In an empty corridor illuminated by pulsing LED gates, a drone shoots through the air at 80 miles per hour. The video feed cuts between the onboard camera and overhead chase rigs, giving viewers a disorienting, immersive perspective as the pilot threads each turn.

You’re watching a sport that few would have imagined 20 years ago. And yet, the Drone Racing League (DRL) has grown from a hobbyist experiment into a global media brand with broadcast deals, streaming partnerships, and an audience that spans traditional sports fans and gaming communities alike.

DRL is a blast to watch, but it isn’t just the mind-blowing spectacle that makes it interesting. The league built its own production model from the ground up, and that in itself is rare. Launching a new sports league is hard. Launching one with a polished, live broadcast presence was nearly impossible until recently. DRL didn’t succeed by scaling legacy workflows. They did it by starting fresh, with small teams, software-defined tools, and lean hardware to create a pipeline built for speed. Every part of the broadcast, from capture to graphics to delivery, is optimized for a fast-paced, digitally native audience, without traditional infrastructure or large crews.

And yet, DRL isn’t alone. Across YouTube, Twitch, and custom platforms, live producers are pushing the boundaries with the help of increasingly powerful IP-based tools. Whether streaming snowmobile racing, esports, concerts, or civic events, they’re reaching large audiences with workflows that rival legacy broadcasters, in quality and with far less infrastructure.

Even as these productions grow more ambitious, they’re also becoming more professional. With better tools and more accessible workflows, independent teams are closing the gap with traditional broadcasters. This emerging generation of producers is delivering quality, reliability, and scale that was once out of reach.

Yet while SMPTE ST 2110 has transformed how major broadcasters move media over IP, these smaller productions have taken a path shaped by flexibility, affordability, and rapid innovation in software-based workflows.

From First Movers To Friction Points

Among the tools that reshaped modern live production, few have been as influential as Network Device Interface (NDI). Introduced in 2015, NDI provided a low-cost, software-based method for transporting video over IP networks. Its accessibility made it possible for schools, corporations, universities, houses of worship, and independent production teams to create multi-camera live content without the cost and complexity of traditional SDI infrastructure.

It opened the door to new production models. Control rooms could be built-in garages, classrooms, or offices. Distributed production across multiple venues became viable using standard IP networks. For many teams, NDI was the first time that real-time video routing and switching over an IP network felt achievable on a limited budget.

As production ambitions grew, however, many teams began to encounter difficult limitations. Inconsistent latency between devices and the lack of time stamping made it hard to scale workflows without adding complexity. Live sports coverage was especially challenging. Small delays between camera control and movement often made follow-the-ball coverage frustrating to execute. Audio and video alignment also became harder to manage, particularly when combining different encoders, software paths, or devices with mismatched latency characteristics. Often, the best that a technician can do is provide AV sync that is almost correct, but never quite right.

Some teams attempted to compensate by adding genlock devices or relying on SDI in critical paths, creating hybrid systems that used NDI for flexibility while anchoring timing with traditional hardware. These solutions worked in some cases, but they increased system fragility and complexity, which was degrading the benefits of an IP workflow. It was clear that the underlying architecture wasn’t designed for scale or precision.

As software-based production matured, a growing number of teams began looking for alternatives. They needed something more deterministic, something that could support the demands of multi-venue, multi-source workflows without giving up the agility they had gained.

ST 2110 Without The Weight

For years, SMPTE ST 2110 offered a high-performance solution for transporting uncompressed video, audio, and metadata over IP networks. Developed to meet the needs of Tier 1 broadcasters, it replicates the performance of SDI while delivering the flexibility of modern networking. But historically, the cost and complexity of deploying ST 2110 placed it out of reach for many smaller teams.

That dynamic is changing. High-performance network switches have become far more affordable and widely available. Many now support critical features like IGMP snooping, PTP boundary clocking, and multicast isolation. These capabilities were once exclusive to enterprise-grade hardware. At the same time, software toolsets have matured, and systems integrators have gained the experience needed to deploy these technologies in leaner environments.

Real-world deployments reflect this shift. A university can centralize control of a dozen venues from a single broadcast center using ST 2110 over its campus network. A small, independent OB operator can deliver frame-accurate 4K workflows from a single rack-mounted PC, dramatically reducing the space, cost, and complexity traditionally required for live production in the field. Local broadcasters and civic institutions are delivering live content at a level of polish once thought to require truckloads of gear and large technical crews.

ST 2110 is proving to be a solid foundation for live production at almost every level. With its precise timing model, scale-aware architecture, and growing ecosystem of compatible tools, it enables independent producers to design workflows that are more synchronized, scalable, and responsive than ever before.

Power In The Rack: Tools That Change The Game

Macnica’s MEP100 exemplifies this shift. It is a Network Interface Card (NIC) designed for 100 GbE ST 2110 workflows, it delivers low-latency, uncompressed 4K video transport with high channel density and broadcast-grade timing. The MEP100 runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux PCs and supports integration with a wide range of software-based production applications.

This allows small production teams to build UHD systems with up to 8 cameras on a single rack-mounted PC, achieving results that would have previously required an SDI router, and dedicated video processing hardware.

Its 100 GbE interface provides the bandwidth headroom needed for multiple 4Kp60 uncompressed streams while maintaining the timing accuracy that live production demands. For independent and mid-sized teams, that means frame-accurate switching, minimal latency, and tight audio/video alignment—all from a compact, standards-based system.

Because the MEP100 is built on open standards, it can interoperate with a wide ecosystem of ST 2110-compliant devices. Where other IP-based tools often introduce compatibility challenges—such as the different variants of NDI—the standards-based approach of ST 2110 provides a more consistent, predictable, and future-proof foundation.

With better timing and transport precision, systems are easier to align, faster to troubleshoot, and more scalable. Lower latency enables tighter camera control. Video and audio alignment is no longer a manual process. And running at 4K, even modest productions benefit from better framing, sharper down-conversion, and content that’s ready for long-term reuse.

The New Baseline For Professional Production

High-quality, reliable, and scalable live production is now within reach for more creators than ever before. Universities are managing campus-wide productions from centralized control rooms. School districts and houses of worship are delivering polished live content. Independent producers are streaming concerts, sports, and community events with a level of fidelity that rivals larger operations.

As ST 2110 continues to grow in adoption, and as tools like the MEP100 drive costs lower and performance higher, these capabilities will only expand. The next generation of live producers will be defined by their creativity and execution and not by their budgets or infrastructure.

That future is already coming into view. The Drone Racing League is a prime example. Born from a niche hobby, it now delivers high-speed, immersive broadcasts to a global audience. They’ve shown how technically ambitious, digitally native productions aren’t limited to big-budget broadcasters. They’re being built by focused teams with the right vision, workflows, and tools.

In this new landscape, the barriers to professional live production are falling fast. And for teams ready to step up, the means to do it are no longer out of reach. With powerful, standards-based tools and more accessible IP workflows, today’s creators can achieve what once took entire broadcast operations to deliver. Whether it’s a local sports match, a university-wide event, or the next breakthrough in entertainment, the ability to produce, scale, and innovate is no longer gated by budget or legacy infrastructure. The future of live production is open—and it’s already underway.