Can This Budget Webcam Compete With The Best On The Market?

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Over the past few months, getting hold of a good webcam has become virtually impossible for some people. There has been such high demand from people working at home who need to take part in Zoom or Microsoft Teams meetings, some of the better webcams on the market have completely sold out or are fetching up to three times their regular retail price.

If the webcam that you had your eye on is out of stock or financially out of reach, there are some alternatives worth considering. Can these challenger webcams improve the sometimes-awful quality of many webcams built into some laptops?

When choosing a webcam upgrade, the first thing you need to consider is the resolution and frame rate that you want. At the top end, 60fps (frames per second) and 1080p resolution are good figures to aim for. That said, I would rather have a good webcam that delivers 30 fps and 720p resolution than a budget webcam claiming to be 60fps and 1080p.

Good webcams will not only offer HD resolution and higher frame rates, but some of them will have autofocus and even artificial intelligence to detect human faces and auto adjust the exposure so the user doesn’t end up looking like a silhouette when taking part in a video meeting in an unevenly lit room.

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The eMeet C960 is a 30fps and 1080p webcam that’s reasonably priced and looks a lot like the excellent Logitech C922 Pro that I reviewed earlier this year. For most video chats it’s not really necessary to have 60fps, and if there are bandwidth issues during the meeting, then a slower frame rate can help. Some webcams even have software that enables the user to choose a frame rate and resolution. Unless you’re juggling or doing exercises in front of the camera, a frame rate of 30fps is fine.

The C960 webcam doesn’t have any software to change its settings, but it is plug-and-play on both Windows and macOS computers. Simply plug the webcam’s USB cable into the host computer and the video chat software should automatically recognize the presence of the webcam as well as its two built-in microphones. Because there’s no companion software it’s not possible to tweak the C960’s color balance or exposure. Also, there’s no autofocus but the the focus is fixed at 5cm to 5m.

Inside the eMeet C960 is a 1920 x 1080p CMOS sensor with what appears to be a four-element plastic lens with a strong anti-glare coating. The webcam’s two microphones include noise-canceling circuitry for extra clarity. Each microphone is spaced far enough apart to give a fairly wide stereo effect. The webcam is fairly large and measures 12cm across.

Getting the C960 set up and working is very easy but it’s important to ensure that both the webcam and its microphones are selected as the inputs on the video or chat software being used.

The webcam has a stand that unfolds to enable it to be perched on top of a computer monitor or a laptop screen. Rubber inserts ensure that the webcam doesn’t move or slide around and a hinge mechanism tilts the camera through 90 degrees but there’s no panning adjustment. Finally, there’s a tripod bush on the stand that enables the eMeet C960 to be mounted on almost any standard or mini tripod for flexibility on placement.

The first thing I noticed about the webcam when I started to use it was its distinctive color cast. It looks quite green and that doesn’t do reproduce lighter skin tones particularly well. I thnk it made me look slightly queasy and off-color. The video image displays some noise and refresh rate can get a bit choppy and pixelated at times, although the quality can improve with higher light levels. This is not a webcam for cozy late-night web chats.

The sound quality from the eMeet C960’s microphones is fairly good and the noise-canceling can handle some background noises quite well. Even so, I think I’d recommend using a good headset if complete audio clarity is essential.

Verdict: The eMeet C960 is an acceptable webcam but it can’t compete on picture or sound quality with the likes of Logitech’s C922 Pro or StreamCam, both of which I reviewed recently. This is a more affordfable webcam than either of the two Logitech models but the absence of any software to adjust image quality or exposure is a bit of a shame. The slightly choppy and pixelated video would make me consider spending a little more to buy something that’s will be a significant improvement on the basic webcam built into many laptops. If you’re on a tight budget, the eMeet C960 is worth a closer look, but you can probably do better by spending just a little more.

Pricing: $69.99 / £49.99

More info: www.emeet.ai

Specifications:

● Sensor: True 1920 x 1080p CMOS

● Lens: Four-layer, anti-glare optical

● Resolution: 1920 x 1080 at 30 frames per second

● Focus range: 5cm to 5m

● Audio: Two microphones with noise canceling.

● Connector: USB A