Neat Center is a companion device that extends the power of Neat devices by enabling remote attendees to see and hear those in the meeting room better than ever, regardless of where in-room participants are seated or looking. Pairing with main Neat devices such as Neat Bar, Neat Bar Gen 2, Neat Bar Pro and Neat Board, Neat Center further addresses the balance between remote attendees and in-room participants. It brings remote attendees to the center of the conversation for greater equity and inclusion, elevating the sense of everyone being in the room together. For example, when those in the room turn away from the main Neat device to talk among themselves, Neat Center gives remote attendees clear and unobtrusive audiovisuals, helping them maintain conversational context and pick up on any nonverbal cues.

Both Neat Center microphones and the main Neat device microphones will be used during calls. The devices will automatically sense which microphones are best suited to pick up who is currently speaking in the room, and those microphones will then be used to send the speaker’s voice to the rest of the meeting participants.

Yes!

• Flexibility: Distance from main Neat device is flexible and no fixed distance required. Neat Center does not need to be mounted in a fixed position so customers can be flexible on where to place it to provide the most ideal experience for remote participants.
• 3 cameras combined for 360 degree coverage capturing the entire room
• Capturing everyone on video, including people not speaking
• More microphones. 16 to be exact.
• Only one cable – POE and pairing over network for setup
• Mounting options
  • Free standing (tripod compatible)
  • Fixed to table
  • Ceiling mounted
• Integrated cameras designed to not protrude out making them less vulnerable to breakage if falling over

No. Neat Center is a companion to other Neat devices.

Neat Center connects to Neat devices including Neat Bar, Neat Bar Gen 2, Neat Bar Pro, Neat Board, and Neat Board 50.

Yes. Neat Center connects to the network via Power over Ethernet.

Neat Center can only be paired to one main Neat device at a time. But it can easily be unpaired and moved to pair with another main Neat device. 

We don’t support pairing multiple Centers to a main device as of today.

The ability to pair an additional Neat Center device is on the roadmap. ETA will be provided in the future as we are exploring this functionality.

No. Neat Center is designed to work with Neat devices and will not support third-party video devices. Neat Center has intelligence that works together with Neat devices to enhance the meeting experience for far-end meeting participants.

Neat Center will pair with your Neat video device over the network.

Neat Center has built-in Wi-Fi for future use.

Yes, Neat Center has a Kensington compatible lock slot.

Neat Center houses an omnidirectional 3x lens camera and a 16 element circular microphone array.

No. There is no privacy shutter on Neat Center.

All you need is in the box. We offer a range of mounting options to suit your needs this includes free standing on the table, fixed to the table and hanging from the ceiling.

Yes. There is a tripod screw mount on the bottom of Neat Center.

Yes, Neat Center features an omnidirectional status indicator. During setup, the LED status indicators show progress when applying a firmware update. Once the update is completed, it is pulsing, meaning it is ready to be paired. A solid indicator means it is paired and ready for use.

Neat Center is designed to be unobtrusive, providing a great view of people around the table without hindering their lines of sight. Neat Center features multiple mounting options to accommodate the best point of view for the scenario. Neat Center measures 11 in/28 cm tall and 3.15 in/8 cm wide.

Both Neat Center microphones and the main Neat device microphones will be used during calls. The devices will automatically sense which microphones are best suited to pick up who is currently speaking in the room, and those microphones will then be used to send the speaker’s voice to the rest of the meeting participants.

For most scenarios, Neat Center will provide high-quality audio up to 16.4 feet/5 meters distance in all directions. Neat Center will be closer to people, picking up everyone around the table at high fidelity. With 16x mic in a circular array, beams can be formed in any direction.

Neat devices are already doing a good job on clear voice pickup, noise reduction and de-reverberation through features like voice isolation technology. Neat Center is further improving audio quality by applying the same audio processing while being closer to where people are. 

Neat Center runs Neat OS and works as an extension to another Neat device as main device. It runs Neat OS, and have the same secure network and software capabilities as all Neat devices.

Yes. Neat Center is a companion to Neat devices. All Neat devices support Zoom Rooms and Microsoft Teams Rooms.

Neat Center can provide additional video and audio streams to the main Neat device. The camera intelligence in the main device may integrate these streams if it provides a better user experience.

Neat Center extends the Neat Symmetry experience by giving remote participants the best view of everyone in the room. When people in the room are looking away from Neat main device or at someone across the table, Neat Center will help make sure remote participants can still see their faces and body language.

Neat Center works well in rooms and spaces that we currently support, solving challenges for remote participants to feel included when the conversation shifts to happen between people in the room.

Placing or hanging Neat Center approximately in the center of a table or a meeting space, allows shifting the receivers view perspective following the dynamic of the meeting. This will especially improve the experience in scenarios where people in the room are facing away from the screen of the main Neat device, or sit in a way where some people are hidden behind others.

We are NOT recommending Neat Center in rooms that are much larger than what Neat Bar Pro can support. Neat Bar Pros are well suited for larger rooms of up to 25 to 30 participants.

Neat Center works well in small to large meeting rooms. Wherever the conversation may shift gravity to local conversation Neat Center will help the far end see and hear better. It is suitable for a wide variety of spaces and configurations due to the self-calibrating 360 degree design that offers flexibilty of placement, along with versatile installation options. 

We are NOT recommending Neat Center in rooms that are larger than what Neat Bar Pro can support. Neat Bar Pro are well suited for larger spaces up to 33 ft / 10m reach.

Like all Neat devices, Neat Center is a breeze to set up and install, with just a single cable for network and power and then you add your Neat Center to Neat main device from System Settings.

For a detailed step-by-step guide, please see the how to setup up Neat Center article.

Neat Center has a circular framing boundary, with a maximum diameter of 10 m (5 m radius).

Neat Center cameras will only be used when the camera mode is set to “Auto framing > Individuals”. Make sure that your Zoom or Microsoft Teams default camera settings has this mode selected for Neat Center cameras to be active in every meeting. 

• Zoom: Neat Center is active in every meeting if your Camera Control is set to “Multi-Focus Framing”. You can change the default camera mode in Zoom Device Management (ZDM), go to Camera Control mode > “Set default camera  control mode” > change to “Multi-Focus Framing”.
• Microsoft Teams: Neat Center is active in every meeting if you have selected “Composite view”.
  For Pro license rooms, make sure the Auto framing toggle is ON for Neat Center to be active. For both Zoom and Microsoft Teams meetings the camera mode can be changed ad hoc in a call by using the camera control  in the Neat quick settings menu that can be opened by a swipe gesture from the right side of the screen, and selecting “Auto framing: Individuals.”

When “Auto framing: Individuals” is selected on the FoR device, the Center will send its camera stream to the FoR device. The FoR device will decide whether to use the frame from its main camera or the frame received from Center, based on which frame gives the best overall view of the participants. This is referred to as “switching”; it will automatically switch between the FoR camera and Center camera. In either case, the output image will be a composite image of the participants framed by either FoR or Center, but not a mixture of both FoR and Center cameras.

Key elements of the switching logic:

• The head pose of the people in the room. In general, it measures the head pose for all persons and selects the camera where most people are facing based on a weight function. This means that some people’s faces may still not be facing the selected camera, but the majority will.
• If the FoR device supports voice localization, the head pose of the active speaker is given more weight in order to prioritize a good view of the active speaker over the rest.*
• Timing. Switching should not happen too frequently and also not too late.

The following examples illustrate the behavior described above. 

• People in the room turn towards each other for an in-room discussion. If the Neat Center is positioned near the center of the table, people will now face in the direction of Center. Conversely, the FoR device will see the side or back of many people’s faces. Thus, after a short while, the Neat Center’s camera will be the preferred source and “switched in”.
• If someone on the far end is speaking and people in the room turn towards the FoR device, the FoR camera will be “switched in” fairly quickly in order to capture their faces.
• If one person keeps talking for a while and is facing the display, and the FoR device supports voice localization, the FoR camera will always be preferred.*

* Products that support voice localization: Bar Pro, Bar Gen 2, Board 50.