Let’s look at the video conferencing camera announcements
from Infocomm 2018.
Huddly
Huddly announced a partnership with Creston Mercury. I’m not
sure exactly what the partnership entails, but the Mercury has a USB camera
input so it’s my assumption any USB camera will work. It’s unknown if there are
some software/firmware features that makes the Huddly camera more compatible or
what. Maybe there is the ability to E-PTZ through the Mercury. Maybe the partnership is sales based.
The Huddly camera now comes in four different colors.
Altia Systems/Panacast
The Panacast camera has a resolution of 5120x1440. The Rave
video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmhYGHRxPYY
shows the output on an ultrawide monitor and the camera seems incredibly suited
for this type of screen. The camera also includes facial detection and the
ability to autozoom and frame participants. The main issue I see with this
camera is that I can see the camera overlap quite easily. They use three camera
heads and software/firmware stitching. The stitched areas have this pinkish effect
to them and I can see inconsistencies in the stitch. A casual user may not have
this problem though. There is also a significant fish eye due to trying to
capture so much scene.
Logitech
Logitech announced RightSense, a technology suite designed
for their cameras. This technology automatically frames the participants.
Currently, I don’t know if it automatically moves around based on movement (standing
up, etc). It also optimizes light balance and color as well as suppresses background
noise. It’s not apparent which cameras this tech can be married to other than
the new Rally detailed below. The ability to frame people is not currently
available per their blog.
Logitech also announced Rally, a modular system for
conference rooms. It contains a 4k PTZ camera, modular audio components and the
RightSense technology detailed above
HighFive/Dolby
I’m not sure if Dolby designed this camera or if HighFive
did.
This camera is 4k that intelligently adjusts to the
participants using facial recognition. This camera also has a whiteboard skew
feature like Cisco’s IX5000, which in my opinion simply can’t work as the
marketing department would like you to believe. Intentionally skewing the
whiteboard will result in the participant in from the board appearing
incredibly warped.
Another interesting item of note on this page: https://highfive.com/pricing/ is that
the product has 360 degree audio capture. I find that odd considering it’s
mounted on a display and where do displays typically get mounted? On a wall,
thus negating any need for 360 degrees of audio capture. 180 is probably
overkill and coning it to variable degrees based on number of participants
defined by autoframing would be infinitely better. Harder for the marketing department
to describe that though and harder for the engineering department to create.
HighFive also announced Best Buy as being a reseller of
their product.
Scintilx
Scintilx showed their intelligent camera that’s geared more
toward education than corporate video conferencing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33A0G2m64tQ
HuddleCamHD
HuddleCamHD’s cameras are USB/PTZ based with audio capabilities
built in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WlliaPGqac&t=5s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WlliaPGqac&t=5s
VDO360
VDO360 recently announced their AutoPilot camera tracking
system that constantly moves with the participant. While on the surface it
doesn’t appear appropriate for typical video conferencing purposes, it can be
useful for instructor led situations or video conferences where there is a
constant presenter.
They also showed their Saber (4k), TeamCam and CompassX
1 Beyond
http://1beyond.com/ptz-cameras
They showed an autotracking PTZ camera that uses motion and
facial recognition. They also showed their Collaborate AVS switching system via
a recorded demo. It’s unsure if this works as good (which is not good at all),
better or worse than either Cisco’s Speakertrack or Polycom’s Eagle Eye
Director as it wasn’t a live demo.
I found a video on their YouTube page that uses 4 cameras
for this switching. Ouch. I hope the cameras have red lights or some other identifier,
so you know which one is active. I won’t go into the inappropriate nature of
four cameras in odd locations in a room… https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=eVv_EdMSzgw
HELLO/Solaborate
I saw via Twitter that they were displaying their camera but
haven’t heard about any product updates or releases yet. I did read on their
website that it’s integrated with Amazon’s Alexa. Not sure how I would feel
about that integration in a living room with an operational camera involved.
Vaddio
Other than seeing that they were at Infocomm, I’ve not seen
any product announcements except for an in-wall box for one of their cameras.
OwlLabs
They are presenting at Infocomm, but I've not yet heard of any new advancements to their product.
https://twitter.com/OwlLabsInc
OwlLabs
They are presenting at Infocomm, but I've not yet heard of any new advancements to their product.
https://twitter.com/OwlLabsInc
Polycom
Polycom did not announce any new camera technology at this
years’ show.
Cisco
Cisco did not announce any new camera technology at this
year’s show.
What you’ll notice are the current trends of facial
recognition and participant framing. It’s becoming a standard feature in
cameras for video conferencing. Auto-framing technology has been around for a
while now and the technology still isn’t that good. Personally, I’m still of
the mindset that fixed cameras (or – once you frame it you leave it alone) are
much better for a video chat. The constant moving/framing is completely
distracting. Less distracting though than a switching camera, but still distracting.
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