Video chats have become an essential substitute for in-person visits during the current pandemic, but you might find that you need more than webcam hardware to make the most of the experience. Once you add a quality microphone and adequate lighting to the mix, you could be looking at serious cable spaghetti as well as a potentially hefty bill.
For its fourth Kickstarter, Californian audio/video gear maker Movo Photo has designed an all-in-one solution that squeezes a 1080p or 4K webcam, condenser microphone and LED ring light into a single unit, which comes with its own grip/stand.
"We're excited to help teachers, students, streamers and content creators up their game with the Movo WebMic HD Pro," said Movo CEO, Ben Halberstam. "We noticed the low-quality audio and video that people were experiencing while using their built-in or outdated webcams and microphones during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and wanted to provide an all-in-one solution."
There are actually five members in the WebMic family – though the solo microphone option isn't included among the Kickstarter pledge levels.
The HD Pro and 4K Pro offer the complete audio, video and lighting package. The 1080p model captures video at 30 frames per second, while business users and livestreamers might want to bump up the image quality by plumping for the 4K Pro version, which records at 25 fps. The ring light color temp is reported to be 5,600 K, and there are three levels of brightness here too.
The WebMic HD and 4K models, meanwhile, offer the same audio/video functionality as the Pro units but do without the LED light source. The cardoid condenser microphone modules in each flavor are promised to cut down on background noise and focus on the user, with gain adjustment and a headphone monitoring jack on board for extra control.
The Kickstarter campaign has already exceeded its funding target with over a month left on the clock. Pledge levels for a WebMic HD starts at US$89, a HD Pro comes in at $119, the 4K model will require backers to stump up at least $139, and a 4K Pro unit starts at $159. If all goes to plan, shipping is estimated to start in June.
Source: Movo Photo