How intelligent cameras are transforming meeting rooms and education spaces

This article will look at some of the industry’s leading intelligent camera solutions for meeting rooms, board rooms, Microsoft Teams Rooms, training rooms, and education spaces.

Conferencing camera technology is evolving more rapidly than ever, from a hardware standpoint, as well as application development and platform support. In 2024, there will be multiple excellent options for organisations seeking to create a more immersive and inclusive experience for meeting participants with intelligent camera technology.

Two of the key trends we are currently seeing in the latest cameras are:

1. Intelligent multi-camera solutions

2. Immersive desktop camera solutions

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Multi-Camera Solutions

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Whilst integrated multi-camera solutions have been available for some time, they have traditionally required complex AV infrastructure and programming, with varying results in terms of performance.

Recent developments in hardware and software, including the ability to leverage machine learning and AI, have meant that a new generation of solutions offers improved simplicity and performance.

So why do our customers deploy multi-camera solutions?

In certain environments, a single camera can’t capture the detail needed to provide an optimal experience for remote participants. Whether it’s a 20+ seat boardroom table where participants struggle to remain in vew, or an auditorium where a presenter needs the freedom to roam the stage, providing multiple viewpoints without manual operation and direction is crucial.

Intelligent camera systems solve this challenge, allowing us to use facial recognition, microphone beam activation, or a combination of both to ensure the relevant person or people are shown in context at the right time.

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Immersive Tabletop Camera Solutions

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With the emergence of hybrid work as a primary modality in the workplace, it’s become more important for typical video-enabled meeting rooms to offer an inclusive and equitable experience for all team members. With research showing that visual equity impacts influence, perception, and outcomes in hybrid meetings, 360-degree camera systems with AI-powered facial recognition and framing allow all participants to be presented equally regardless of physical location.

Nearly all the latest generations of these cameras pair with front-of-room cameras and provide intelligent switching or picture-in-picture framing. This provides both equity for participants and a group perspective for remote attendees.

Crestron / 1 Beyond
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With the acquisition of 1 Beyond in 2022, Crestron has brought into their range some of the most advanced multi-camera solutions in the world today.

With the ability to design and build bespoke solutions for nearly any type of space, Crestron’s intelligent video systems allow us to automate multiple types of visual experiences.

Group Framing
Whilst offered in many solutions today, it is still an essential component of a smooth video experience, ensuring focus is on the right people at the right time.

Speaker Tracking
In a conferencing environment, speaker tracking allows automated switching to focus on an active speaker, following the conversation in a natural way for remote participants.

Presenter Tracking
Whether it’s a classroom, training room or flex space, Presenter tracking ensures the camera follows the presenter as they walk around the presentation zone, allowing them to move naturally without fear of transiting out of frame.

Dynamic Composition
One of the key differentiators of the Crestron Intelligent Video system is the ability to create and customise dynamic compositions, showing multiple views simultaneously to provide context and an immersive experience. Whether you are trying to capture a large boardroom environment or Q&A in a training session, dynamic composition helps bring the most challenging hybrid scenarios to life.

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Logitech Sight
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Released late last year, Logitech Sight, a companion device to the popular Logitech Rally Bar meeting room systems, provides multi-participant framing that helps remote attendees feel like they are part of the action as the conversation flows.

Because the video feed is combined with the Rally Bar camera at the front of the room, participants can always maintain eye contact whether people are looking across the table or at the front.

The device also contains a microphone with a 2m+ pickup range, which can help simplify meeting room designs and reduce the need for additional microphones.

Logitech has also advertised the ability to join multiple Sight cameras for longer tables, which will be enabled in a future software update.

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Neat Center
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In a similar vein, the Neat Center/360, scheduled for release next quarter, can be paired with a Neat Bar, Neat Bar Pro or Neat Board to enhance context and engagement.

With the ability to pair to the room’s system via a wired network connection, this device allows for an upgrade to existing spaces without additional specialised cabling, which will be attractive to many existing Neat customers.

A key differentiator for this particular solution is the ability for the camera to be installed on a table or hung from a ceiling mount above – which opens up a variety of use cases in flexible spaces.

The device also contains a microphone system, which Neat reports have a 3m+ range.

The Pro AV Solutions team is currently working with Neat to evaluate a pre-release model, so stay tuned for more details on Neat Center, which is currently working with Neat to evaluate a pre-release model, so stay tuned for more details on Neat Center coming soon.

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Huddly Crew

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Huddly has brought several innovative conferencing camera solutions to market in recent years, from the compact Huddly iQ to the powerful 6k Huddly L1 camera.

Now, the AI-directed Huddly Crew solution, “inspired by TV and movie production, ” allows for linking multiple Huddly cameras via ethernet to provide a simple but extremely powerful multi-camera solution.

The Huddly Crew solution has already picked up a Red Dot: Best of the Best Design Award, the Frost & Sullivan New Product Innovation Award, the Gold Design Award, and the Best of InfoComm Award.

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Yealink

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Yealink offers a multi-camera solution and a 360-degree table-top camera system in 2024.

Yealink’s multi-camera solution, typically suited to large or flexible spaces, can be deployed across various scenarios. The system’s AV hub allows for designs of up to 9 cameras, with flexible placement depending on your field of view requirements. Camera modes, feeds and layouts can all be customised to provide an immersive and inclusive experience without requiring a manual operator to switch and control cameras.

The Yealink SmartVision 60 panoramic tabletop camera is another option for improving visual equity in small to medium spaces. The 10k camera sensor allows for excellent detail, with facial and voice recognition providing individual feeds of up to four active speakers at a time.

With a Microsoft Teams-certified intelligent microphone and speaker system on board, the device can also handle voice recognition and advanced transcription features.

More inclusive and immersive experiences

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Along with traditional fixed frame and PTZ camera systems, the above solutions now offer some excellent outcomes for participants in what have historically proven to be more challenging environments and modalities for collaboration.

As more organisations continue to crystallise their structured hybrid working, learning and collaboration strategies, implementing more advanced camera systems like these will help create more inclusive and immersive experiences for team members and audiences, driving stronger connectivity in the workplace.

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