Current testing methodology is v1.2
It seems pretty unlikely that working from home is going anywhere. Even now that the lockdowns due to COVID-19 have diminished, a lot of people have chosen to continue working from home.
There are empty office spaces all around the world because people are now quite happy to work in a distributed fashion.
One of the challenges of working from home is having a video conferencing setup that works well.
Enfokus AI-Based Intelligent Video Conference Camera
A top-notch video conference camera that makes video conferencing a breeze
TL:DR;
EnSonore has an AI-powered video conference camera called the Enfokus, which they recently sent to me, and I’ve just finished trying it out.
It’s not a small unit but it would fit quite well over a monitor, and you certainly can attach it to the back of your laptop.
The Specs
- Frame Rate: 2K at 30 frames per second
- Camera Resolution: 2048p resolution
- Microphone: 4 built-in microphones
- Ultra-Wide FOV: A wider angle of 180°
- Memory: DDR3 4 gig
- Speacial Feature: AI face recognition | Auto-focus & Tracking System
What’s in the Box?
- Enfokus
- USB cable (attached)
- Manual
Stuff I like
- Easy plug-and-play setup
- Uses AI-based intelligence in the camera
- Noise reduction and echo cancellation
- With auto-framing button which identify where you are in the frame
- Sounded pretty good
- It has built-in audio digital sound processing
Where to get it
While it’s pretty easy to use the camera and the microphone on your laptop, sometimes you just want a little something extra.
You’d want the camera positioned slightly differently than staring up your nose. You’d also like to have some microphones that allow you to move around a little bit while still getting some decent pickup, and having good two-way duplex conversations.
I’ve been on a quest for a long time to find an affordable video conferencing solution for our conference boardroom and also at home.
I need something that I can set up, runs easily, and doesn’t require me to use my laptop camera, which I find has an odd angle on it, even if it’s up on a stand.
EnSonore has an AI-powered video conference camera called the Enfokus, which they recently sent to me, and I’ve just finished trying it out.
It’s not a small unit but it would fit quite well over a monitor, and you certainly can attach it to the back of your laptop.
Tech Specs
The EnSonore Enfokus AI Video Conference Camera is a 2K video conferencing camera, which has a 202,560 by 1,440 pixel resolution. It encodes out at H.264, and has four built-in microphones.
The built-in speaker is a 2-watt speaker. It sounded pretty good as long as you don’t have the volume on your laptop blaring too loud, as this tends to make a pretty awful sound.
But that’s not the speaker’s fault. You just need to be aware that if it sounds like rubbish, all you have to do is drop the volume a little bit on your laptop or computer, then you’ll find it sweetens up nicely.
The EnSonore Enfokus video conferencing camera uses a USB-A type plug and is USB 2. The frame rate is 2K at 30 frames per second, which is pretty impressive. It means that it’s quite quick when you’re moving around.
Built into the memory, there is a DDR3 4 gig, meaning that it can cache quite a lot of information that’s being streamed through it. It also means there shouldn’t be too much of a slowdown or stutter in the video.
It works with Windows 7 and up, and Mac OS X and up.
The key features are that it has AI face recognition, so this isn’t your average video camera.
The EnSonore Enfokus uses AI to optimize how you look in the frame. It will zoom and pan based on where it thinks you should be sitting within the videoconferencing camera view.
It has built-in audio digital sound processing. It can handle double talk, so if you use this in a conference room with other people, it won’t cut anyone off even if multiple people are speaking.
Plus it also has built-in noise reduction and echo cancellation.
Setting It Up
The set-up of the EnSonore Enfokus video conferencing camera is relatively easy. It’s plug-and-play, with the USB plug. So, you plug it in without needing any drivers.
You might need to go into your system settings and select it as both the speaker and microphone for your computer, which I’ve demonstrated in the video on how to do on a Mac.
From there, it’s simply lifting the camera from the center of the housing, and the device will automatically turn on. It will then tell you what mode it is in and when it turns on.
You can clip it on the top of your monitor or laptop. You can also have it just sitting flat on a surface.
It does have a tripod mount thread, so if you want to put it on a tripod or a stand of any kind, it’s very easy just to screw that straight into the base. Then you’ll be able to move it or place it anywhere in the room.
Using the EnSonore Enfokus
Once you’ve got it mounted, you just need to lift the camera. It’s quite nice that when you’re not using it, you can fold the camera into the housing. This can make you feel quite secure like nothing’s staring at you.
When you do lift the camera and the video conferencing unit comes to life, it not only tells you that it’s awake, but it also gives you a red or green LED indicator at the base of the camera. This tells you whether it’s active or not: red if it’s not active and green if it’s live.
The only other button on the unit which you need to interact with is on the back of the unit. This is the AI camera button, which you can turn off or on, or pause.
When the AI camera button is turned off, then you just get a regular video camera experience.
AI-based Intelligent Video
The EnSonore Enfokus uses AI-based intelligence in the camera.
If you hit that little button on the back, and it says “auto-framing on,” then what it does is look at the frame, identify where you are in the frame, and it will automatically zoom in to create a closer crop of you, instead of including the entire room behind you.
This is perfect for people who don’t want their whole office, living room, bedroom, or studio to be shown in the frame when they’re on video conference calls.
As you talk, the camera will naturally just zoom in. If you move during the call, it will move left or right, or further and back. It will also adjust by being able to pan left and right, as well as zoom in and out on you to create a closer crop.
This is really quite effective, although as you zoom, you do risk creating a little bit more noise in the picture. That’s because digital zooms are still not at the point where a normal camera lens zoom is.
But this is more than sufficient if you’re just sitting at home on your laptop, doing work calls and conferences, making it a pretty cool little unit. And being able to just unplug and then take off the unit is very convenient.
Accessories
There are no accessories with the EnSonore Enfokus AI video conferencing camera. It comes with the manual and the unit itself in the box, which is actually all you need.
If you’re running a newer computer or laptop that requires a USB-C, then you’d need to get a USB-C dongle. But I imagine, in time, these guys are going to add a USB-C adapter with the existing cable.
Final Thoughts
I’ve found EnSonore Enfokus AI Video Conference Camera to be particularly good for use as a single person. If you want to use it as a regular camera for your conference room or board room, just disable the AI video camera function.
Do check out the photos above and the demonstration video in this post so you can see for yourself how well this works.
If you have any questions about this unit, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Endless hours of experimentation, professional work, and personal investment in Home Theatre, Hi-Fi, Smart Home Automation and Headphones have come to this.
Former owner of Headphones Canada, a high-end headphone specialty retailer.