Customer Ratings & Reviews

I have a love-hate relationship with this camera. The video quality is excellent (after some adjustment with the CamEngine software) and the onboard mic is solid. I'm also a fan of the physical shutter for the lens. It's an excellent camera... when it wants to connect. I'm not sure if it's a manufacturing issue or something else, but it worked fine for about 2 weeks and then started having weird issues being read by my device. Currently in the process of having AVerMedia send me a new one to see if that solves the problem since the return policy at Best Buy was up by the time the issues started.

This was an amazing purchase. i am a small content creator on kick and this has brought my stream to the next level. The great quality of the camera is great for everything and the 4k resolution is definitely a plus.

Bought for virtual meetings. Software and it work great on windows. Mac can be a struggle. Sometimes it won't respond, it also gets super freaking hot when it use on Mac. But does what it says and recent software updates have helped

I received the PW513 on Dec 24th. It says its plug and play but not a good picture quality with windows 10 camera app. The picture improved significantly after downloading camengine. I was satisfied with the picture quality after making a number of adjustments. My use for this was to integrate into our stream from another angle to show the streamer and setup area. This meant getting a USB extender. The liverstreamer wouldn't work. I tried a powered USB extender. No go. I connected a 10 ft USB c to usb3.0. Camengine showed up but no picture. If I couldn't use it for what I intended then this was too expensive compared to other options available as just a webcam. Plus, I already use a couple of sonys for my A cameras. The preset zooms would have been great if I could get the thing to power up at an extended range. All and all I was not wowed by the AverMedia Live Streamer PW513. I did return today for a Logitech C922 Pro Streamer. It worked fine right out of the box with the same extender I tried initicially with AverMedia. I'd save the scrilla and get a Logitech C922 pro. Works great from the get go.

Especially if primary use is a great webcam for Zoom, the PW513 hype exceeds the reality. That said, I purchased it primarily for Zoom and it does work quite well. What I really like about this webcam is that the AI Face Recognition is really nice for auto-zooming to include people in the frame (my wife in me, or jus one of us). This feature does not work well for us when we rather select auto-zooming to focus on the person who is speaking (might be great for larger group) b/c constant auto-zooming is distracting to other participants. We find the microphone works really well and is a significant improvement from our expensive laptop.

[Employee of bestbuy] Camera works great especially when you have good lighting.

Easy to use and great picture image, the delivery was faster than I expected

Very good and high-quality streaming camera for online and business use.

Not quite 4K and it's a bit old, but a good balance of quality and price

Before I bought this camera, I used an older Canon SL1 DSLR Camera with a capture card as a webcam due to all webcams being extremely back-ordered due to Covid. The camera was only outputting 1080p 30fps and was extremely grainy. I wasn't very happy with the quality and ended up seeing this webcam being reviewed on YouTube. Everyone I watched praised the quality for being better than it's relative competitor, the Logitech Brio. I set up the camera and when I turned it on the first time, I was slightly worried because it was very bright and washed out. I ended up watching a review by a YouTuber by the name of Alpha Gaming who walks you through the process of getting a very high-quality picture out of this camera. The only thing was I use a program called OBS or Open Broadcast System in order to set it up. After the initial tweaks, I was extremely happy with the quality of this camera.

Best camera I’ve ever bought for streaming. It does have its own software to use the camera it’s not that great, but will still functions good. You can use another webcam software for this .

Took me a little bit to find the software for this product: http://avermedia.com/support/download?keyword=pw513 Out of the box, its pretty bad, that's just how webcams are sometimes. As long as you get the correct configuration, its pretty solid. This isn't a $800+ Camera where you get all the fancy features but for a $250 it is pretty decent. This webcam was suppose to release earlier but was discontinued and they made this version of the camera and instead of $400 they dropped it to $250 for the same quality. Kind of preferred the price to be a bit lower though. So for streamers, if you're starting out on webcams, this is a pretty good start until you save up and use an actual camera with all the fancy features and stuff they offer. I personally don't really use webcams in the first place, not really sure why I got it, it just seemed cool. I'll see if I have anymore to add in the future. Thank you for reading!

I was so excited gor this but Within my first use of it, it just got really REALLY hot and kept turning off every 1-5 minutes as i was trying to stream. I do not recomment this at all. it had good camera quality but not great overall obliously due to oberheating and turning off issues. extremely upset and will be returning immediately…

very good camera for streaming, haven’t had any issues

The AverMedia Live Streamer Cam 513 is in a different league than its competitors. Out of the box, first impressions were the size of the webcam and its heft. Even for its large size it still clamps securely to the monitor and can be mounted to a tripod. The AverMedia is built for and focused on serious streaming. A thoughtful feature is an integrated privacy shutter for extra peace of mind. The webcam is adjustable on all axes and stays firmly in place. Setup was simple, just plug and play, however I recommend downloading their firmware updater and CamEngine software to get the most out of this webcam. CamEngine software unlocks many features of the webcam including video settings, facial filtering, effects, and AI face tracking. More involved settings can be found in OBS (Open Broadcaster Software). The effects are a bit gimmicky but are fun to to explore. AI face tracking works extremely well but requires 10-15% CPU utilization. The webcam came preloaded with the latest firmware. Microphone quality is spot-on with little background noise. Also, the privacy shutter has an opening to allow the microphone to be used with the shutter down. If you are planning on using the integrated microphone for streaming/recording I recommend using filters in OBS to remove the present background noise. Sporting a Sony CMOS sensor, this webcam can do 4k 30 fps recording or 1080p 60. Lens on the webcam is huge and boasts a 94-degree field of view. These specs make this the perfect camera for the serious streamer/content creator. Keep in mind that this camera requires direct lighting and some tinkering in the CamEngine or OBS to achieve optimal quality. Without adequate lighting this camera will look very grainy due to its relatively small sensor. Overall, this webcam is the real deal when it comes to professional streaming and content creation.

God, I am so glad I didn't read all those reviews before I purchased this or I never would have. I am a new streamer and pulled the trigger on this little guy and I couldn't be happier. Maybe that is because I don't know any better? All I know is it works great, the picture is superb (making sure you select high quality) and ya. Very happy. I also have used this to create HD videos for YouTube while I save up for a DSLR and am so pleased. Excellent camera.

Best webcam money can buy at the moment. Great image for the cost, easy to use if you know how to configure a camera. Perfect for streaming.

If you are willing to adjust the settings, you can get a better image than the Razer cameras. Does require USB 3.

I was sceptical of paying this much for a webcam but I admit, I don't really regret it at all. It's got software that allows for a decent amount of manual adjustment. Image quality is great. Wide angle is great. If you can afford it and want a solid webcam for streaming, etc. this is a contender for sure.

GOOD -4Kp30 and 1080p60 in raw 4:2:2 and MJPEG -Very wide field of view w/o going wall-eye -Pan, tilt, and rotate adjustments on base -Good mic pick-up quality -Threaded base for tripod mounting -Plug-n-play / no drivers or software required -Excellent software package for camera scenes and framing -Recent firmware addresses limitations at launch BAD -Fixed-focus / no auto focus capability -Up/down tilt range could be better -Requires a lot of configuration to get the most out of it -Documentation could be better -1080p60 capture requires very good lighting TL/DR It's way more webcam than the average person needs for basic video conferencing. But if you're serious about streaming, or if your job relies on quality video capabilities, the PW513 is one of the best, if not the best, USB webcams on the market. DETAILS If you just need a better-than-integrated webcam for your video chats and remote classrooms, the PW513 is way more expensive than you need. It's meant to slot in between $100-ish 1080p webcams and $500+ DSLR and IC cameras that professional YouTubers and Twitch streamers use. For the dedicated hobbyist that can't spend much on a main camera, or for the professional who just wants an affordable alternate angle / B roll camera, the PW513 can be a great option. A lot of people may say the PW513 has bad video quality, or that it's hard to use, and they preferred their cheaper webcam. While the PW513 is plug-n-play in that it doesn't need special drivers or software to work, it is NOT plug-n-go idiot-proof. Most consumer webcams have their auto exposure algorithm designed around casual home lighting. The PW513 uses a better sensor that can capture much more detail, but it needs more light to do it. If you leave it on auto settings without proper lighting, you will get poor results. If you properly set your lighting, exposure, and white balance, video quality will be far better than anything you get on a cheaper consumer webcam. It may look like a YouTuber is recording in a dark room, but what the camera records and what your eyes see is quite different. If you were in that room at time of recording, you'd see it was actually quite bright. You can download AverMedia's CamEngine software from their site and it's very useful in unlocking the webcam's potential. Sadly, the documentation is lacking and won't be much help. Users who know about subject lighting, light exposure adjustment, and white balance correcting will be able find the controls they need ( the recent firmware update fixes this a lot ). Others will have a harder time. Aside from basic exposure control, you also get overlay filters to add cat and rabbit ears to your face, if that's your thing. CamEngine also has software enabled pan, tilt, and zoom controls ( called ePTZ ) that automatically zoom and crop in the video feed to simulate the camera moving. You can create 15 presets and map them to hotkeys, allowing you to change change camera angle in real-time with smooth transitions between each. You can also enable an AI face tracker that does a fairly good job of automatically framing and tracking your face if you move around. It is fairly CPU intensive, though. For the rest of the hardware specs, the base can sit atop a monitor or on a desk, and it's threaded for common tripod or camera shoe mounts. It also has a friction gimbal on the base allowing full 360 panning and limited tilt and pitch control. It would be nice if the pitch range was greater, but it makes it very easy to square the base against your monitor frame and then angel the camera where you need it. The frame also has a flip down privacy screen and a surprisingly good stereo mic. It won't replace a condenser or lapel mic of course, but it's certainly serviceable, and the CamEngine software has an AI noise filter option as well. The camera is USB 3.0 only. Those complaining about no USB 2.0 support don't realize it's capturing and sending a LOT of data. The latest firmware update allows the camera to capture in 4:2:2 at all resolutions ( originally all 4K modes were MJPEG only ). The raw stream at 4Kp30 is over 100 MB/s, which is twice what USB 2.0 can handle. Using a current computer with quality USB controllers is highly advised. If you built your desktop, make sure you install the drivers for the add-on controllers and don't rely on the Windows generic drivers. Also if you don't understand cable attenuation, high frequency signals degrade a lot faster than lower frequencies the longer a cable is. The PW513 comes with a 5 foot cable in the box, but if you need something longer, you will need a premium cable to ensure a good connection. The big limitation is the PW513 doesn't have any auto focus. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does require some extra thought in your setup. The upside is you don't have to worry about the camera changing focal distance if you move your face in and out of frame. The downside is can't get any kind of depth of field isolation. The camera is very good at mixed distance wide angle shots, especially with the very wide field of view. Shooting something like a building/tool bench or a crafts table. The specs say 10 cm is the minimum focal distance, but I'd say anything closer than 18 inches starts to get a little fuzzy. I think a lot of the complaints about the camera glitching or freezing were due to the launch firmware. AverMedia's site explicitly says the 3 Jan, 2021 firmware fixed some freezing issues and the default auto exposure settings. I patched it when I first hooked it up and I haven't had any of those problems. As it stands now, this is a great webcam. Yes, you have to spend time to set it up right to get the most out of it, but that usually applies to most professional tools. The fixed focus limitation might be a turn off for some, and it does seem to require very good lighting when recording at 1080p60. But the overall picture quality and automated camera ePTZ are excellent. Yes, you can get better picture and video quality with with a DLSR or IC camera, but the PW513 doesn't require you to get capture cards, extra lenses, or lens filters either.