HoverCam Leads Way Again with Solo 8 - World's First USB 3.0 Document Camera with 4K Resolution and Full-Motion Video

In 2010, HoverCam launched the world's first USB document camera shaking up the document camera market for K-12 schools. Four years later, the company is about to re-energize the declining document camera market with the Solo 8, the world's first SuperSpeed USB 3.0 document camera outputting uncompressed HD video up to 4K resolution at 30 frames per second. 

This is the first USB document camera with no image delay, ghosting or latency when displaying live video on commonly used 1080p resolution displays. USB 3.0 has about 10x the bandwidth of USB 2. The benefits of this breakthrough to teachers will include:

·      * Teachers can now show live video images of solving problems, working worksheets, modeling and more in full motion video with the convenience of a small document camera connected to their computer.

* Teachers can easily record high quality HD videos at their desk for "flipped learning".

* Since the Solo 8 is also USB powered, no additional power cord is required. And, because the footprint of the Solo 8 is small - about 2 inches by 2 inches - it can sit on a teacher's desk without taking up much space, available to use any time.

*    * Connecting the document camera to the computer via USB makes it more convenient for teachers to us camera images with their SMARTboards and other interactive displays. Moreover, with HoverCam's software, it's convenient to scan documents as PDFs directly to the computer.

          Other Key Features of Solo 8: Record and play back full motion, HD video at 30 frames/second. Annotate over video, even when recording.

·       Solo 8 incorporates an 8-megapixel sensor that outputs uncompressed YUV video at up to 4K resolution.  See close up details with amazing clarity. See text of an A3 double-page document more clearly than ever before.

·       Backwards compatible with computers with USB 2 connectors. Over USB 2, Solo 8 delivers MJPEG compressed 1080p video at 30 frames/second

·       The world’s first implementation of ASR (Adaptive Sensor Resolution) in a document camera. This method allows Solo 8 to use all 8MP of the camera resolution at all times and allows the camera to zoom using ASR maintaining outstanding image quality. 

·       Improved version of HoverCam Flex Software called “Flex 10” – which operates natively on Windows and Mac computers. The new software delivers maximum camera performance and improves the end-user experience. (Previous versions of the software were coded on top of Adobe Air.)

·       Improved OCR (Optical Character Recognition) performance for scanning a document into editable text.

·       Additional features: USB powered, small footprint and powerful software for scanning, recording video, slingshot, integration with interactive whiteboards, taking photographs, and more.

·       People are saying Solo 8 has higher performance than Elmo, Aver, Lumens and SMART document cameras at half the cost.  The Solo 8 MSRP is $349 and it begins shipping in April.

HoverCam have been demonstrating a Solo 8 prototype at trade shows this winter and the response has been enthusiastic, according to company officials. Teachers and tech directors appreciate the image clarity and smooth video images, they say. For additional information, please contact www.thehovercam.com

(The writer is VP of Sales for the HoverCam.)