and real responsiveness, but you don't want — or can't justify — rebuilding the network to get there. A hospital routing surgical video, an arena driving a wall of displays, a control room running KVM across a dozen workstations: they all share the same underlying need, and they can all run it over infrastructure that's already in the building.

The Bottom Line

AV-over-IP has always asked you to pick two of three: great image quality, ultra-low latency, or affordable infrastructure. XLink-ONE's whole reason for existing is to stop forcing that choice — 8K-capable, sub-frame latency, royalty-free, on the 1G network you already own.

If you're planning a distribution system and weighing your options, XLink-ONE is worth a serious look. You can explore the full series and request a demo at xlink-one.bzbgear.com, or reach out to the BZBGEAR team and we'll help you figure out which configuration fits your space. However you're routing your signals, we're here to help you do it cleanly.