eMeet is one of the small companies that emerged during the pandemic to fill the new competitive webcam space left by the increasing demand Best webcam Started out of stock. Prior to this, it released three cameras, two of which are cheap Logitech c920 clones, and one of them is Logitech c920 clones with built-in speakers for conference calls. In fact, I had seen the company’s C960 camera before and thought that the quality was not high enough to be fully reviewed.
However, the eMeet Jupiter webcam has changed this, not the quality but the absolute non-budget price, I think I have to question it.This is a $199 device that makes it compatible with high-end devices (such as Razer Kiyo Pro with Dell Ultrasharp webcamAlthough it does have a high-quality microphone and a built-in speaker, it provides some teleconferencing utilities for it, but its poor visual fidelity and simple software make it difficult to justify its high price, especially when it As an advanced webcam rather than a budget hands-free phone.
Well-lit room
eMeet Jupiter webcam
Razer Kiyo Pro
Dell Ultrasharp webcam
Since it costs $200, I tested the eMeet Jupiter webcam against Razer Kiyo Pro and Dell Ultrasharp webcams. These high-end devices come from more well-known brands and have the same price.
The sky on the day of my test was cloudy, but even if I opened the shutters and most of the ambient light in my home office was turned on, the image from the Jupiter webcam was as grainy, clear and overall as the $30 device I had seen Cheaper comes from this company, such as eMeet c960. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jupiter repurposed the sensors in these cheaper devices and tried to justify the huge price increase with other features that are more focused on audio. However, while these are impressive (more on that later), I doubt that they completely make up for the price difference between the webcam sensor and its own price.
The Jupiter webcam has a slightly wider field of view than the competition, but the fidelity is not even at the same level. In this price range, at least in what I think is the best lighting conditions, the artifacts are too serious to be a serious visual fidelity competitor.
Low light room
eMeet Jupiter webcam
Razer Kiyo Pro
Dell Ultrasharp webcam
Although Jupiter’s photos are closer to its brand-name competitors in low light conditions, it cannot compete with advanced features such as the light sensor of the Razer Kiyo Pro. When I closed the blinds and turned off all ambient light sources except the main desktop display, that particular camera showed almost no artifacts.
The Dell Ultrasharp webcam does show more artifacts than under normal conditions, but to a different degree than Jupiter. The two competing cameras also maintain more accurate colors and are not as sharp as Jupiter.
Overexposed room
eMeet Jupiter webcam
Razer Kiyo Pro
Dell Ultrasharp webcam
Artifacts on the Jupiter webcam are least noticeable in bright light. I tested it by pointing the webcam directly at the window. Unfortunately, nothing else is worth noting. Although Razer Kiyo pro has encountered similar problems, its images are far from usable under these conditions. Despite this, the Dell Ultrasharp webcam still shows the quality that can be achieved with other options at this price point in extremely bright conditions.
The credit for the Jupiter webcam is that its ability to capture the scenery through my windows is impressive, because it is not uncommon for competitors to display windows as blank paper. Unfortunately, this particular feature is more useful for photographers than those who buy cameras for video conferencing.
Video on eMeet Jupiter webcam
Still pictures cannot fully cover the functions of the eMeet Jupiter webcam, nor can it lack audio. This camera is suitable for both conference calls and home work, so most of its features come from its 4 noise-cancelling microphones. For this, I recorded a sample video as audio using the microphone of this webcam.
result? There is no delay or stuttering, but there are still artifacts and abnormal sharpness in the video. Nonetheless, the quality of the microphone is similar to what you get from a good head-mounted cantilever microphone. I can still hear the noise from the fan and air conditioner in the background, so I am skeptical about the effect of noise reduction, but since the webcam is partly used for conference calls, it’s nice to know that you don’t need a separate microphone for use. Make random calls.
The build quality of the eMeet Jupiter webcam
eMeet Jupiter is a heavy, sturdy device that looks a bit like a miniature camera in a cartoon or old-fashioned video camera. In other words, it is a long rectangle with a lens in front of it. This is a truly glamorous look, and it makes sense, because the extra space makes room for the eMeet Jupiter’s built-in top launch speaker. Unfortunately, the disadvantage of having such a large device is that it is not very suitable for posing.
Jupiter cannot tilt upwards, it can only tilt downwards at an angle of about 45 degrees. It can rotate left and right, but it can only rotate about 45 degrees.
On the bright side, Jupiter does come with a lens cap, although it is not always the most beautiful solution because it is constantly suspended from a rope in Jupiter, which is permanently fixed to the back of the device.
The monitor stand here is very stable, which is important for such a large device, and I was able to firmly connect it to a curved back monitor and a flat back monitor. As usual, there is a tripod screw hole at the bottom of the base.
Finally, the Jupiter webcam is equipped with a detachable USB-C to USB-A cable, and when I fully tighten it, its length is 78 inches. In contrast, the detachable USB-C to USB-A cable of the Razer Kiyo Pro is only 58 inches.
Special features of eMeet Jupiter webcam
The eMeet webcam advertises itself as having an AI auto-framing function, but in my experience, it is just an auto-zoom function, and sometimes it is too keen to adjust the zoom when it is not needed.
When it works best, auto-scaling only involves zooming the frame to put you in it when you reach the far edge of its field of view. If another subject appears out of view, it will also shrink to show that subject. You can also manually adjust the viewfinder in the eMeet Link app via the four large arrow buttons. However, it is important that these functions will not work if the camera is already in the maximum field of view. If you do not open the eMeet Link application, they will not work either.
In other words, although Jupiter will do its best to keep you on the screen, you can only access its “artificial intelligence” by artificially limiting the camera’s field of view. If AI is more powerful, then it’s okay-you can’t create a lens beyond the maximum field of view anyway-
But the limited framework here makes it feel like a trivial sacrifice. Nonetheless, if you want to stick to close-up shots mainly but zoom out occasionally to include more people in a call or to show off a subject in your background, then you can find some uses here. Or, at least if the function is always available.
Unfortunately, when I try to use it in an actual call, the auto-zoom feature often makes a lot of adjustments without rhythm or reason. It became very distracting. Although I didn’t change anything, it zoomed in or zoomed out frequently, and it was difficult to predict. It is safe to say that my colleague is confused. Still, when she walked into the room, it did zoom out to include my cat in the photo, and zoomed in when she left. This seems to be deliberate, not a lucky random adjustment.
In other words, don’t expect Nvidia Broadcast here. The camera does not constantly perform gentle and controlled panning to keep you in its center.
Jupiter webcams also come with a small set of video filters and post-processing options, although they are far from the level you can find in free software such as OBS and Snap Camera. Auto exposure and auto white balance are helpful, but the included “cartoon” and “black and white” filters are not like fun bonuses, but rather look more like your kids going crazy in the tone settings on the TV.
Finally, there is another big selling point of this camera, that is, its built-in 3W top launch speaker. For the webcam, the quality here is really impressive, the audio can be listened comfortably from 60%, and it spreads through about half of my two-bedroom apartment at 100% speed. For its value, I did try to listen to music on it, even though it sounds very small and echoing. You should use this camera for video conferencing. To test this, I called some friends and listened to some podcasts. I easily completed every episode and all my phone calls without missing a beat.
Combine this with the good microphone quality shown in the sample video I will post further in this review, and you will have a viable all-in-one conference microphone and speaker system. When using the microphone and speakers at the same time, I didn’t even experience echo.
Regrettably, this was introduced as an advanced webcam rather than a cheap hands-free phone.
Bottom line
The eMeet Jupiter webcam is a cheap camera sensor with a fancy name, attractive body and some teleconferencing functions, trying to justify the high price. Unfortunately, it cannot get rid of its rotten roots.
The fidelity of this camera is closer to what you would expect from a $30 device, rather than a $200 device. Its software is a barebones system with an automatic zoom function, which can be easily turned off when not needed.
The audio function is even more impressive here, which leads to the question of who it is for.
The marketing materials sent to me by eMeet about this device show that Jupiter is used as a typical webcam, plugged into a laptop for one person to use. For this purpose, it will become flat.
However, a large number of example use cases on the camera store page indicate that it is used as a room-wide all-in-one camera/microphone/speaker conference device. This is a product that we don’t usually review, but given that this camera seems to use a low-quality webcam sensor, I can’t imagine it has any obvious advantages over buying conference speakers separately and using any other webcam for video.
In other words, the camera part of the hardware does not mark it as specifically for conference calls. There is no 360-degree capture and so on. This is just a bad webcam on a cheap hands-free phone.
Don’t be fooled by the price of this camera. It is not as high-quality as the brand advertises.In order to get a real return on the $200 you earned, go Dell Ultrasharp webcam or Razer Kiyo Pro.
