Meetings are essential in any business. They help ensure business leaders and employees stay aligned and synchronize work towards their various goals.
In today’s hybrid and remote work age, video meetings also play a critical role in ensuring employees can connect with their colleagues and stay attuned to the company’s needs. With the right video solutions, businesses can strengthen company culture, make team members feel more “included” in everyday conversations, and boost meeting efficiency.
As any business owner knows, however, various steps are involved in building an effective meeting room. It’s not enough to simply have the right collaboration software in place. Companies must also invest in intuitive tools and hardware to capture essential videos.
360-degree cameras are an ideal way to ensure every person in a meeting room gets to participate fully in the conversation. These cameras eliminate blind spots, regardless of whether brands host a discussion in a large boardroom or smaller huddle space.
Here are some of the top 360-degree cameras for meeting rooms available now.
Owl Labs Meeting Owl Pro
The Owl Labs “Meeting Owl Pro” is one of the market’s most intelligent conference room cameras. This all-in-one 360-degree camera provides businesses with plug-and-play technology to simplify conference setup. The camera can deliver an effective 360-degree view of any room, with a wide coverage radius of 18 feet.
Aside from sensational video quality, users also gain access to 8 omnidirectional microphones, smart zooming technology, and a barrage of built-in connected features. The technology comes with software which automatically tracks the active presenter in any meeting, with the option to highlight additional presenters and speakers in a split-screen view.
Owl Connect allows users to pair multiple Meeting Owls in the same room to increase audio and video range by up to 2.5 metres in any direction. There’s even the option to leverage a built-in digital whiteboard to share meeting notes rapidly without loading up endless pieces of software to work alongside your camera. Features include:
- 1080p HD video with a 360-degree field of view
- Eight omni-directional beamforming smart microphones
- Three built-in speakers for clear in-room sound
- AI-powered intelligence system for speaker tracking
- Plug-and-play connectivity via USB-A
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 605 processing power
- Smart Room ecosystem with Wi-Fi connectivity
- Smartphone controls for touchless interface access
- Compatibility with all major conferencing apps
- Support for third-party accessories and microphones
Yealink SmartVision 60
Specially designed to support medium-sized Microsoft Teams Rooms, the Yealink SmartVision 60 is an inclusive and intelligent camera system. The solution comes with everything businesses need to run an effective video meeting in a single device. There’s an LED light indicator for Cortana status, a built-in microphone, and 10k Panoramic camera views.
The Yealink SmartVision includes a multi-stream people feed feature, which creates individual video feeds for four in-room active speakers at the same time. This allows everyone at the conference table to appear in the front and centre of their screen. There’s also support for hands-free meeting control, with built-in Cortana access, to help businesses create a more hygienic meeting room.
With two sets of multi-functional microphones cover a fantastic 20-foot radius, so you can keep everyone involved in the meeting. The built-in Cortana functionality allows companies to leverage automatic speech-to-text transcriptions, where speakers are identified by name. Plus, this tool integrates with a range of leading third-party devices. Features include:
- Two sets of multi-functional microphones for 6m voice pickup
- Camera mute button and microphone mute button
- 360-degree 10k Panoramic wide-angle camera
- Automatic privacy cap
- Multi-stream people feed for Microsoft Teams
- Hands-free meeting control with Cortana
- Automatic note-taking and speech-to-text transcription
- Sleek and portable design for compact spaces
- Automatic translation
- Five times digital zoom
- Integrations with leading hardware and Microsoft Teams
Kandao Ver 56
The Kandao 360-degree all-in-one meeting camera is a highly versatile conferencing solution designed to provide business users with a unique face-to-face conferencing experience. The comprehensive tool includes a 360-degree camera, eight omnidirectional microphones, and a set of 2 full-duplex speakerphones in one convenient package.
The plug-and-play solution is easy to implement in any meeting room, with a convenient interface for beginners. Like many of the top 360-degree camera options on the market today, the Kandao Ver 56 includes built-in artificial intelligence technology. The solution can automatically focus on the active speaker and split the conferencing screen into different sections with a panoramic view on top and a close-up of each participant below.
The Kandao Ver 56 camera can dynamically recognize whoever is speaking with smooth panning via a “presentation” mode. Plus, this tool can automatically link to all the top web and video conferencing platforms on the market, including Microsoft Teams and Zoom. You can even link in additional hardware from other vendors. Features include:
- Easy plug-and-play setup
- 360-degree camera with up to 8k resolution
- Omnidirectional audio system with 13 feet coverage
- Automatic noise and echo cancellation
- Discussion and presentation modes
- Light and colour optimization mode for camera shielding
- AI speaker tracking with close-up views
- Eight built-in microphones
- 30M video bitrate
Logitech Sight
Simple and sophisticated, the Logitech Sight tabletop camera has access to intelligent multi-participant framing for a phenomenal room view in any situation. This AI-powered meeting room camera provides panoramic views of your meeting space and individual speaker close-ups. There’s also available integration for a range of powerful software solutions, including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Workspace.
The technology built into the Logitech Sight includes a set of microphones capable of detecting active speakers and capturing all audio at a range of up to 2.3 metres. Intelligent video capture automatically frames participants based on who’s speaking in the conversation. There’s also the option to use smart switching technology, which allows the solution to choose the camera with the best view for all participants. With a built-in privacy shade, this ultra-secure camera is also great for compliance.
The Logitech Sight also includes access to Logitech Sync, allowing business leaders to monitor device and room health rapidly or deploy updates from a distance. There are also Sync Insights, which helps companies to understand how meeting rooms are used over time. Features include:
- Certified carbon-neutral design
- Built-in AI solution or speaker tracking and framing
- Compatibility with all leading video conferencing tools
- Seven beamforming microphones for exceptional audio
- 4K sensor resolution
- Logitech sync for device management
- Automatic echo and noise cancellation
- Pickup range of up to 2.3 metres
- Multiple deployment options with different mounts
- Plug-and-play simplicity
- Privacy shade for both cameras
Neat Center
The Neat Center device is a comprehensive new 360-degree video conferencing tool created by the team responsible for the Neat bar. Built for the future of hybrid and remote work, this powerful device combines omnidirectional audio with 360-degree visuals to keep everyone connected in the same web meeting space. The companion device extends the functionality of the Neat Bar, Neat Bar Pro, and Neat Board to boost remote attendee experiences.
With the Neat Center, companies gain access to a powerful 360-degree 3x lens camera and a phenomenal 16x omnidirectional microphone array. The Neat Center also includes access to advanced AI capable of dynamically analyzing meeting rooms and the people within them. The solution works similarly to all other Neat devices, with an easy plug-and-play functionality requiring only one cable. The technology also has a self-calibrating design to ensure it can be positioned anywhere.
Suitable for use with a range of meeting and conferencing software, including Microsoft Teams and Zoom, this new Neat device builds on the previous success of the various other collaborative tools offered by Neat to bring team members closer together, wherever they are. Features include:
- 360-degree visuals from a three-lens camera
- Clear sound via 16 omnidirectional microphones
- Simple setup with one plug-in network and power cable
- Automatic configuration for rapid meeting setup
- Integration with all other Neat devices
- Compatibility with leading video conferencing tools
- AI enhancements for speaker tracking and framing
- Built-in security and controls
- Inclusion-centric video capture design
Choosing the Best 360-Degree Meeting Camera for 2023
As video meetings continue to thrive as a crucial part of the standard workplace experience, 360-degree cameras are becoming increasingly popular. These powerful tools can help business leaders connect and align their team members with various innovative tools. The above options come with phenomenal visuals, exceptional audio pickup, and built-in artificial intelligence.
These solutions are also designed to make launching ad-hoc meetings easier in any landscape. With flexible mounting options and plug-and-play simplicity, businesses can get their meetings up and running faster. Some tools even come with access to remote management tools so you can monitor and track the health of your meeting rooms from a distance.
