According to Frost and Sullivan in 2013 that said, "We believe that globally there are 60-70 million physical conference rooms. We estimate that about 5% of these are penetrated with video conferencing capabilities." A big part of the reason for such low penetration is the cost of room-based video conferencing systems, which can be hundeds of thousands of dollars for high-end telepresence systems. Many businesses simply get by with traditional audioconferencing "UFO-shaped" phones in board rooms due to the high cost of videoconferencing systems. Logitech, a leader in USB-based computer peripherals aims to change that with the new Logitech ConferenceCam CC3000e, which is launching today. Logitech sent me a ConferenceCam CC3000e which I plan to do a full review on after the ITEXPO show taking place in Miami this week.
The Logitech ConferenceCam CC3000e is designed for the 6-10 person conference and is super easy to setup. I unboxed my review unit and everything is clearly numbered and labeled so you know how to make all the connections. Since it uses USB you can use your favorite UC or Web conferencing application, including Microsoft Lync, Skype, Vidyo, and Cisco. In many ways, the Logitech ConferenceCam CC3000e is the successor to the Logitech BCC950 camera that I reviewed last year (image right). If you recall the BCC950, it featured 1080p HD video, 30 fps, high-quality omni-directional microphone/speakerphone with a range of 8 feet, and the ability to pan, tilt, and zoom from the unit itself or the included remote control. It also sports a 9" stem and a 78◦ field of view. The CC3000e has an almost identical looking remote control and it also sports the same fast auto-focus that the BCC950 had, but at a wider 90◦ field of view and with a 10X lossless zoom.
One of my complaints about the BCC950 was that the step motor was a bit jerky and the motor's sounds was picked up by the unit's speakerphone and sent to the remote calling party, which is a bit distracting. I asked Logitech is the CC3000e sports a smoother and quieter motor and they said that indeed it does. It also features PTZ controls and supports Far End Camera (FEC) control with certain apps.
The product sports a "hub" which sits on the conference table and importantly the product comes with a long 32-foot cable that connects to the camera. This long cable is essential since often your "mobile" laptop or even a permanent conference room PC is located far from where the projector screen or TV (plus the camera) is mounted. USB is limited to 15-16 feet so the 32 feet cable doubles that and allows you to "cleanly" snake the cable under the rug to the Logitech camera mounted above a TV. The hub, which you position on the conference table, also connects to the speakerphone and your laptop (via USB) using cables that are obviously shorter that the 32-foot hub-to-camera cable since both the hub and speakerphone are both positioned on the conference table within reach of your laptop.
CC3000e Features:
•Camera:
–90◦ Wide Field of View
–Full HD H.264/SVC
–10X lossless zoom, PTZ controls
•Speakerphone:
–Omni-directional 20-ft diameter range
–Noise/echo cancellation, full duplex, stereo/mono
–Bluetooth/NFC for pairing to mobile device
•Hub:
–Components centrally connected
–32-foot range speakerphone to camera
•Other:
–Camera and hub mounts
–LCD caller and function display
–Call and camera controls
–Kensington Security Slot
–Dockable remote control
The speakerphone has a LCD display that shows CallerID info and the speakerphone features your classic call control functionality - answer, hang up, volume up/down. One really cool feature is the NFC/Bluetooth pairing, which allows your to pair your NFC-enabled phone over Bluetooth just by touching your phone to the speakerphone. Definitely looking forward to trying this feature out. The Logitech ConferenceCam CC3000e has a $999.99 MSRP, which certainly makes it an affordable option for most businesses. I'm looking forward to seeing how well the 10X zoom works and the PTZ. Stay tuned for my full-fledged review!
Tags: bcc950, CC3000e, conferencing, fec, hd, logitech, lync, microsoft, skype, videoconferencing
Related tags: logitech conferencecam, video conferencing, conference table, camera mounted, control sports, logitech
Sponsored by Apex Technology Services, a leading IT Services company