I know. I have seen the ‘Halo Rooms’, at HP and at DreamWorks Animation Studios.
They are explicitly planned-for solutions that deliver exactly what you money pays for.
For the rest of us without 6-figure budgets however, Logitech has created their ConferenceCam series, of which we reviewed the very fine ConferenceCam BCC950 here.
As good as the BCC950 is, there is nonetheless a flagship device Logitech offers: the ConferenceCam CC3000e.
The CC3000e completely blows the completion away.
It is equipped with a full HD Carl Zeiss optical zoom camera with pan, tilt, and zoom functionality, an array of omnidirectional microphones, and best of all, compatibility with Microsoft Skype for Business (formerly called Microsoft Lync), which is the unified communications platform and standard in use here. It is also compatible with the consumer UC offering, Skype.
The detail presented by the 10x lossless optical zoom is extremely useful, allowing my to be able to zoom in on whiteboards in Lake Elsinore or blackboards in Port Harcourt.
It has touch controls, a remote control, 90-degree field-of-view, 260-degree pan, and 130-degree pan.
The Logitech ConferenceCam CC3000e even has NFC built into it!
I set up the CC3000e in my office at MedikLabs where it had to pan between looking at my ugly visage and a whiteboard used for my conferences.
What makes the CC3000e differ from other solutions I have used, and also the BCC950 is the crispness and detail of the video taken. In a word: superb. There’s nary any loss of detail even as I zoom closer to the dashboard. On the other hand, I have swiveled the view of the camera back to my face at zoomed distance quite a few times inadvertently, hearing my staff gasp audibly as my face permeates their vision. Which is undeniably funny.
In an unprecedented scenario last month, four staff members from Los Angeles were over here in Colorado, and we used the CC3000e to connect us to our on-site colleagues at a customer location in Marysville, California. What was most interesting about this was the level of engagement we had at this impromptu meeting which enabled us to not only resolve the issues that came up, but also allowed us to conclude the tasks that had brought the staffers to Colorado without having a trio of them dash off to Northern California to help resolve matters.
It definitely wouldn’t have been possible with even my former stalwart, the Microsoft LifeCam HD Studio.
The Logitech ConferenceCam CC3000e has the features, the OOBE, the application and platform compatibility, and performance required of a true high definition video conferencing solution. Moreover, it is portable enough to be easily transported to wherever it is needed.
Additionally, it is priced right, as I see that this very evening, it can be yours for the low price of $851 delivered by Amazon Prime, a discount from the MSRP of $999.
Resultantly, it is the recipient of the SmallBizWindows Superstar Award.
It is that good!
I have used and appreciated this device for the past few months. Alas though, sometimes very good things must come to an end. I have kept the CC3000e for an extraordinarily long period – Sorry A.F., my apologies! – and now, it must leave here.
I tell you this though: I see myself pulling the trigger on the CC3000e for both my Colorado and Lagos offices sooner, rather than later.
© 2002 – 2015, John Obeto for Blackground Media Unlimited
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