Logitech TV Cam The Logitech TV Cam (MSRP: $149.99) is an accessory that plugs into the USB port on the back of the Logitech Revue. The high definition 720p camera lets users make and receive crystal clear video calls using their HDTV display without the need of a computer. The high performance video is the result of the Carl Zeiss optics used in the TV cam. The product features a wide-angle lens and a 5x digital zoom so that you can capture either your whole living room or just a small section of it.
One Of The Interesting Features Of The Logitech Revue Is The Ability To Make HD Quality Video Calls
Logitech Vid HD Logitech's free Vid HD software enables high-definition video calls of up to 720p when used with the Logitech TV Cam. Once the TV Cam is connected to the Revue box, the user can launch the Vid HD app, which comes preloaded. If the video call is with someone who is not using a Logitech TV Cam with a Revue, they can download Vid for free onto their PC or Mac from www.logitech.com/vid.
Our experience with the Revue has been a positive one with good performance and a nice array of features. We did have occasional sluggishness with certain applications, but they appeared to be limited and isolated to specific functions. Hopefully these get resolved in future updates. Our DISH Network receiver integrated well with the rest of the features in the Revue and had no ill side effects. Netflix also worked very well and the HD video quality was excellent. Like many new products that are released, the Revue had some bumps in the road to overcome. However, it has certainly improved over the last 6 months and with the recent price drop, it has become quite a bargain.
The built-in videoconferencing application, Logitech Vid, lets you make video calls to anyone else with the Revue or with Vid installed on a PC or Mac. In my tests, the $150 add-on camera and its built-in microphone worked well; keyboard controls let me easily tilt and zoom the camera so that my image appeared the way I wanted it to.
Together, the Logitech TV Cam and Vid HD software enable high-definition video calls of up to 720p. To make a video call, simply connect the Logitech TV Cam to your Logitech Revue box, select the easy-to-use Logitech Vid HD app, which comes preloaded on the Revue box, and then sit back, relax and place a call to family or friends who are also using Vid. If the video call is with someone who is not using a TV Cam with Logitech Revue, they can download Vid for free onto their PC or Mac from www.logitech.com/vid.
Whether an organization is managed centrally or decentralized, LifeSize Bridge deploys easily and scales across existing resources, geographies, and standards-based video conferencing offerings. The product supports any codec, speed, resolution, layout or port without losing capacity or HD video quality, making it easy to support multiple conferences. In addition, LifeSize Bridge makes both scheduled and on demand conferencing simple for IT administrators and end users.
Gone are the days of downgrading the quality for everyone on multiparty calls based on the lowest common denominator. LifeSize has developed a new MCU architecture utilizing flat capacity that enables all users to have the same rich HD experience with minimal IT oversight and effort required. The LifeSize Bridge symmetric approach to both 720p60 and 1080p30 receives a high-quality video stream in and transmits the same high-quality resolution without distortion. LifeSize Bridge supports more than 200 resolutions and also features sustained frame rates, a customized screen layout per participant, and up to four Mbps throughput.
The ability to easily swap between shooting videos and stills is one of the greatest assets of the ZV-1, made easier if you are using the memory recall functions in the camera. These let you customize banks of settings that include your shooting mode (Auto, PASM, video and so on), exposure settings, image or video quality settings, and quickly swap between them.
All of Sony's picture profiles are loaded on this little camera and HLG, you could literally shoot a movie with this camera as it has mic input and Slog 3 for 12+ stops of DR. Also the 24mm lens is not conducive to the vlogging. It seems to have all the video option of my dreams including a built in ND filter. but review says "users that have no need for video or the video-focused features of this camera." There is even a histogram. Not to mention the 1 inch sensor that bumps the quality to near DSLR. What else is missing to make this a proper enthusiast video beast?
The video features are nifty, but in terms of stills quality it's like a time warp back to 2004 when the Canon 20D came out. A little worse actually, as most of the lenses were better on the Canon 20D.
Yes there was special topic in DPR before some time when both 1" zooms was very detailed compared. So this is not hot news.PDAF tracking is also needed for photos not only for video! Try to shoot toddler moving around with CDAF only camera and wide open. And let us know what you get.Also this camera has very fast RAW shooting mode with full PDAF, eye AF, and very fast electronic shutter. Maybe fastest on the market. If this is not relevant to photo features not sure what to say.What I am repeating like lantern this days - only problems that I see are too high base ISO and no 10 bit video/photo! This will be real good with 25 ISO and 10 bit! We need CPU from a7SIII inside and some fast HDR modes and this will make real difference.
Image qualityAs you'd expect from an all-digital connection, image quality was excellent with the Revue and the signals it passes through from a cable/satellite box. As always, if the incoming signal isn't good, the Revue can't make it look any better, but we didn't see any evidence of the Revue negatively affecting incoming HDMI signals.For video streamed over the Internet, it's highly variable, just like on your computer. Some stuff looks good, some stuff looks terrible. It's not Google TV's fault, but those thinking about "cutting the cord" and getting your "Daily Show" fix via the Revue should be aware that the video quality is significantly worse than cable TV. On the other hand, streaming video from more specialized sources like Amazon VOD and Netflix can look quite good, with the best of it approaching HD cablelike quality.
One of the biggest appeals of Portal devices is their powerful video calling capabilities. The Portal Go can make video calls through Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Zoom, plus it lets you participate in video conferences on BlueJeans, Facebook Workplace, GoToMeeting, and WebEx. The wide support for professional videoconferencing platforms helps take the sting away from the lack of Google Meet or Skype.
The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 have a decent build quality. They're mostly made of plastic and silicone-like materials, which makes them feel sturdy. There's also faux-leather padding on the headband and cups and a metal plate in the headband. They feel dense enough to survive a few accidental drops without getting damaged. However, some users have reported that their units' headbands cracked or broke over time, which points to issues with the build quality's durability. We haven't noticed this issue with our unit, though. Some of our team also use these headphones as their daily drivers, and they haven't encountered this either, so your experience may vary. However, if you have experienced this problem, please let us know in the discussions.
I bought a Wi-Fi–connected Slim Devices Squeezebox at the beginning of 2006, to experiment with streaming. When Slim Devices released the high-performance Transporter, I was sufficiently impressed that I purchased the review sample after measuring it for Wes Phillips's review in the February 2007 issue. I used the Transporter for several years,but after Logitech, which had purchased Slim Devices at the end of 2006, stopped supporting the Squeezebox devices, I put it aside. By that time, I had started using the Pure Music and Audirvana streaming apps, which I preferred to Slim Devices' SlimServer software (footnote 1). But every few months, I fire up the Transporter, feed it audio data over my network, and spend a nostalgic evening enjoying what it does.Given that history, it should come as no surprise that I eagerly agreed to review HiFi Rose's RS250 Roon Ready, streaming D/A preamplifier.The RS250Priced at $2495, this is a relatively small device, its front panel dominated by a large four-color touchscreen display almost 9" wide. To the screen's right are the standby button, a volume control knob, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. By contrast, the rear panel is crowded, by a pair of single-ended analog inputs and several digital inputs: coaxial and TosLink S/PDIF; USB Type B for connecting to the USB output of a PC or similar; USB 3.0 Type A for connecting to a storage device; and an Ethernet network port. The RS250 has one pair of single-ended analog outputs and three digital audio outputs: coaxial and optical S/PDIF and USB Type A. A video output, with a resolution up to 3840 2160 at 60Hz, is available on an HDMI 2.0 port. AC power connects to a 15A IEC jack. In addition to these wired connections, the RS250 does Airplay, DLNA, Roon, Spotify Connect, Tidal, Qobuz, and other streaming services.Internally, two ARM Cortex 64-bit processors—a dual-core Cortex-A72 and a quad-core Cortex-A53 with 4GB RAM—run the Android 7.1 operating system. The power supply is linear rather than switch-mode and features a configuration said to minimize electrical noise. The analog output stage features the relatively new ESS ES9038Q2M two-channel DAC chip, which has what is described as a "Femto Clock." Internal SSD data storage is an optional extra; this was not fitted to the review sample.That screen is what makes the RS250 both noteworthy and useful. When the unit is turned on for the first time, it prompts you to enter your time zone, country, and preferred language. After that, a horizontal stream of icons is displayed. There are so many icons that you need to scroll left or right to see them all. Some are self-explanatory—Music, Video, Qobuz, Tidal, Clock, Settings, In-Out Setting—while others are enigmatic: Bugs, RoseFM, RosePodcast, RoseRadio, RoseStore, RoseTube, CD Play, and CD Ripping. (The RS250 doesn't have a CD drive.)Pressing the Settings icon allows you to adjust things like the display brightness, the format of the clock display, the appearance of the VU meters that appear when music is playing, and rearrange the order of the icons. You can also check the operating system version and IP address, connect to a Wi-Fi network, and watch a tutorial video. An In-Out Setting icon allows you to choose an external input, digital or analog, set the input to Internal, where it defaults to the network input, and choose a digital or analog output. When you select the analog outputs, a gearwheel icon appears and allows you to choose one of seven FIR Interpolation reconstruction filters (see the "Measurements" sidebar); select variable output level or one of eight fixed output levels ranging from 100mV to 2.2V; resample the incoming digital data (choices are from 44.1kHz to 192kHz) or not; invert polarity; and apply correction for the bottom 8 bits with 32-bit audio sources.Phew.Setup and useWhen I first turned on the RS250 and connected it to my network by Ethernet, it assigned itself an IP address then told me that it needed to update its operating system. This it did, and the front-panel display identified the system as "3.8.13" and the audio firmware version as "XMOS 3115." I then set the time, my language, and my country.Roon recognized the network-connected HiFi Rose as an endpoint; I also connected the RS250's USB Type B input port to the USB Type A slot on the back of my Roon Nucleus+. When I selected the USB input with the RS250's In-Out Setting icon, Roon recognized it as an ALSA device. For CD playback, I connected an MBL N31 player's optical output to the RS250's TosLink input with a 1m length of AudioQuest OptiLink 5 cable. I learned that the RS250's animated front-panel meters don't function with the S/PDIF and USB connection, nor is the file's metadata displayed with USB data as it is with the network connection or with playback from an external memory device.I mainly used the RS250's single-ended analog outputs connected directly to the Parasound monoblocks, those in turn connected first to the PSB Synchrony T600 loudspeakers I reviewed in November, then to the GoldenEar BRXes. Playback volume could be adjusted with Roon's level control (network and USB) or with the front-panel knob or Bluetooth-connected remote control (analog and S/PDIF inputs and local media). Mostly, however, I used the RoseConnect Premium app (v3.04.27) from the comfort of my listening chair. This app requires iOS 13.0 or later, and my older iPad Mini runs iOS 12.5.4, so I installed RoseConnect Premium on my iPhone 11, which was running iOS 14.8. The RS250 was identified as "ROSE 5-D." I used the app to log in to my Qobuz and Tidal accounts, and the Tidal and Qobuz albums I had previously added to my Roon Library appeared in the Tidal and Qobuz album windows, both in the app and in the RS250's front-panel display.Some audio settings, I learned, are available only via the In-Out Setting icon on the front-panel display and then the gearwheel icon mentioned earlier. Based on my experience with the reconstruction filter settings with other D/A processors that use ESS Sabre DAC chips (footnote 2), I selected the "Corrected minimum phase Fast Roll-off" filter (see "Measurements" sidebar) and set the RS250 to play files at the original sample rates rather than upsample them. I don't have any 32-bit audio files, so I left "Lower 8-bit correction for 32 bit sound source" switched off.A Menu item allows the RS250 to access a music library stored on a NAS network drive. However, as my NAS is currently offline, I plugged a 16GB USB stick carrying some reference recordings into the USB 3.0 "In" port on the RS250's back panel. The RS250 recognized the storage device and asked if I wanted to scan the contents and create a database. Once this was done, after a delay the albums appeared in the app's and front panel's Music window. There was also an MPEG video file on the USB stick, and I could play this with the RS250, the video image appearing on the front-panel display. Selecting RoseTube with the app or display brought up a selection of music videos on YouTube. Similarly, selecting Radio and (in response to a prompt) selecting "USA" as my country brought up a list of internet radio stations.Footnote 1: Now called Logitech Media Server, this open-source app is still being regularly updated. It can be used with servers like the Antipodes K50 that Jason Victor Serinus reviewed in the November 2021 issue.Footnote 2: See for example, the discussion of the filters in my review of the Okto dac8 Stereo. NEXT: Page 2 COMPANY INFOHiFi Rose US distributor: MoFi Distribution1811 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Chicago, IL 60660(312) 841-4087hifiroseusa.comARTICLE CONTENTSPage 1 Page 2 Specifications Associated Equipment Measurements Log in or register to post comments COMMENTS QB-9 Twenty Submitted by Axiom05 on November 26, 2021 - 12:19pm Well, the jitter spectrum of the QB-9 Twenty looks good at least. I really should get my QB-9 DSD upgraded. 2ff7e9595c
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