The 1U Broadcast Appliance
Complete Build, Setup & Scaling Guide

What we're building

A 1U rack-mountable broadcast encoder and decoder capable of ingesting SDI video, encoding it to HEVC or AV1, and delivering it over SRT and WebRTC — at broadcast quality, at a fraction of the cost of enterprise appliances like the Haivision Makito ONE.

The core insight is that modern Intel processors include a hardware video encoder built into the CPU die — the Intel Arc iGPU with Quick Sync Video (QSV). You don't need a discrete GPU. Add a professional SDI capture card and a pair of integrated 10GbE ports on the motherboard, and you have a zero-GPU broadcast appliance in a short-depth 1U chassis.

Once the hardware is assembled, you have two paths to a running system: build the software stack manually from Ubuntu, FFmpeg, and a streaming server for maximum pipeline control, or boot the WHEP Gateway ISO for a fully managed web appliance in minutes. Both are covered here.

Hardware bill of materials

Two software paths to a running system

The hardware is the same either way. What differs is how you turn it into a working broadcast appliance — and how much Linux expertise you want to exercise.

Path 1 — Manual Linux stack Maximum control

If you want direct control of the encode pipeline — custom FFmpeg builds, bespoke systemd services, integration with existing Linux orchestration — build on Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS. This is also the right path if you're running the appliance inside an existing infrastructure with your own monitoring and automation tooling.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y build-essential git cmake pkg-config \
  ffmpeg vainfo libva-dev wget curl

sudo apt install -y intel-media-va-driver-non-free \
  intel-opencl-icd libmfx-dev libvpl-dev
sudo usermod -aG render,video $USER && newgrp render
# Verify: should list hevc_qsv, h264_qsv, av1_qsv
ffmpeg -hide_banner -encoders | grep qsv

git clone https://github.com/aja-video/libajantv2
cd libajantv2 && mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DAJA_BUILD_OPENSOURCE=ON .. && make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install && sudo modprobe ajantv2
ls /dev/ajantv2*    # Expected: /dev/ajantv20

ffmpeg \
  -f aja -i "0" \                 # AJA Corvid, port 0
  -c:v hevc_qsv -preset veryfast \
  -b:v 8M -maxrate 10M \
  -f mpegts \
  "srt://192.168.1.50:4578?mode=caller&latency=120"

[Unit]
Description=Broadcast Encoder Ch1
After=network.target
[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/ffmpeg -f aja -i "0" \
  -c:v hevc_qsv -b:v 8M \
  -f mpegts srt://DEST:4578
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now encoder-ch1
sudo intel_gpu_top    # watch QSV load under encode

docker run -d --name restreamer --restart always \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -v /opt/restreamer/config:/core/config \
  datarhei/restreamer:latest
# Dashboard at http://SERVER_IP:8080

Path 2 — WHEP Gateway ISO Sebiu Labs Fastest

The WHEP Gateway is a bootable Debian 12 appliance built by Sebiu Labs. Flash it to USB, boot the server, run the setup wizard, enter your license key — and you have a running encode, stream management, and WebRTC delivery platform with a full web dashboard. No Linux expertise required, no FFmpeg config files, no systemd service writing.

For this 1U build, the relevant tier is Ultra, which adds native AJA Corvid and Blackmagic DeckLink capture card support, DVR recording with hardware RAID setup, and 24-channel capacity. The same ISO covers all three tiers — your license key determines which features unlock.

Setting up WHEP Gateway on this hardware

SDI card options — AJA vs Blackmagic

Scaling to 8 channels — AJA Corvid 88 Recommended upgrade

The AJA Corvid 88 is a direct drop-in replacement for the Corvid 44. Same PCIe slot, same NTV2 Linux driver, same chassis, same connector type. Remove one card, seat the other, and you have 8 bidirectional SDI channels from a single 1U appliance. The tradeoff: each port drops from 12G-SDI (4K60) to 3G-SDI (1080p60). For live sports, news, and multi-camera events this is invisible. The Corvid 88 is also supported natively in WHEP Gateway Ultra.

The Blackmagic alternative Budget option

Blackmagic DeckLink cards cost considerably less than AJA Corvid cards and are supported natively in WHEP Gateway Ultra and via the DeckLink SDK in the manual FFmpeg stack. The DeckLink Quad 2 gives you 8 bidirectional 3G-SDI channels for roughly the same price as the Corvid 88.

In general, AJA cards tend to be more reliable on Linux.

A second PCIe card — enterprise chassis required Not recommended

Keeping 12G-SDI on more than 4 channels requires a second physical AJA card, which cannot fit in the Sliger CX1700. The only route is a Supermicro WIO or Dell PowerEdge R640-class enterprise server with custom dual-card riser assemblies. This adds £2,000–5,000+ in chassis cost, significantly higher noise, double the thermal load from two capture cards, and enterprise management complexity. For the vast majority of workflows, the Corvid 88 at 8x 1080p eliminates the need entirely.

Scaling up — 4U rack with multiple appliances

A single 1U appliance handles 4–8 SDI channels depending on the capture card. When your production needs more — a stadium with 16+ cameras, a broadcast centre ingesting from multiple OB trucks, or a multi-venue operation — you stack multiple 1U appliances in a standard 4U rack shelf.

Each appliance runs its own WHEP Gateway Ultra instance with its own license key. They operate independently — if one fails, the others keep streaming. All appliances publish to the same network, so viewers see all channels through a single multiview dashboard or individual WHEP browser links.

Why stack, not scale vertically

Example configurations

Related guides

• What is WHEP? — WebRTC-HTTP Egress Protocol Explained
• How to Stream OMT to a Browser
• Low-Latency Remote Monitoring with WebRTC