Our true collaboration bar built for medium and large rooms works brilliantly with Microsoft Teams® Rooms and Zoom Rooms® software

Aug. 15, 2024 - Crestron has developed a premium audiovisual experience for medium to large meeting rooms that works brilliantly with Microsoft Teams® Rooms and Zoom Rooms® software: the Crestron Videobar 70 all-in-one collaboration bar. This solution delivers premium audio and images to in-person and remote collaborators right out of the box.

Developing this solution was part of an epiphany that came with the exponential growth of hybrid work: Every square inch of a building is now a potential collaboration space. From large conference rooms to small huddle niches, they’ll all likely need to accommodate some blend of in-person and remote workers.

That’s why an organization needs a blend of flexible solutions. And those solutions work best when they’re part of a larger ecosystem — not cobbled together from multiple manufacturers.

As Crestron surveyed our offerings, gathered input from our customers and dealer network, and studied the evolution of the hybrid workplace, it became clear that a new collaboration bar was needed — a solution for larger spaces that could be deployed at scale with minimal infrastructure.

The Crestron Videobar 70

The Crestron Videobar 70 all-in-one collaboration bar is designed to provide a premium audiovisual experience for medium to large meeting rooms. Built to deliver premium audio and images to both in-person and remote collaborators, this elegant Android™ OS appliance provides a best-in-class meeting experience for a variety of platforms.

Driven by the latest Qualcomm® chipset, the Crestron Videobar 70 provides massive computer power — and that technology ensures this collaboration will support future innovations and feature sets without replacing any hardware.

A Collaboration Bar That’s Packed with Features

The Crestron Videobar 70 has a truly robust array of features, including:

• Crestron’s superior intelligent video technology, a Visual AI-driven camera switching system that delivers a great video experience, including group framing and speaker tracking.
• Four high-quality cameras (one wide-angle supported by three narrow field-of-view lenses) tap into the Visual AI algorithm to frame the best image, ensuring that remote participants can clearly see every in-person collaborator in the room.
• A range that provides a clear view of even those furthest from the cameras — giving virtual meeting attendees all the nonverbal info they need to keep remote collaborators engaged.
• Speaker tracking functionality enhanced with composition: A picture-in-picture of the active speaker with a wide view of the room and a side-by-side conversation mode when there are multiple speakers.
• No less than 24 beamforming microphones built into the bar that capture the audio and accurately and automatically key on a speaker’s distance and direction for precise speaker tracking.
• A linear arrangement of those mics, providing better noise-reduction than other array designs and increased speech perception.
• A built-in privacy screen that automatically covers the camera array when the bar is out of a call, providing peace of mind for in-person attendees when they don’t need a videoconferencing component.
• Terrific stereo sound, free of distortion, that provides unmatched clarity and quality of dialog (or any audio) for everything from remote contributions to content presentations.
• Intuitive controls delivered via the included 10.1 in. tabletop touch screen.
• Thoughtfully designed mounting options that ensure quick setup and easy accessibility to the back of the device for speedy connections. ADA-compliant mounting hardware is also available.
• All the cables you need for connectivity and a PoE injector, too.
• Native Microsoft Teams® and Zoom Rooms® software integration.
• Native XiO Cloud® technology operations management platform integration — making it easy to push firmware or updates to multiple rooms at once and manage all your Crestron equipment on a single platform.

Speed and Scale: Setup is Easy Across Your Entire Enterprise

The Crestron Videobar 70 is the realization of a simple idea: Create a true collaboration bar for larger spaces that’s incredibly easy to deploy — even at scale. Just power the device, connect to the network, plug in your displays, and you’re ready to meet. A single cable connects to an elegant interface panel for one-touch collaboration and intuitive controls. Since it’s already integrated with Crestron’s XiO Cloud® platform, it’s a snap to manage and set up many devices across your entire enterprise, no matter the size.

The bar is instantly compatible with Microsoft Teams® Rooms and Zoom Rooms® certified meeting room solutions, and it’s a snap to manage Zoom Rooms software through Zoom Device Management (ZDM) and Microsoft Teams Rooms with the Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro Management Portal (MTR Pro). (Note: If you use a paid MTR Pro license as compared to the basic version — free for up to 25 rooms — then you can manage with the Pro Management Portal.) Add the simplicity of the Android™ OS to the mix, and you’ve got a device that’s ready to go right out of the box.

The Crestron Videobar 70 is yet another addition to the Crestron Flex ecosystem — a suite of products and services built to provide customers with the most choices to deploy solutions across any enterprise that relies on hybrid work. In fact, Crestron is the only hybrid meeting vendor with the product line to support any size room in your organization completely.