Logitech's New Brio 500 Series Webcams and Zone Vibe Headphones are Designed for the Hybrid Work Era

[TheLostSwede]

Today, Logitech unveiled two new product series, Brio 500 webcams and Zone Vibe headphones, designed to meet the evolving needs of hybrid workers.A recent study showed more than 89% of work-from-home adults struggle with unflattering camera angles, poor lighting conditions, and field-of-view limitations when using a built-in laptop camera.* Brio 500 webcams and Zone Vibe headphones address the challenges users face when working from home, while modernizing work and play experiences. Both make it easier for IT managers to equip their organizations' remote and hybrid workforces in an environmentally sustainable way.

"Many remote and hybrid workers are still underequipped and grappling with pre-pandemic era solutions," said Scott Wharton, general manager of Logitech Video Collaboration. "Our innovative new genre of Brio webcams and Zone Vibe headphones answer the call of modern workers who need business-grade quality, style, and affordability for work and play. Transformational features like Brio's Show Mode open up new sharing opportunities for teachers, designers, and architects to easily present physical objects, notes, and sketches remotely over video."





Brio 500 Webcams
Created for those who want enterprise-grade audio and video quality, personalization, and more engaging experiences on video calls, Brio 500 series (Brio 500 and Brio 505) is a new class of webcams that solve the most common video conferencing challenges. Brio 500 series introduces the Show Mode feature that makes it easy to share sketches or other physical objects on the desk. With an innovative mounting system and built-in sensor that allows users to tilt the camera down to focus on objects, Brio automatically flips the image to render the correct orientation into video calls.

Stylish design and fashionable colors-graphite, off-white, and rose-give individuals the freedom to customize their workstation to suit their personality and taste. RightSight technology (enabled through Logi Tune) automatically frames the user, even when moving around, while built-in innovations like RightLight 4 automatically correct substandard lighting.

Zone Vibe Headphones
Logitech's new Zone Vibe series are the first wireless headphones in the market to combine business-grade performance with comfort, style, and affordability. Also available in graphite, off-white and rose colors, they are designed to be comfortable for all-day collaboration with colleagues and connecting with family. These lightweight over-the-ear headphones weigh just 6.5 ounces, and feature soft-to-the-touch knitted fabric and memory foam. See details at Zone Vibe 100, Zone Vibe 125, and Zone Vibe Wireless.

IT Management
For IT teams outfitting employee workstations and home offices, Brio series is plug-and-play, compatible with most video conferencing platforms and certified for Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Zoom. Logitech Sync integration with Brio 505 allows IT admins to update firmware and troubleshoot problems so hybrid teams can collaborate without missing a beat.

Zone Vibe Wireless presents the opportunity to offer employees enterprise-grade audio that's easy to use and looks stylish for multiple types of users so they no longer have to trade "looking good" for "sounding good." And because of compatibility with video conferencing platforms and the ability to push updates through Logi Tune and Logitech Sync, IT has fewer hassles and help desk tickets to manage.

Logitech's new webcams and headphones help workers thrive in today's hybrid era—professional enough for the office, perfect for working from home, while making it easier for IT teams to help users perform at their best and do right by our planet.

Sustainability
Brio 500 series and Zone Vibe headphones are certified carbon neutral, which means the carbon impact of the products has been reduced to zero due to Logitech's investment in carbon-offsetting and removal projects. The plastic parts in Brio 500 include certified post-consumer recycled plastic: 68% for graphite and black and 54% for off-white and rose. Zone Vibe is made with a minimum of 25%** recycled plastic.

Both product families are packaged in paper that comes from FSC -certified forests and other controlled sources.

Pricing and Availability
The Brio 500 webcam series and Zone Vibe 100 and 125 headphones will be available globally in September 2022 on logitech.com and at other global retailers. Zone Vibe Wireless headset will be available in December at authorized channels. The suggested retail price for the Brio 500 webcam series is $129. The suggested retail price for Zone Vibe 100 is $99.99; Zone Vibe 125 is $129.99; and Zone Vibe Wireless is $129.99.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[ZoneDymo]

the lack of specs and general reading makes me not have much confidence in these products.

 

[chstamos]

No windows hello biometrics on a 120 dollar webcam? Are they serious? The IR sensors are a few dollars worth of hardware. Pathetic

 

[stimpy88]

When it's all "lifestyle" and no specs, you know it's crap.

 

[Valantar]

Mass-scale business customers generally don't care about specs, so IMO that's reasonable or at least expected - they care about software certifications and the like. This also potentially explains the absence of Hello support, as many businesses don't allow biometric logins for security reasons (whether that's smart or not is another debate entirely). This just seems like an attempt at making business-oriented products slightly more appealing to users, instead of the millions of cheapo headsets and webcams that get stuffed into drawers and forgotten because they're uncomfortable, look bad, have very basic functionality, etc.

Those headphones look really good, but that cloth headband is going to get far too filthy. Hope they've treated the inside of it with something at least mildly grease-repellent. Also, there aren't many heatsets out there with boom mics that aren't either super-g4m3ry or falls into the boring/uncomfortable/'I work in a call center' segments. Seems to me like this could be pretty appealing - even if the cost is very high.

I also really like that the webcam has a privacy cover. Not having to unplug it after use is a huge boon. Specs-wise it mainly seems like an updated C922 - 1080p30 or 720p60, built-in privacy screen (new), supposedly better light handling, wider angle of view (90 degrees v. 78), increased zooming capabilities (specs say "hardware", but I assume that means digital zoom still), beam forming mics, tripod mount, etc. Seems to do what the C922 does or more, with some valuable additions. Just hope the quality has also improved, especially the dynamic range of the sensor.

Also, good on Logitech for the environmental parts of this, especially how they aren't making that into a headline marketing point. Though carbon offsetting is really dubious, at least using post-consumer recycled plastics (and a surprisingly high percentage!) is great.

 

[Xaled]

You want the most important spec (or feature)?
A webcam that is worse than %90 of recent mobile's phones' front cameras, in a big bulky heavy box.

 

[Valantar]

You want the most important spec (or feature)?
A webcam that is worse than %90 of recent mobile's phones' front cameras, in a big bulky heavy box.

That's very true. The problem is, mounting a phone to your monitor (or laptop!) is really hard; webcams have poor economics of scale compared to phones; and phones have very expensive SoCs and advanced software/firmware for image processing, which is difficult to match for a webcam that's universally compatible with PCs unless you want to make it really expensive by implementing a similar degree of processing in the webcam. Of course, it would be possible for a chipmaker to design a chip capable of doing that much more cheaply than a phone SoC, but it seems nobody has jumped on that opportunity yet. It might not be financially viable.

 

[1d10t]

I bet this is just another overpriced 720p 30fps webcam.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Mass-scale business customers generally don't care about specs,

While true, streamers have a wider audience and that Pink says its trying to appeal to the that crowd (and the home users), they care about specs greatly.

 

[Valantar]

While true, streamers have a wider audience and that Pink says its trying to appeal to the that crowd (and the home users), they care about specs greatly.

That's true to a certain extent, but the press release makes it plenty clear that business/WFH is the core focus here - at least with this core product release. A lot of these equipment makers are starting to understand that if stuff looks and feels nice, people will put pressure on whoever does the purchasing for their workplace to buy those - or they'll pay themselves for something with a suitable balance of "looks nice" and "feels professional". And business sales of these kinds of things outstrip home sales by orders of magnitude. They'll probably also try to market it to streamers (as a slightly cheaper alternative to the StreamCam, I would guess?), but most of the explicitly streaming-focused stuff is Logitech G, not the core Logi brand.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Review of the camera, for those that are interested.

Logitech Brio 500 Review

After a decade, Logitech has a new 1080p webcam

www.tomshardware.com

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

That's true to a certain extent, but the press release makes it plenty clear that business/WFH is the core focus here - at least with this core product release. A lot of these equipment makers are starting to understand that if stuff looks and feels nice, people will put pressure on whoever does the purchasing for their workplace to buy those - or they'll pay themselves for something with a suitable balance of "looks nice" and "feels professional". And business sales of these kinds of things outstrip home sales by orders of magnitude. They'll probably also try to market it to streamers (as a slightly cheaper alternative to the StreamCam, I would guess?), but most of the explicitly streaming-focused stuff is Logitech G, not the core Logi brand.

I have to disagree with this. There are two kinds of streamers, those that are good at it, and those still trying to get good. The former will want best quality whereas the later will wish they had the best stuff.

Logitech is not the best available so this Cam offering would likely be chosen given its price range. So yea there are a couple markets could targeted here.

 

[silentbogo]

Basically it's a slightly updated 920e, and the only marketable features are done in software...
What's weirder still, is that Logi won't budge on their pricing policy even after the fact that cheap competition, or equally priced superior cams are already on the market and there's no shortages.

 

[Valantar]

I have to disagree with this. There are two kinds of streamers, those that are good at it, and those still trying to get good. The former will want best quality whereas the later will wish they had the best stuff.

Logitech is not the best available so this Cam offering would likely be chosen given its price range. So yea there are a couple markets could targeted here.

That is absolutely true - but they already have the StreamCam for this, which is only a bit more expensive (and can likely be found cheaper given that it's been out for a bit), and has more streaming-focused features (like portrait mode).

Basically it's a slightly updated 920e, and the only marketable features are done in software...
What's weirder still, is that Logi won't budge on their pricing policy even after the fact that cheap competition, or equally priced superior cams are already on the market and there's no shortages.

Are there any superior cameras at similar prices? In my experience, cheap webcams tend to be utter crap, while expensive ones (like this, or my StreamCam) are ... mediocre at best. And that's pretty much what you get, save for a handful of highly niche options like that Elgato one that doesn't even have a mic. The review linked above shows an Insta360 camera that seems marginally better, but is $300 and has a bunch of extra features that you might not want or need (it's essentially on a miniature motorized gimbal).

 

[silentbogo]

Are there any superior cameras at similar prices?

Cheap-ass NexiGo. Requires some gamma+WB tweaking, but the image clarity is pretty awesome. Their 600-series is probably the best bang for the buck in low-to-mid-budget segment. The only downsides - very shitty built-in mic, needs tweaking for light conditions. 900-series has some interesting stuff, but those are kind a inconsistent.
Avermedia has quite a few options(310, 313, 315p etc).
There are more, just can't remember off the top of my head.
If my camera dies at some point(which 10 years and 2 cable replacements lateer seems to be an unobtainable goal), I'd probably go with Nexigo 660p, or blow my earnings on coke and hookers a shady, used Canon DSLR that supports webcam mode.

 

[Valantar]

NexiGo

Avermedia

Ah, I see. Brands with no presence/availability anywhere near where I'm located. Explains why I've barely heard of one of them, and for an entirely different product segment (Avermedia makes/has made analog video capture dongles, IIRC).

 

[stimpy88]

According to the review...

• Not budget-priced - Not Logitech's forte.
• Logi Tune software is not great - Since when has it ever been!
• 1080p 30Hz - Nobody want's less than 60 these days.

So basically, the same problems Logitech webcams has always had at an inflated price with a "new" sticker on the box, oh, and you can get it in pink! yayyyy.

This is 10 years of technological advancement for you boys!

 

[Valantar]

According to the review...

• Not budget-priced - Not Logitech's forte.
• Logi Tune software is not great - Since when has it ever been!
• 1080p 30Hz - Nobody want's less than 60 these days.

So basically, the same problems Logitech webcams has always had at an inflated price with a "new" sticker on the box, oh, and you can get it in pink! yayyyy.

This is 10 years of technological advancement for you boys!

In my experience few video conferencing apps even support 1080p60 (and instead aggressively scale resolution and framerate down to garbled mess territory at the merest hint of a bandwidth limitation), so sadly that's not much of a real world limitation (unless, again, you're streaming, which isn't what this seems targeted towards). At least it does 720p60. Basic, but expected.