While we know Insta360 best for their 360-degree cameras and action cams, they also make cameras for less recreational pursuits. The Insta360 Connect, for instance, is an all-in-one device for videoconferencing inside board rooms and meeting rooms.
Billed as a “dual 4K camera AI video bar,” it’s an all-in-one videoconferencing tool that’s laden with plenty of AI smarts, allowing it to automatically put all meeting participants in the frame and make on-the-fly adjustments on its own. More than a webcam, it’s got built-in speakers and a mic array, so you can get a complete videoconferencing setup by just plugging this one device to your PC.
The Insta360 Connect is equipped with dual cameras – a wide-angle camera and a telephoto lens with an integrated gimbal. The wide-angle camera is designed to put the whole room in the frame, capturing all meeting participants around the table with its 110-degree field of view, while the gimbal-equipped telephoto camera is meant to capture moving subjects and follow people around the room even when they’re on the move, with the ability to pan up to 35 degrees and tilt up to 20 degrees. Both come with 4K 30fps video capture, 3x digital zoom, and 48MP sensors.
Not only can the onboard AI ensure everyone is captured in the frame, it even offers a Gallery mode that cuts out each person from the frame and shows them individually, similar to a traditional webcam’s framing. It also has an AI that, essentially, doubles the effective resolution of each shot for better clarity, so it’s like you’re being captured from an 8K camera. When using the gimbal camera, the AI uses sound location detection, intelligent voiceprint recognition, and face recognition to identify which individuals are talking, then uses that information to correctly keep the right person in frame. It even supports multi-person tracking, allowing it to quickly switch between speakers in a fast and swift manner.
The Insta360 Connect has a single 20W speaker that should produce loud enough sound that can be heard clearly in a medium-sized meeting room, while a 14-microphone array picks up audio from the participants. According to the outfit, the mic can pick up sounds from up to 33 feet away, so it should be able to capture comments even from the participants sitting out in the back. It also has intelligent noise reduction tech that analyzes the acoustics of the room and cleans the sound before transmitting it to the meeting participants on the other side.
Lastly, there’s a whiteboard mode that can square off and enhance a whiteboard you’re using for presentations, giving remote participants a clearer view to ensure maximum visibility for the whatever you’re presenting. Other features include a privacy mode (conceals the main lens, mutes the mics, and tilts the gimbal camera down), dual-screen support, optional mounts (for wall and TVs), and compatibility with all major videoconferencing platforms. The outfit recommends it for small- to medium-sized meeting rooms, with a maximum of 16 onsite participants.
The Insta360 Connect is available now, priced at $1,999.
