j5create - 360° All Around Webcam - White

This is great webcam that gives a 360 degree view of a conference room for the Zoom attendees. I didn’t have the budget for an “Owl”, but this is a great, lower cost alternative.

Remote meetings can suck less when you can see everyone who’s there. J5 Create specializes in innovative products that meet real world needs. My first device from them was to connect a 2nd monitor to my laptop which only has one HDMI port. The 360 camera follows the same tradition of doing a nice job for a niche need: fitting a group together to meet with other people. What I first noticed about this camera was its versatility. It has a USB-C connector, but also includes an adapter for use with USB-A ports. I used the camera on both types of ports that found it to be equally reliable. There are several modes the camera can be switched to. These include a full view of everyone around the camera as well as several options to go close on only a portion. A touch sensitive ring around the lens allows users to virtually reposition the close up image so that remote viewers can easily see who is talking. If there’s only one person, the camera can also be used like a traditional Web Cam. It’s worth noting the base can be detached from the camera so that the camera can screw into a tripod mount. Despite the versatility, the camera is relatively easy to use. It was recognized instantly by all three of the PCs I tried it with. Each ran Windows 10 and is less than three years old. A mode button next to the lens switches between the different options. Your local camera image graphically displays the mode you are switching to. If you miss it as you are going through, you have to circle around all of the modes to get back to the one you want. Image quality is on par with other moderately priced WebCams. The all-around camera does a nice job maintaining resolution even in the close up modes. In the full all-around mode, this means that everyone sitting around your table can be seen at the same time. Remote users will know who is in the room and local users will not have to play “pass the camera.” The only difficulty I found was when local users needed to see what was happening in the remote tiles. I solved this by having my laptop on the table facing half the users and connecting it to an external monitor which faced the other half of the users. In this way, everyone around my table could see what was going on without having to move around. There are microphones all around the camera which helped to pick up sound regardless of where folks are located around the table. In my usage, the microphone picked up as well as any other WebCam. Overall, this all around camera provides a great opportunity for families or other small groups To all get together on the same conference call without having to sit in front of separate offices, laptops, or web cams. The field-of-view is large enough that people can maintain some distance from each other while still being recognizable in the shot. I would definitely recommend it for those in need of such a tool.

This webcam is very easy to use. You plug it in at it works. If you desire you point it straight up and push one button at it becomes a 360 degrees room cam.

THE BREAKDOWN: This camera is very well built and feels solid. I found that for my use the single view it worked well. It was easy to setup and use. The camera itself feel solid and the base makes it feel heavy which is a good thing. It makes it not that easy to fall over and it is adjustable. It has long USB type A or USB-C cable that works with Windows 10 or macOS and I believe it even works with Chrome OS (I did not test this OS). I can verify that it was as easy as plugging in and using on both Windows 10 and macOS. I did not download any drivers or special software. I just opened Microsoft Teams and Zoom and started testing. This webcam does have a 360-degree swivel which makes it super easy to manipulate for whatever setting you need. This webcam also has a built-in microphone. I had no complaints on the microphone portion of the camera. Everyone stated that the audio sounded normal. The video is supposed to be Full HD 180p at 30 fps. This webcam had 5 built in modes. One mode is where there are 4 screens in a 180 degree view (2 on top and 2 on the bottom), 360 degree view with a large picture pointing at a person, another 360 degree with 2 large pictures, 360 degree panoramic view, and lastly the regular view as I call it where it is just one picture and the camera is pointing at you. Using the button to switch between modes was not as easy as it should be, I felt you had to know how many times to hit the button to get to the mode you wanted. For me it immediately went away after the first press and I couldn’t remember where I was, so I kept pushing the button several times until I got lucky and landed on the right mode. For the video I felt it was very lacking. It was pixelated and lagged for me. I felt the view itself was better than my built-in webcam but the quality was not. For the conference modes it does work well but due to the current state of the nation I was unable to test it with other live people in the room as I currently work from home. PRO’s: -Easy to install -Solid built feeling -Mic worked well -USB-C and USB A -Long cord -360-degree camera -Multiple modes CON’s: -Video was pixelated and laggy -The mode button could use a little more work SUMMARY: Overall, this product worked well and as intended, and I would recommend this to a friend if they are in the market for device like this.

I can’t wait for post-COVID to happen where we may go back to our work offices to co-create and co-work, and utilize conference rooms and tools uniting co-located and remote employees. This j5create JVCU360 webcam is a must-have to provide for an awesome conference call experience as four out of its six display modes, “All Around View”, “Host”, or “Dual Host”, and “Fullscreen” enable you to share video of a group of people, where its built-in 2-channel microphone, according to product specs, can pick up audio from 10 feet away (and as such, making the use of Polycom speakerphones optional/not necessary). You will definitely appreciate the almost 120 inches long cable with a USB-C & USB-A combo connector. Another cool feature is the touch bar around the camera itself that is enabled when you use the “Host” and “Dual Host” display modes which enable you to select the host or to control the viewing angle simply through swiping. The j5create JVCU360 is also good for individual use when using the 90-degree (single view) and/or 120-degree (wide-angle) display modes. As a work-from-home meeting facilitator, I would switch between the two modes and use the wide-angle one when I have something to also share that’s behind me, like a physical whiteboard (the same is true for onsite meetings, too, of course). I also find the camera stand most practical as it is adjustable from 7.6” to 9.4” (especially useful when the JVCU360 is placed right in front of you/if front of an external display) and tripod-compatible. There are no drivers to install, meaning, it’s Plug'n'Play on Windows, macOS, or Chrome OS systems, and the JVCU360 works fine with a lot of video conferencing tools. I got to test this camera with Amazon Chime, Cisco WebEx, Facebook BlueJeans, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom, and they all work fine with the JVCU360. You may notice a rather grainy video quality when in 90/120-degree display mode, which is something I shared with the amazing, enthusiastic, passionate, and highly responsive j5create support team to possibly look into and fix. It’s not really too much of a big deal when you use the JVCU360 for web conferencing as you would not put yourself or a meeting attendee to fill out your screen. I would not use this camera for video capturing/recording purposes, though, because the video quality is a bit too grainy in my opinion, and the cam does not adjust well to bright backgrounds. (I was not able to share a view from my window; the camera would not adjust to the brighter light condition and instead, show an almost white screen.) Don’t forget to download the JCVU Series Companion software from the j5create web site at: https://download.j5create.com/driver/JVCU_Series_Companion_Windows/download.php This companion enables you to easily select from the 6 different display modes (in addition to the mode selector on the camera itself) and via sliders, “Brightness”, “Chromatic Correction”, “Contrast”, “Hue”, and “Saturation” in the “Advanced Settings” tab. (Unfortunately, using this companion did not allow me to make necessary adjustments so that the camera would show the view from my window properly.) Let’s remember, the j5create JVCU360 is a web conferencing camera, and for only this purpose, I can recommend this camera to friends and family with 4 out of 5 stars.