HoverCam Solo 8 Beats Elmo TT-12i in Video Quality Shoot-Out Over USB

Whenever we show teachers and school technology directors how easy it is to use the HoverCam with interactive whiteboards, one of the questions they often ask is, “How do you show a live video stream inside the interactive whiteboard software?” To show live video inside IWB software with a document camera, the document camera must have a USB out connector. We thought it would be a good idea to compare two leading document camera manufacturers, Elmo and HoverCam, to see which product produced the best live video images over USB.

We did a side by side comparison of the HoverCam Solo 8 and the Elmo TT-12i using identical monitors and computers with identical processing power to see how well each worked over USB. The findings: At standard 1080p resolution, the HoverCam Solo 8 output full motion video at 30 frames/second, while the Elmo TT-12i frame rate was a painfully slow 1 frame/second. By setting the output resolution of the Elmo to XGA resolution – which is about 70% of HD 720p – its speed increased to 15 frames/second. But at that resolution, it was difficult to read the text of the Elmo video when showing a full page document.

Elmo claims on its website that the TT-12i can also be used as a webcam. While this is factually true, we don’t see merit in a low resolution, slow, blurry webcam. For webcam applications, the higher resolution, faster Solo 8 is more practical.

The Elmo’s MSRP is $885 while the HoverCam Solo 8 is $349. Displaying high-quality video over USB is not a luxury or an option for today’s classrooms. It’s a requirement. To see the video shootout, please click on the video below. To learn more about HoverCam Solo 8 and to request a free 30 day evaluation for your school, please visit www.thehovercam.com/solo-8 .

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