Zoom Camera Certification - AVer TR535N

[mmaniaci]

Looking to get information on when/how a camera make/model will be Certified by Zoom. I'm particularly interested in the new AVer TR535N dual lens PTZ Pro AV camera. Zoom has certified a number of other AVer models, and I'm just looking to get a gauge or information on how they choose the models to certify, and how long that process may potentially take. I'm currently testing this model and would love to be able to create/recall presets from Zoom, which is currently unsupported on this model. Thanks

[bstrelko · Accepted solution]

Allow me to provide some unofficial information and thoughts on the 'certification' program for Zoom Rooms hardware:

-The 'certification' process is largely an exchange of money. I've spoken to many smaller (and capable) camera manufacturers at InfoComm who have no interest in dealing with Zoom because the process is expensive, exhausting (paperwork), and one-sided.

-Zoom is not (or doesn't appear to be) changing the products or adding support for functions on their end. Most of these changes will need to be implemented by the hardware vendor at the USB level (most of these devices are USB-UVC webcam class devices). For preset recall, Zoom is not ticking a switch on the back-end or adding support for Aver's protocols (woah, no!) after certifying.

-Historically, manufacturers like Aver only opt to certify a handful of devices out of a very large catalog. There is general compatibility since most of the hardware devices (even non-certified) share common VIDs.

-Aver is developing an agnostic USB product and has to cater to Microsoft, Google, and a long list of others. Zoom would like for you to think that they have the market share, but when it comes to Rooms, most hardware vendors sell more MS Teams systems (I recently got a figure of 9:1 for Teams:Zoom from a major vendor)

-Zoom's priority for the Rooms product is extremely low and, as such, they have more limited resources for things like certification. Just look for 'Zoom Rooms and Workspaces' as a category in this community - it's number 15.

-I have tested dozens of Zoom Rooms Certified Devices that are riddled with bugs and am not confident that anything other than the most superficial tests are being performed during 'certification' (once the checks have cleared).

-Zoom Rooms Certified cameras do not have the same functionality on Android appliances, if this is a consideration.

-Unless you're working on a job that specifically requires the use of Zoom Rooms Certified Hardware, there's really no reason to restrict yourself to what's on the list. Zoom does not do a great job of maintaining the list, making sure that hardware in the same family with same PID/VIDs are included, and does not appear to run these devices in their own house 24/7 to identify any bugs that may not be immediately present - with this info in mind, the list is restrictive and arbitrary.

In the short term, you can use Zoom's "Room Controls" functionality to manually add buttons to your Zoom Rooms Controllers for preset recall. This requires a bit of JSON and API knowledge, but isn't too difficult to spin up. The main issue is not being able to have those preset recall buttons where you want them - right inside 'camera controls'.

[mmaniaci]

Thanks for the detailed response and all the additional info. This is great knowledge. I'll have to just wait and see then, or possible go down the AVer route to see what their plans are for certification or allowing preset recalls. Thank you for taking the time to provide all this info.