The hardware industry has several very good examples of product naming. The Intel Inside campaign and iPhone naming immediately come to mind.
At the other end of the spectrum one of the eager contestants is Logitech’s webcam lineup. It got off to a promising start in 2012 with the Logitech C920 – the best webcam of it’s time – but across the next 5 years, Logitech’s top webcam lineup bewilderingly grew with 7 puzzling names:
- 5 business webcams: the C930E, C920-C, C925E,the Pro Webcam and the Brio
- 2 consumer webcams the C922 Pro Stream and the 4k Pro
To clear up some the confusion I’ve made a comparison table:
| C920 | C930E | C920-C | C925E | C922 Pro Stream | Pro Webcam | 4k Pro/Brio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Launch | Q1 2012 | Q1 2013 | Q1 2014 | Q2 2016 | Q3 2016 | Q3 2016 | Q1 2017 |
| Consumer/Business | Consumer | Business | Business | Business | Streamers/Gamers | Business | Consumer/Business |
| FOV | 78° | 90° | 78° | 78° | 78° | 90° | 90°, 78°, 65° |
| Shutter | none included | external | internal | internal | none included | external | external privacy shield |
| UVC | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 1.5 | ? |
| H.264 AVC | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | no |
| H264. SVC | no | yes | no | yes | no | yes | no |
| MJPEG & YUY2 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Max resolution | 1980x1080 | 1980x1080 | 1980x1080 | 1980x1080 | 1980x1080 | 1980x1080 | 4096 x 2160 (DCI native) |
| Max fps | 30fps | 30fps | 60fps@720p | 30fps 60fps@720p | 60fps@720p | 30fps | 90fps@720p, 60fps@1080p, 30fps@4k |
| Windows support | XP/Vista/7/8/10 | 7/8/10 | 7/8/10 | 7/8/10 | 7/8/10 | 7/8/10 | 7(1080p only)/8.1/10 |
| Mac support | 10.6.x or later | 10.7.x or later | 10.7.x or later | 10.7.x or later | 10.9.x or later | 10.7.x or later | macOS™ 10.8 or higher |
| Linux/Other support | Chrome OS, Android v 5.0 or above | - | Linux | Linux | Chrome OS, Android v 5.0 or above | - | Chromebook 29 |
| Glass Lens | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Zeiss® certification | not anymore | yes | - | - | - | yes | - |
| RightLight | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | yes | 2 | RightLight 3 with HDR |
| Cable Length | 6 feet or 1.83 meters | 6 feet or 1.83 meters | 6 feet or 1.83 meters | 6 feet or 1.83 meters | 6 feet or 1.83 meters | 6 feet or 1.83 meters | 4.9 ft (1.5 m) or 7.2ft (2.2m) |
| Auto Focus | yes | yes | yes, 20 steps | yes | yes, 20 steps | yes | yes |
| Microphone | Dual Stereo | 2 omni-directional mics | 2 omni-directional mics | 2 omni-directional mics | 2 omni-directional mics | 2 omni-directional mics | 2 omni-directional mics |
| Noise reduction | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Other | - | - | - | - | Background replacement, tripod included | Background replacement, infrared sensor+LED for Windows Hello | |
| Part number | 960-001055 | 960-000972 | 960-000945 | 960-001076 | 960-001088 | 960-001070 | 960-001178 4k Pro, 960-001105 Brio |
Here’s the PDF version.
A few notes:
It took Logitech more than 4 years after releasing the initial C920 to release a new consumer webcam, the C922 Pro Stream
Carl Zeiss certifications
The newer C920 seem to have dropped their Carl Zeiss certification as noticed by @mjgraves. C920 which bears the Carl Zeiss certification on the webcam.
60fps (May 8th update)
Logitech has 3 webcams advertised as being capable of 60fps:
- the business oriented C920-C
- the streamer oriented C922 Pro Stream
- 4k PRO/Brio
But the C-925E also supports 60fps. We have a C-925E in the office and, out of the box, we were able to record 720p@60fps in OBS, XSplit and in Chrome when recording through WebRTC.
Microphone quality
The sound quality coming from the C920-C and C925E (wide form factor) is superior to that from the C920 C930E and C922 (classic C920 body). The difference can be easily heard in YouTube comparisons. I am not sure it it’s the wider space between the 2 mics, the different grille, different hardware or all 3.
The Logitech 4k Pro/Brio
Logitech has 2 names (and 2 part numbers) for the same webcam. Consumers get the 4k PRO with a nice looking packaging to attract buyers in stores while businesses get the Brio in a simple box. It’s the same webcam.
H.264 Advanced Video Coding
The 4k Pro /Brio is the only high end Logitech webcam that doesn’t include hardware H.264 AVC video encoding. Thus it uses all the 5Gbps bandwidth of USB 3.0 (equivalent to USB 3.1 Gen 1) to stream MJPEG (equivalent to USB 3.1 Gen 1) video which has to be decoded and reencoded by whatever video calling/streaming/recording solution you use. It’s sensor can record at max 4096 x 2160 (DCI native) and 3840 x 2160 (UHD).
E stands for H.264 Scalable Video Coding
The C930E C925E and the Pro Webcam support hardware H.264 SVC (Scalable Video Coding) encoding (which is different than H.264 AVC (Advanced Video Coding)). SVC is especially good for live streaming if your end point also supports it. All 3 are business oriented webcams.
