Emeet Pixy review - a capable 4K PTZ webcam on a budget

The Emeet Pixy is a webcam that offers three key features that set it out from the crowd. Not only can it pan, tilt, and zoom (PTZ), but it has two cameras, with the second one used for enhancing its AI face tracking to focus the camera and guide its movement so the camera can follow you. As for the third feature, well, that's its low price - it's among the cheapest webcams around to offer PTZ features.

This crucial ability, combined with up to 4K image quality, means this camera is already going to get added to our guide to buying the best webcams, particularly if you need a camera for presentations or a wide variety of uses.

Why you can trust our advice ✔ At PCGamesN, our experts spend hours testing hardware and reviewing games and VPNs. We share honest, unbiased opinions to help you buy the best. Find out how we test.

Specs

Features

The biggest feature of this camera is its PTZ movement. This means the camera can tilt up and down and spin left and right in order to follow your face, or to follow your whole body if you're further from the camera, perhaps doing a presentation or demonstration. It's a function we found incredibly useful in our OBSBOST Tiny 2 review, though it's certainly not an essential feature for most home users just needing a video call, or a let's play/streaming camera.

This camera's other big feature is the inclusion of a second camera, the need for which is not entirely clear. Emeet describes it as an "AI-assisted camera" that aids the speed of auto-focus and will "intelligently detect facial contours and automatically adjust exposure in facial areas, ensuring natural skin tones."

As for how fast it can auto-focus, the company claims it takes just 0.2 seconds to snap back to focusing on your face after focusing on the background, or a foreground object set very close to the camera. That certainly sounds impressive, but as we'll see in the performance section of this review, it's not as amazing as it sounds.

Inside, the main camera uses a Sony CMOS sensor that's 1/2.55 inches in size. That compares to 1/1.5-inch for the much more expensive OBSBOT Tiny 2, so this camera's sensor is quite a bit smaller. Nonetheless, it can offer up to 4K resolution video at 30Hz as well as 1080p video at 60Hz.

For audio, a trio of microphones is used to provide noise-canceled, omnidirectional sound, with the mics all receiving audio through three pinholes in the top of the camera.

Meanwhile, underneath the camera is a mounting hole that allows the camera to be fitted to any standard tripod or alternative camera mount. What's more, it lets you fit the included monitor mount. This screws onto the base of the camera and a stiff hinge then opens to allow the camera to firmly but gently grip the top of your monitor.

A light on the front of the camera shines green when it's powered on, and the camera will face downwards when in standby mode, giving you some physical privacy from the camera. There isn't a full privacy cover for the camera's lens, though.

Finally, a single USB-C port on the back is used to connect to your PC, and Emeet provides a cable that's a reasonable 1.5m (5ft) long. There are no other accessories included in the box.

Design

The Emeet Pixy is an impressively compact camera, despite its inclusion of two motors and a gimbal setup to power its PTZ movement. It's not quite as compact as the OBSBOT Tiny 2, but it's still far smaller in terms of footprint than the likes of the Elgato Facecam Pro, Logitech C920, and Razer Kiyo Pro.

It's also a reasonably sleek-looking device with a simple circular base and and plain black color scheme. The use of two cameras even gives it a slightly cute robot look, if you're into that sort of thing.

Setup and ease of use

The Emeet Pixy is plug and play, so it will work as a standard webcam from the off. However, to get the most from it, you'll want to download the Emeet Studio app. This presents you with a video preview window, some quick filter controls, record controls, and quick access to the camera's resolution and frame rate, while three tabs get you access to other functions.

Jump into the Control section and you can switch between a fixed camera mode and the tracking mode, manually control the up/down/left/right movement of the camera, and set the audio to Live, Noise Canceling, or Original mode.

The effects section lets you set brightness, contrast, sharpness, saturation, and tone, along with allowing the camera to manage all these areas itself. You can also set the camera to 50Hz or 60Hz to sync up with your region's mains electricity frequency and avoid light flicker.

Meanwhile, in the Assistance section, you can set the auto-focus to a selected area, a central area, or face tracking. Focus can also be locked, you can select a privacy time when the camera goes into standby, and enable gesture control. The latter is very limited, though, with the only gesture available being to hold up a hand to enable or disable face tracking.

Along with a lack of gestures, this software is also missing a snapshot button, and its layout isn't the most intuitive. The OBSBOT Tiny 2's software is a clear cut above in terms of overall function and ease of use.

Otherwise, the camera simply works and works well. The tracking is fast and accurate, with the motors being very quiet too.

Image quality

The below images show the Pixy image quality on the left and the Tiny 2 image quality on the right - right click or hold down your finger on the image to view at full size. The first image is with one reasonably strong photography strip light in front and above me. The second image is with no lighting other than some sunlight sneaking round a window blind on the left of the image and from the monitor on which the camera is sitting and which the chair is facing.

The Emeet Pixy has good but not exceptional image quality. Its sensor can deliver crisp 4K images in good lighting with reasonably balanced colors, and it copes reasonably well with low light.

However, it tends to want to overexpose its image just a little, making for a slightly washed-out and over-bright look on occasion. It's also grainier than some top-tier 4K cameras in lower light conditions, as you'd expect given its relatively smaller sensor. You can tailor the exposure using Emeet's software, but its steps in exposure are quite large, so it's not easy to dial in exactly the right look.

That said, this camera still delivers image quality that will be more than adequate for most users and is very good for the camera's price, considering you also get the PTZ movement.

Sound quality

The Emeet Pixy's onboard microphones do a decent job of picking up a clear, wide frequency range sound, which means your voice sounds full and not thin. It also works well at tracking your voice with your movement. Its noise canceling isn't amazing, but it does a reasonable job of ensuring your voice is clearly picked up when speaking.

Price

With a price of $159.99, the Emeet Pixy isn't a budget webcam, but it is cheap for a 4K camera with PTZ movement. It's half the price of the OBSBOT Tiny 2, and while that camera does deliver a better image and includes a remote control, that's still a big price difference. The OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite has a more similar spec to the Pixy (with a similarly smaller camera sensor) and is priced at $179, so the Pixy still offers good value.

Alternatives

Elgato Facecam Pro

If you just want the absolute best 4K image quality, without PTZ functions, the Elgato Facecam Pro is the camera for you. It's just a fixed camera - that doesn't even include a microphone - but its 4K image quality is superb thanks to its large sensor, and the fact that it can record at up to 60Hz at 4K. It is expensive at around $300, though.

OBSBOT Tiny 2

For the same core experience as the Emeet Pixy but with better image quality, slicker software, and an included remote for controlling the camera from afar, the OBSBOT Tiny 2 remains our go-to recommendation for a top-tier webcam. It's still clearly the best PTZ option, and its image quality means it's a fantastic choice even if you don't need the PTZ function all that often.

Verdict

The Emeet Pixy is a great low-cost option for those seeking a quality 4K webcam with pan, tilt, and zoom functions. It's a compact, sleek-looking device that provides decent image quality, plenty of features, and impressively smooth and quiet tracking.

Its much-touted AI-assisted second camera doesn't seem to do all that much to aid the camera's image quality or features, and more expensive cameras do provide a clear step up in image quality. However, for its $149 price, this camera offers great value if you just need that core PTZ tracking function with high-resolution 4K recording. Just make sure you have reasonable quality lighting to get the most from this camera.

For more ways to enhance your streaming setup, check out our best gaming microphone and best gaming headset guides, which are packed with reviews of the latest options.