Teleconferencing has been forced to improve rapidly amid the coronavirus pandemic, but Google’s new Series One Google Meet room kit is for a conference room, not your living room.
The new Series One room kit has an available 4K smart camera that uses Google AI to automatically adjust its field of vision and focus to the number of people in the room. So, if you have only two people sitting next to one another, it focuses on them. If one more person arrives and sits across the table from them, the camera widens its field of view to bring all three people into the frame.
It also includes a 20-watt audio bar that features a 2.5-inch woofer, a 1-inch tweeter and eight beam-forming microphones. According to Google, the latter can process up to 44 channels simultaneously, enhance voices, reduce background noise, and more.
Users can control the system through either a rechargeable remote or a 10.1-inch touchscreen, depending on the kit you choose. You can also skip the remote and use your voice for many controls, as the Series One system supports Google Assistant commands.
What’s more, you only need power to the Chrome OS-based Meet Compute System. The other pieces of hardware run on power over ethernet. You can also daisy chain multiple mic pods and audio bars to avoid having cables running all over the place.
The Series One room kits will have three main packages. The Small Room Kit will feature a 12MP HD smart camera, audio bar, Meet Compute System and rechargeable remote control for $2,699. For a larger room, the $2,999 Medium Room Kit has all the Small Room equipment plus a mic pod and a 10.1-inch touchscreen controller. The $3,999 Large Room Kit tosses in the 20MP Smart Camera XL, an extra audio bar and an additional mic pod.
The Goole Meet Series One room kit preorders will start soon.
