AJA President Nick Rashby walked visitors through the new FS8 at IBC2026 this morning, and the feature list kept going. “It’s just one thing after another,” Rashby said, describing what the FS8 replaces on a rack.
AJA Video Systems showed four new things at IBC2026, Booth 7.B25, through Sept. 14. The headline is FS8, a new 1RU processor that merges frame sync, IP conversion, and color correction into one box. AJA also showed a new line of fiber-to-SDI cards, a Thunderbolt expansion chassis, and its first corporate acquisition.
One box replaces four
FS8 is AJA’s first frame sync to support SMPTE ST 2110, the IP standard for professional video. It handles up to eight channels of HD or four channels of UltraHD. Frame sync, conversion, and an SDI-to-IP gateway are all built in. Rashby said the box merges technology from four earlier product lines, including AJA’s color and IP conversion tools. Rashby said none of those older products are going away.
Connectivity includes up to 16 12G-SDI inputs and up to eight ST 2110-20 IP inputs. AJA built in redundancy for the IP side. Audio support spans embedded SDI, Dante, MADI, and ST 2110-30, routed through a 459-by-448 audio matrix. Rashby said any input can reach any output just by checking a box in the interface.
Color handling includes several built-in LUT modes. A licensable Colorfront Engine and BBC HLG LUT mode are available as paid upgrades. FS8 lists for $14,995, and AJA expects to ship it in December. Rashby said the price runs about half of the closest competing product, while offering more features.
Rashby also said FS8 doesn’t split its core features into paid add-ons the way some competitors do. The box comes with a five-year warranty and five years of tech support. Buyers can trial it for up to 15 days before purchase.
Three more announcements since NAB
AJA also brought three other updates to IBC2026. Io Xpand is a Thunderbolt 5 expansion chassis that brings AJA’s KONA capture cards to laptops and mini PCs. That includes Apple’s latest Mac Mini. It debuted at InfoComm in June and starts at $499, or $4,455 bundled with a KONA 5 card.
AJA also unveiled OG-FiDO-4, a family of nine openGear-compatible cards that convert between SDI and fiber. Rashby said the new architecture lets integrators swap a card’s transmitter, receiver, or combo role. That just takes a small SFP module change, instead of rewiring the rack from behind. Pricing starts at $2,295.
The fourth update is AJA’s first corporate acquisition, Comprimato, a Czech video encoding software company. AJA closed the deal earlier this year and is integrating Comprimato’s engineering team into its own. Rashby said the two teams are already collaborating on next-generation products, expected to ship by next year’s NAB Show.
A broadcast company chasing corporate AV
Rashby described a shift among its customers: traditional AV buyers are increasingly adopting broadcast-grade gear, and vice versa. Rashby said AJA started attending InfoComm and ISE for that reason. FS8 is one example, Rashby said. AV customers asked for support up to 10,000 nits for large displays, a spec more common in cinema than broadcast. AJA added it to FS8.
Rashby argued AJA’s broadcast background gives it an edge with corporate buyers too. In corporate settings, Rashby said, IT departments hold the budget. They expect the same uptime they get from servers, not just AV gear. He said AJA’s testing standards and warranties were built for a broadcast environment that can’t go dark mid-show. That discipline carries over well to IT-driven buyers.
Listening as a strategy
Rashby said AJA gathers feedback through several channels: trade show conversations, sales team input, and technical support tickets. Those all get routed to product managers. For FS8 specifically, Rashby said an AJA product manager spent months traveling to talk with individual broadcast customers. The goal was learning what the next generation of the product should do.
What it means for you
For AV and broadcast buyers alike, AJA’s IBC2026 lineup points toward consolidation. FS8 folds four product categories into one box rather than adding a fifth. Whether that pays off for AJA depends on customer trust. Are buyers willing to concentrate that much workflow in a single device?
To see all AVNation’s IBC 2026 coverage visit here.
Tim Albright is the founder of AVNation and is the driving force behind the AVNation network. He carries the InfoComm CTS, a B.S. from Greenville College and is pursuing an M.S. in Mass Communications from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. When not steering the AVNation ship, Tim has spent his career designing systems for churches both large and small, Fortune 500 companies, and education facilities.
- Tim Albright
- Tim Albright
- Tim Albright
- Tim Albright
