Logitech Rally Bar - All-in-one video conferencing camera for medium-sized rooms - Graphite

The Logitech Rally Bar is a professional all-in-one video conferencing camera from Logitech, specially developed for medium-sized conference rooms and spontaneous meetings in medium-sized meeting rooms. The Rally Bar is a combination of the products from the professional Rally series and the popular MeetUp conference camera. One device combines all functions and fits perfectly into any conference or meeting room. Thanks to the appliance mode, you no longer even need a PC nearby, but can start apps such as Zoom and Teams directly via the Rally Bar and start the video conference seamlessly. Experience brilliant visuals, with automated pan-tilt and zoom with integrated audio for meetings that can be heard and seen. The Rally Bar captures rooms at a width of 130° and a height of 80° with loss-free image quality. Set new standards for video conferencing in medium-sized rooms with the Rally Bar, which can also be used for larger rooms thanks to its numerous extensions. Thanks to the integrated microphones in the beamforming array, participants in the room are recognised at their position and amplified if necessary, while disruptive background noise is prevented. A second integrated lens recognises meeting participants and reinforces RightSight autoframing. All conference participants, even those who join later, are automatically recognised. The integrated speakers deliver room-filling sound and RightSound enables virtually distortion-free audio transmissions with maximum clarity. The Logitech Rally Bar is more than just a camera - it's everything you need for truly professional video conferencing.

The Logitech Rally Bar is a small miracle of performance. The compact housing hides a lot of technology and functions that will make your everyday meeting life much easier. The 4K camera from Logitech has a lens with a pan and tilt function. RightSight automatically moves the camera and adjusts the zoom so that everyone present is perfectly focussed in the picture.

While we're on the subject of zoom - one special feature here is that the Rally Bar has a 5x optical zoom and a 3x digital zoom. The optical zoom has the advantage that the image is not artificially processed. An optical zoom is therefore always preferable and for a system of this size, the optical zoom is a real unique selling point that can make all the difference. But a zoom is only one part of the perfect video conference. It is even more important that no participant falls out of the picture, even if they only come into the room afterwards. The Rally Bar has an additional lens for this purpose, which is only intended for capturing the room and its participants. You don't have to worry about anything - just leave this to the integrated AI and concentrate on your meeting instead.

However, the perfect alignment of participants is only one important component of a video conference, because there is more to conference and meeting rooms that can have an impact on a successful process. In offices, for example, there is always the problem of high room brightness or disruptive sunlight. Even changing light conditions can distract your counterpart, which is why Logitech has developed RightLight technology. The video output remains constant even in changing light conditions, so the view in the background or natural incidence of light does not have to be blocked by closed or darkened windows. Many video conferencing cameras have major problems with backlighting in particular, but with the Logitech Rally Bar you now have a solution that is convincing even in difficult lighting conditions.

Now let's move on to the subject of sound, because here too the Rally Bar offers a performance spectrum that you would not expect in this compact housing. The Rally Bar has integrated AI (artificial intelligence), which uses machine learning to recognise the differences between human speech and ambient noise and can therefore focus on the voice. This artificial intelligence is regularly improved by new firmware updates and is therefore available to you for the entire service life of the product. The AI is supported by Logitech RightSound. This technology suite optimises the sound processing, which enables professional sound for business video conferences. RightSound is optimised for voice transmission, reduces unwanted noise (such as fans and keyboard clicks) and highlights the person speaking so that every word can be heard clearly. An advanced voice detection algorithm even automatically increases the volume for quiet speakers so that no voice is drowned out. The Logitech Rally Bar's built-in beamforming microphones are optimised for up to 4.5 metres, so if you want to extend the range, you can always purchase up to 3 optional Rally Mic Pods.

The Logitech Rally Bar can work with any popular video conferencing software and cloud-based applications that you use on your Windows PC or MAC PC. USB connectivity with Plug&Play makes the Rally Bar compatible with virtually any video conferencing application. Currently, the Rally Bar is already Zoom? and Zoom Rooms certified and for Microsoft Teams as a USB device. The certifications for Microsoft Teams rooms on Android and other video conferencing platforms have already been applied for. The existing appliance mode is new. Thanks to this appliance mode, you can start supported video conferencing applications such as Zoom or Teams directly on the Rally Bar and therefore no longer need a PC in the meeting room. Perfectly thought out.

Setting up the Logitech Rally Bar is very simple: connect

laptop to the Rally Bar:

The Rally Bar is connected directly to the laptop via USB and HDMI cable. Either as a direct connection or, for example, via a desktop connection panel. To supply the Rally Bar with power and Internet, simply connect the supplied power cable to the Rally Bar and then plug a LAN cable into the back of the camera. To ensure that the image is also output on a display or projector, simply connect the Rally Bar to your display device via HDMI.

Connect the controller to the Rally Bar:

In this case, use the Logitech Tap as the controller. The Tap is connected to the Rally Bar via USB cable. In addition, connect the Rally Bar with a LAN cable for the connection to your network. Plug the supplied power supply unit into the camera and now you can also decide directly whether you want to connect one display or up to a maximum of 2 displays to the Rally Bar at the same time. Depending on which scenario applies to you, you will then need to run either 1 or 2 HDMI cables from the Rally Bar to the display(s). You can then use the Logitech Tap to connect notebooks etc. and control and manage them via the Tap.

Connect your own PC to the Rally Bar:

If you want to use a fixed PC to use the Logitech Rally Bar and then use Microsoft Teams and Zoom as a platform on it, for example, you can also do this very easily. Connect the PC to one or a maximum of two displays via HDMI. Then connect the room PC to the Rally Bar using a USB cable. Connect to the network via a LAN cable and plug this into the PC. If you are planning to use the Logitech Tap as a controller, connect this to the PC as well. Now simply take the power supply unit and connect it to the Rally Bar and you are ready to go.

By the way, the Rally Bar now also offers another great feature. There is a cover on the back of the camera and a practical cable organisation system hidden underneath. For neat and tidy cabling. Nothing should spoil the perfect overall impression.

Let us point out another option that should be of particular interest to managers: room utilisation data. You can use the Logitech Sync Dashboard to read out the room utilisation data recorded by the AI viewfinder's people counting function. This means that you can subsequently read out whether the meeting was as well attended as planned and draw conclusions from this afterwards. Such statistics are also always useful if, for example, you want to see at what time the room is most frequented or whether a smaller room would be sufficient for certain events. All of this is completely anonymous and GDPR-compliant and requires little effort.

Our opinion:

The Logitech Rally Bar is the perfect solution for medium-sized meeting and conference rooms. We would not have expected such performance and functionality in such an elegant and compact housing before our first test with the system. Anyone who has already seen the Logitech MeetUp and Rally in action will already have an idea of what the Rally Bar should be capable of and that is exactly what it ended up being. We had the Logitech Rally Bar installed in our conference room for testing: 8 people in a room of 40 square metres (of course in compliance with the current distancing rules of 1.5 metres per person) and a maximum distance of 5 metres from the Rally Bar. We tested the speech intelligibility of our counterpart via the integrated loudspeakers and naturally also wanted to get the opinion of our counterpart. The Rally Bar was completely convincing, both for us and at the other end of the line. Normally, you would need a proper PTZ camera, microphones on the table and external speakers to achieve such results. This is not only significantly more expensive to purchase, but also more time-consuming in terms of installation and day-to-day work. It's amazing what the engineers at Logitech have packed into this really stylish case. What we do regret, however, is that even with such a high-end product, the company still relies on wired speaker extensions. However, this would be the only drawback we could find in our test. Nevertheless, we can recommend the Rally Bar from Logitech without reservation. Anyone who is looking for a compact solution that is also scalable and places value on professional environmental conditions will be delighted with the Rally Bar. A great product that convinced us in all relevant aspects.

Plus:

+ 4K camera with 130-degree capture
+ Appliance mode - no PC required to start video conferences
+ Optical and digital zoom
+ A really compact and elegant design
+ Compatible with all leading cloud video conferencing systems
+ Room-filling sound for integrated speakers
+ The integrated AI functions have been significantly improved once again
+ Scalability and large selection of accessories

Minus:

- expansion microphones are wired and not wireless
- high purchase price

The Logitech Rally Bar is designed for professional users and is therefore not sold to private customers. Thank you for your understanding.