Poly Studio P15 Personal Video Bar review

Our Verdict

For the ultimate in professional video conferencing without the need for extra peripherals like an external microphone or speaker, the Poly Studio P15 personal video bar has everything you demand.

For

4K video
Built-in mic
Powerful speaker
Privacy shutter
Autofocus
USB ports for charging devices

Against

Massive
Expensive

Tom'due south Guide Verdict

For the ultimate in professional video conferencing without the demand for actress peripherals similar an external microphone or speaker, the Poly Studio P15 personal video bar has everything you need.

Pros

+
4K video
+
Congenital-in mic
+
Powerful speaker
+
Privacy shutter
+
Autofocus
+
USB ports for charging devices

Poly Studio P15 Personal Video Bar: Specs

Supported resolution: Ultra HD (4K 16:nine, 2160p), Full HD (1080p) and Hd (720p)
Diagonal field of view: 90 degrees
Focus type: Autofocus
Lens blazon:Glass
Built-in mic: iii-element beamforming microphone array
Dimensions:17 ten 3 x iii (2.v inches without monitor clamp)
Weight: i.81 pounds

There are webcams, and and so there are webcams. The Poly Studio P15 Personal Video Bar is certainly the latter. It's the largest and most expensive webcam that I've tested, and there are certainly smaller cameras that can go the task done. However, the Poly Studio P15 Personal Video Bar — a smaller version of the visitor's briefing room camera system — includes many of the features that you lot would detect in briefing cameras typically used for large-calibration video deployments. Features like premium audio and video, and compatibility with all of the major video conferencing services. But does all of this justify a college price and produce a better experience? Go along reading our Poly Studio P15 review to find out.

All-time webcams
Look meliorate on calls with the best band lights

Poly Studio P15 Personal Video Bar review: Availability and Price

The Poly Studio P15 Personal Video Bar went on sale earlier in 2021, and is bachelor on the Poly website for $599.00. Currently, yous can save 14% and it on Amazon for $519. At the time of publication, information technology was in stock on both websites.

Poly Studio P15 Personal Video Bar review: Compatibility

The Poly Studio P15 Personal Video Bar works with Microsoft Windows (Windows ten) and with macOS/eleven (Big Sur) and x.15 (Catalina). It has been tested and validated to be compatible with such video conferencing platforms as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, RingCentral, BlueJeans, StarLeaf, and 8x8. However, information technology's designed to work with any video app. The video bar has one USB iii.0 Type-C port (with USB ii.0 compatibility), and 2 USB two.0 Blazon-A ports.

Poly Studio P15 Personal Video Bar review: Design

The Poly Studio P15 Personal Video Bar arrives with a removable monitor clamp, ability supply, power cord, USB-C cable, and instructions.

It'southward piece of cake to attach the monitor clamp onto the video bar just using your easily since it simply screws in. While the video bar doesn't include a tripod, it's tripod ready.

Poly Studio P15 Personal Video Bar review — (Prototype credit: Poly)

The back of the video bar includes (from left to right) a Kensington security lock, USB-C port, power connector, and 2 USB-A ports. The boosted USB ports are quite handy for charging. In the center is the mount.

On the front of the video bar is a dial and the photographic camera is in the centre of the dial. If yous plough the punch to the left, the shutter closes, and a ruby diagonal line appears to betoken that the shutter is on. This feature provides peace of mind if you lot take privacy concerns.

For a personal webcam, the Poly Studio P15 Personal Video Bar is huge. It weighs ane.81 pounds and is 17 inches broad. I suppose you could call information technology a hybrid, since information technology's bigger than a personal webcam, only is designed for personal use similar a webcam. As you tin see in the photo to a higher place, the personal video bar is then big that I tin't mount it on my MacBook laptop — in fact, I had to hold it with 1 manus just to go on it from falling off.

I thought I would need to drag out an ultrawide monitor; nevertheless, the personal video bar fits nicely and is quite secure on this curved 24-inch monitor.

Poly Studio P15 Personal Video Bar review: Video and Audio Operation

As y'all would await from a webcam at this price, the P15 can provide Ultra HD, Full Hd and Hd options. The image is Full Hard disk (1080p). Ultra Hd is 4K sixteen:9, 2160p, and you'll need to connect via USB 3.0 for 4K video. The third option is Hard disk 720p.

The video is clear and the colors are true to life. Among other webcams that I've tested, I would compare the video quality to the Logitech Panache.

I'm not known for sitting all the same during video conferences. However, the auto-framing feature ensured that no matter in which direction I moved, the photographic camera kept my face framed. The photographic camera as well does a good task of maintaining accurate colors and adjusting the low-cal to match the lighting in the room.

The professional grade audio also helps to fix this video bar apart from webcams. With many cameras, you'll demand an external microphone and speaker to hear and be heard clearly. However, the Poly Studio P15 personal video bar uses a combination of features to ensure adept sound. First in that location'south a 3-element beamforming microphone array, which did a good job of picking up my vocalization while blocking background noise from my air purifier, TV, or the HVAC.

Also, y'all can go into the Poly Lens App to make the following adjustments:

Poly Acoustic Fence: enabling this feature blocks out background noise and configures the width of the audio-visual contend beam. Choices are narrow, medium, and wide.
Poly NoiseBlockAI: enabling this feature blocks such distracting sounds as newspaper being shuffled, or the sound of typing on the keyboard.
Anti-Flicker Solution: 60Hz is recommended in the U.S. and Canada.

In addition, there is ane control for the audio bass coming from the speaker, and a separate control for the audio treble.

These diverse features combine to eliminate the need for a standalone mic or speaker cluttering up my desk. Again, I need to insert a disclaimer hither. During my exam, I called my oldest niece, who attended college on a music scholarship. She thought the audio was "good," but not exceptional. Only how often do you plan on talking to someone who is an accomplished musician? And if her trained ear thought information technology was skilful, I'one thousand sure the boilerplate person would agree.

The speaker is pretty impressive too, and has a 100Hz to 20kHz frequency response. It's not the same as listening to my Klipsch R-51M speakers or a pair of the best computer speakers — but I would foolish to have the same expectation. And later all, I'm trying to mind to my colleagues, non DJ a party.

Poly Studio P15 Personal Video Bar review: App

The Poly Lens Desktop App makes using the video bar (and the other poly devices) much easier, equally information technology allows y'all to adjust a variety of features. The control panel includes options to adjust sharpness, white balance, exposure, and plough on backlight compensation. You can also choose your tracking mode, zoom level, camera movement, tracking speed, and frame size.

The ability to control the pan, tilt, and zoom through the app allows you to customize the video image and you can even relieve settings as Favorites. The diagonal field of view (DOV) is 90 degrees, and it's not adjustable; however, the zoom options as 2x, 3x, and 4x.

Poly Studio P15 Personal Video Bar review: Verdict

For the ultimate in professional video conferencing without the need for extra peripherals similar an external microphone or speaker, the Poly Studio P15 personal video bar has everything y'all need. Information technology's bulky, then this definitely won't be the device you achieve for when packing a suitcase. If you lot plan on being stationary, and y'all take an external monitor (or a tripod and enough of infinite), it's a good choice.

However, If you're looking for a more than budget-price webcam, the $129 Poly Studio P5, while not a video bar, besides provides not bad video and audio, and since information technology'due south much smaller, the webcam is besides portable. Another option — also much smaller — is the Logitech Brio, which is currently $199 on the Logitech website, and on sale for $145 on Amazon. Merely if you need a professional-manner video conferencing device in your home — or even a small office — the Poly Studio P15 is worth the investment.