Logitech Brings Webcams Upmarket with the MX Brio

There are certain products in consumer technology that have “moats,” so to speak. Namely, once you start using them, and try their unique set of features, or particular style, you can’t go back to other competing products, almost regardless of price. The most obvious example of this is Apple’s “walled garden.” Once you have at least two of their products and you see how well they work together, you don’t want to buy a competitor’s mouse or earbuds or headphones or tablet or laptop, because the conveniences of the shared ecosystem are too tempting. Other examples are if you find a particular email client you love, or notes app, or bookmarking tool – in my case, all three, with Spark, Obsidian, and Raindrop respectively. But more than any other device, Logitech’s MX Master series of mice are a necessity for me. Having used them for years, with their various configurable shortcuts and ergonomic feel and flying scroll wheel, it makes using any other mouse feel like a handicap. I recently reviewed their ergonomic MX Vertical mouse in these pages.Courtesy LogitechAnd so, when I heard about their latest webcam, the MX Brio, I was both excited and nervous. On one hand; this could be the best webcam on the market, outdoing a now competitive segment, against the start-up Opal, along with premium webcams like Dell’s UltraSharp or Razer’s Kiyo Pro Ultra. On the other hand though, it costs $200, and I don’t want to feel locked in to spending three-figures on webcams. For better or worse, I shouldn’t have been so worried because yes, the MX Brio is the best webcam I’ve tried on the market for the general user, but it’s also nothing revolutionary. It’s just the most refined version of an existing formula. To start with the basics, the Brio is a small, stylish bar, in either black, dark gray, or light silver colors, with a large round lens at the front. It’s chic but functional, and the lens can be concealed — with a satisfying twist — using its physical privacy shutter. It’s not too bulky on the monitor, and the attachment arm can be supported and stable on a laptop, and it connects through a USB camera. There are beamforming microphones on each side of the lens and — bar a dedicated microphone, like those from Logitech’s Blue Yeti line — they sound better than any headset or phone you can call from. Courtesy LogitechSimilarly, though the video quality will be crunched down through weak internet access or the blur of Zoom, the quality of the footage is among the best I’ve seen on a webcam, with images so clear and crisp that I was asked by one person whether I was using a DSLR camera instead of a webcam. This isn’t just because of its larger sensor than previous generations, but the use of on-board AI, adjusting lighting and color to create a great image even when the lighting is subpar.Webcam manufacturers often advertise that you could record a YouTube video with their products, and the general rule is that you could, but shouldn’t. The Brio is one of the rare exceptions to that; its AI-assisted focus tracking means that the white-balance, lighting, and focus are always automatically best set for your face, which it tracks in the frame, making for effortless good-looking footage, in either 4K at 30fps, or 1080p at 60fps. It also has an easy flip-down “Show Mode”, which lets the webcam instantly show what’s on your desk, for demonstrating charts, drawing or doing crafts.Much like their mice though, you can take this to the next level with their Logitech Connect+ software. Here, you can choose between three focal lengths; crop in on the image to center and focus on your face; adjust contrast, saturation, brightness and all other color and lighting settings, as well as set a custom white balance, to make the image warmer or darker; and you can make all of these app specific, should you want a different appearance on Zoom than when talking on Teams, for example. These tweaks are immensely helpful, and make preparing for a video call so much less bothersome.My only wish is that Logitech natively added some of the filter and AI tools that other companies use, so that these settings apply wherever you video call. It would be great to set a background blur and know it’s stable and looks the same across all video calls; just as it would be to have an eye-sight fix, like Nvidia Broadcast tool, which uses AI to fix your eye contact with the camera, so it looks like you’re always directly looking at the person you’re video calling with. These can be introduced in time with software updates though; whereas Windows Hello, which allows you to unlock your computer with facial recognition, is sadly missing, despite being on their previous generation of flagship webcam.Overall though, this is a fabulous webcam, and well worth the $200 that Logitech charges for it. If you’re looking to upgrade your work-from-home set up, or to start recording videos or streaming in a low-pressure way, it’s a great bit of kit. Just don’t expect something life-changing.

Logitech Brings Webcams Upmarket with the MX Brio

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