Today I was on a Zoom call with the my team where everyone in the conference room was visible to everyone on the call. No, we were not using an expensive wide-angle camera perched on a vantage point in the conference room, but a compact standup 360-degree all-in-one camera from Maxhub.
The Maxhub UC M40The Maxhub UC M40 has a very compact tower-like design with 5MP camera lenses on all four sides. The fabric finish at the bottom of the device covers the speakers while on top there is a Alexa-like LED light that shows when the device is powered up. The mic indicator is on the top with the one-touch mute button, while on one of the sides there is a button to switch display from the immersive 360-degree view to a split four-cam view.
The Maxhub UC M40The Maxhub UC M40 has a very compact tower-like design. (Image Source: Nandagopal Rajan/ Indian Express)
The Maxhub UC M40 has the simplest set up possible with no need for any software installation to get started. I really liked this plus-and-play approach, especially the fact that it works with all conferencing software. The device has a USB-C cable option to connect to the computer and a power adapter. In the box, the company has packed a USC-C to USB-A cable which for me was pointless with the new MacBooks, so I used the charging cable of my MacBook to run the camera, which worked perfectly well.
For a Zoom call with the team, the camera showed up as an option as soon as I plugged it to the MacBook. I could see everyone in a strip view on the screen which was good. Usually I would just turn my MacBook around so that the camera can capture the room, but there would always be someone not making it into the frame, usually me.
When the video came live I felt it was a big vague on the full screen of the MacBook. So, I had to go to settings on Zoom and switch to HD mode. After this the video was perfect. When you click on the button on the camera, instead of the 360-degree view you get four separate images as recorded by the different cameras. This is quite good too and a bit more serious if you ask me.
The camera shows everyone in a strip view on the screen which was good. (Image Source: Nandagopal Rajan/ Indian Express)
The audio quality was good for those on the call and the speaker ensured everyone in the room heard those joining remotely well enough. Interestingly, the LED on top of the device lights up towards the side the audio is coming from, again a very effective feature.
Since the Maxhub UC M40 needs a power source all the time, I recommend this as an addition for your conference room table. This will cost you a fraction of the money required to set up expensive video conferencing hubs and still does the job perfectly well for most teams. At Rs 89,999, the Maxhub UC M40 is a product I wished my conference room had.
