In today's digital and globalized era, remote work and video conferencing are becoming increasingly prevalent, so choosing a high-quality camera is particularly important. Excellent video quality not only provides clear images and true color representation, but also enhances the visual communication between meeting participants. Owl meeting camera is a popular choice, but I recently found a better and more cost-effective conference camera than OWL: Nuroum 360 Pro. In this blog, we will compare them specifically from different aspects.
Nuroum 360 Pro
The Nuroum 360 Pro stands as Nuroum's flagship offering, having undergone several updates and iterations to reach its current pinnacle. This advanced conference camera is particularly renowned for its specialized noise reduction technology, setting it apart from traditional models. By focusing on superior noise-canceling features, the Nuroum 360 Pro ensures clear, uninterrupted audio, creating a more focused and professional meeting environment.
Besides noise reduction, the Nuroum 360 Pro offers superior features like a full-duplex speaker, 6-element omnidirectional microphone and 360 angle coverage, ensuring crystal-clear audio and video for all participants. Its advanced design elevates remote collaboration, making meetings more efficient and engaging than ever before.
Meeting Owl 3
The Meeting Owl 3 is a standout product from Owl Labs, renowned for its sleek design in the market. As one of Owl's best-selling items, it captures attention with its unique appearance and cutting-edge technology, making it an essential tool for modern meetings.
The Meeting Owl 3 is equipped with a 360-degree camera, microphone, and speaker system, providing a seamless and immersive meeting experience. It automatically focuses on the person speaking, ensuring that everyone in the room is seen and heard clearly. These features, combined with its easy setup，make it a top choice for businesses aiming to enhance their collaboration efforts.
Hardware Comparison of Nuroum 360 Pro and Owl 3
Microphone Comparison
Nuroum 360 Pro excels in the audio and video industry, thanks to its cutting-edge technology and innovative design. Its proprietary chip incorporates ProperClean 2.0 technology and AGC technology, making it highly effective in both noise reduction and sound amplification.
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Noise reduction
Nuroum 360 Pro can remove more than 150 noises. Traditional conference rooms are often affected by disturbing noises such as air conditioners, footsteps, keyboards, colleagues talking, doors and windows opening and closing, etc. Offices close to the street will also have noisy vehicles and horns. ProperClean 2.0 technology can filter out these noises and only transmit the voices of the participants. But meeting Owl 3 only supports removal of 50+ noises.
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Echo cancellation
If the conference room is too spacious or if the walls, ceiling, or other surfaces are not conducive to sound absorption, sound can bounce and reflect, causing echo and reverberation. Surfaces such as furniture, decorations, or flooring that reflect sound instead of absorbing it can also contribute to echo and reverberation. For instance, materials like marble or tile flooring, or glass walls, can reflect sound waves. ProperClean 2.0 technology can eliminate echo and reverberation, making speaker's voice more clear.
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AGC technology
Nuroum 360 Pro can pick up a distance of up to 6 meters , ensuring that voices are picked up accurately and clearly. This is particularly useful in large rooms where participants might be far from the microphone. If you want to collect sound from a longer distance, you can use it with the Nuroum A15 speakerphone. In contrast, Owl with a pickup radius of only 5.5 meters may not be able to capture all sounds in larger conference rooms with dispersed personnel. And some customers reported that the sound reception of owl3 is not very good when the distance is more than 5 meters.
Speaker Comparison
Nuroum 360 Pro uses a full-duplex speaker so that participants can speak and listen simultaneously without delays. It allows one party to interrupt the other at any time without waiting for a pause, creating a more natural and dynamic conversation. Both parties can engage in spontaneous dialogue, making it easier to interject, clarify points, or respond immediately. Meeting Owl 3 which lacks a full-duplex speaker, communication can feel stilted because one person can't interrupt others instantly, hindering the seamless of the meeting process.
Nuroum 360 Pro can reach an output level of 83dB, which means the sound will appear louder and can cover larger conference rooms, making it suitable for use in noisy environments. The Meeting Owl3 can only reach 80dB, which may be drowned out by background noise in noisy occasions, making it difficult for participants to hear clearly.
Camera Battle
Compared to Meeting Owl 3, Nuroum 360 Pro stands out in its Sony Sensor and 360° camera, because of the following advantages:
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Higher Resolution: With max pixels 1200W, it can capture more details in the image, delivering sharper and clearer video quality, making it easier to discern facial expressions and details even in larger meeting rooms. Due to sony sensor technologies, it can capture more light, resulting in cleaner and less noisy images even in dimly lit environments.
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360° Panoramic View: Equipped with a fixed focus 1.41mm FOV 235 degree panoramic 360° camera fisheye lens, it ensures the camera captures every corner and participant in the meeting room, providing a complete panoramic view without any dead angle. Remote participants can experience the meeting atmosphere as if they were physically present, providing visibility of the entire room layout and participant positions. Besides, it supports auto light adjustment and auto-framing, ensuring picture clarity and sufficient field of view.
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Remote control: Nuroum 360 Pro has its own remote control, which you can use to turn on and off the camera, microphone and speaker, adjust the volume, move the direction of the image, zoom in and out, making users quickly adapt camera angles and settings to suit specific meeting dynamics or presentation requirements.
In comparison, the Meeting Owl 3 only has 800W pixels, which may be enough for general video conferencing, but not suitable for meeting recordings that require high definition. In addition, Owl 3 does not have a remote control, so users need to make adjustments manually or open the Meeting Owl App to make adjustments, which may be more troublesome and less flexible.
Remote Control Comparison
Nuroum 360 Pro has its own remote control, includes several primary function buttons for basic operations such as camera, microphone and speaker on/off buttons, power on/off, volume, zooming in and out, multifunction button and menu. You can use to turn on and off the camera, microphone and speaker, adjust the volume, move the direction of the image, zoom in and out, making users quickly adapt camera angles and settings to suit specific meeting dynamics or presentation requirements.
Meeting Owl 3 without remote control requires users to make adjustments manually, either through App on a connected device. This can be less convenient, especially if the camera needs frequent adjustments during a meeting. It is more appealing to users who prioritize straightforward, no-frills equipment. For smaller meetings or less demanding environments, this may be sufficient.
Indicator Light Comparison
Nuroum 360 Pro uses red, green and purple light strips to display different status and information.
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Green: When the conference camera is plugged in but not connected to a device, the indicator light turns green.
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Purple: Purple means the device is functioning properly, is ready, or has a good network connection.
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Red: When muted, the indicator light will alternately flash red and purple.
Besides, Nuroum 360 Pro has four buttons on the top of the device, allowing users to adjust the volume, mute or unmute, switch to gallery mode, etc. with just a touch.
The Owl Meeting 3 conference camera is known for its distinctive owl-like appearance, which is both functional and visually appealing. Its design features a cylindrical body with a smooth, rounded top that resembles an owl’s head. The camera lens is positioned at the top, giving it a wide field of view, much like an owl’s keen vision. The design also includes subtle details like textured surfaces and soft LED lighting, which enhance its modern and friendly look, making it a great fit for various office environments.
However, Owl Meeting 3 has one drawback – the buttons are located on the outside and lower part of the device. This placement may be inconvenient for users. To use the buttons, users need to lower their heads to find the button locations, which may disrupt the flow of the meeting. Although the owl-style design is visually striking, the button location can be improved to improve user convenience.
All-in-One Device Comparison
Nuroum 360 Pro is a device designed to integrate multiple functionalities into a conference camera, making it a comprehensive solution for video conferencing and meetings. It integrates 360° fisheye lens with a Sony sensor, 6 omnidirectional microphones, full-duplex speaker, 4 touch buttons and a remote control for adjusting settings like volume, camera angle, and other functionalities. It reduces the need for multiple separate devices, simplifying setup and reducing cable clutter.
The Owl Meeting 3 is a all-in-one conference camera designed to enhance virtual meetings with its integrated features. This device combines a high-definition camera, advanced microphones, and built-in speakers into a single, sleek unit. One of the standout features of the Owl Meeting 3 is its intuitive auto-framing and speaker tracking capabilities, which automatically adjust the camera’s focus to highlight the current speaker. However, the drawbacks of Owl Meeting 3 are the inconvenience of its control buttons and lack of remote control. This design choice can make it inconvenient to access settings or adjustments during a meeting, requiring users to physically handle the unit or reach underneath it.
Software Comparison of Nuroum 360 Pro and Owl 3
You can adjust Nuroum 360 Pro through Near Sync software. It includes device information, device setting, video setting and device upgrade.
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Device Setting: In the device setting, you can choose whether to flip the subtitles, and choose from three modes: global mode, speaker mode, and discussion mode. Global mode allows you to see the participants of the entire meeting more clearly. Speaker mode focuses on the speaker and his presentation. The discussion mode can capture the face of each discussant.
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Video Setting: In order to synchronize with the power systems in different regions and avoid the problem of light source flicker in the video, the software has 50Hz and 60Hz image frequencies, which will be set by default according to the power systems in different regions. At the same time, you can adjust the brightness, contrast, saturation and hue according to the light intensity of the conference room. Besides, you can upgrade the operating system instantly with NearSync, guaranteeing the latest and most functions.
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Device Upgrade: You can upgrade the operating system instantly with NearSync, guaranteeing the latest and most functions.
Owl Labs has the Meeting Owl App. You can install the App on any iOS or Android phone as well as Windows and Mac destop computers.
Lock&Zoom: The Lock & Zoom feature allows users to manually control and adjust the camera’s focus on a specific area or participant during a meeting. You can “lock” the camera onto a particular person or area, ensuring that it stays focused there, and zoom in or out as needed.
Presenter Enhance: It is designed to automatically focus and highlight the active presenter in the room. The feature uses smart tracking technology to keep the camera centered on the person speaking, ensuring they are always clearly visible.
360 Pano: The 360° Pano provides a panoramic view of the entire meeting room, capturing all participants in a single wide-angle shot. This view is typically displayed at the top of the video feed, giving remote participants a complete view of the room at all times. You can choose to open it if you need.
Nuroum 360 Pro: Cheaper yet Better
Nuroum 360 Pro was originally priced at $799, it’s currently on sale for $699, whereas the Owl 3 is priced at $1,049. The Nuroum 360 Pro conference camera is equipped with six omnidirectional microphones, offering outstanding noise reduction and an extended pickup range, ensuring that every voice in the room is captured clearly. Its advanced full-duplex speaker system allows for real-time communication, enabling participants to speak and be heard simultaneously without delays or interruptions. Additionally, the device comes with a remote control for convenient operation. With these features and its competitive pricing, the Nuroum 360 Pro is more cost-effective.
In the box, Nuroum 360 Pro comes with a USB cable, one power adapter and a remote control, so if your computer only has USB Type-A ports, you can use the included C-A adapter for plug-and-play use. The Meeting Owl 3 comes with an AC/DC cable, a 6.5-foot (2-meter) USB-C cable, and a USB-C cable that can be a hassle if your computer port doesn't match.
As for warranty, Nuroum 360 Pro provides 1-year warranty and optional extended warranty from 1-3 years, and meeting Owl 3 provides 2-year warranty, so you don’t have to worry about quality problems in the later stage.
Nuroum 360 Pro or Owl 3: How to Choose?
Huddle and small rooms
Both the Nuroum 360 Pro and Meeting Owl 3 are suitable for huddle rooms and small rooms, providing excellent performance in either setting. They are perfect for quick team huddles of 2-3 people or formal meetings of 6-8 people, like regular meetings or project discussions for small and medium-sized teams.In these environments, there’s little difference between the two devices, as both offer 360-degree camera coverage, effective audio pickup, and seamless integration with video conferencing platforms. Whether in a compact huddle space or a small meeting room, either device will meet the needs of the participants, ensuring clear communication and smooth collaboration.
Medium rooms
Nuroum 360 Pro is the better choice, thanks to its AGC technology, which enhances audio pickup and allows it to capture voices from greater distances. Additionally, the Nuroum 360 Pro comes with a remote control for easy operation, making it more convenient in larger spaces. In contrast, the Meeting OWL 3 struggles with audio capture beyond 5 meters and lacks a remote control, making it less suitable for larger room setups.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Nuroum 360 Pro is currently priced at $699, offering a more competitive price compared to the Owl 3, which costs $1,049. In terms of hardware, the Nuroum 360 Pro is equipped with 6 omnidirectional microphones with a pickup distance of up to 6 meters that effectively eliminate echo and reverberation. Its AGC technology ensures automatic volume enhancement, and the full-duplex speaker allows real-time, delay-free communication, enabling one party to interrupt the other at any moment. Additionally, it comes with a remote control for convenient operation. On the software side, Nuroum's NearSync software allows users to adjust parameters, providing greater flexibility and a better user experience.
The Meeting Owl 3 also excels in several areas, particularly with its 8 omni-directional microphones and 360° camera, offering a solid overall experience for meetings and conference rooms. Its advanced camera delivers clear, panoramic views, ensuring that all participants are visible in a room. However, the Owl 3 has some drawbacks. Its microphones, while effective at closer distances, struggle to pick up sound from farther away, which may affect larger rooms or participants seated at a distance. Additionally, Owl 3 lacks remote control, making it less convenient for users to manage settings or adjustments from a distance. The placement of its four control buttons is also not particularly user-friendly. Given that the Nuroum 360 Pro can meet a wider range of meeting needs, whether for small or large conference rooms, and with its more affordable price, we recommend the Nuroum 360 Pro.
