Room Bar vs PanaCast 50 Comparison

Compare Room Bar vs PanaCast 50 side by side: specs, ratings, pros and cons, and which one fits your room best.

On this page

Cisco Room Bar video bar with its single connection cable

At a Glance

The Cisco Room Bar is a compact video bar for huddle and small rooms. It has a 12 MP camera with a 120° horizontal view, 5x digital zoom, auto framing, Frames mode and speaker tracking.

View on Cisco (opens in a new tab)

Best For: Webex rooms
Zoom: 5x digital
View: 120°
Camera: 12 MP, 1/2.3" CMOS, f/2.5, fixed focus; 1080p video
Teams Rooms: Webex (RoomOS) with Teams, Zoom and Google Meet interop; Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android; USB-C BYOD

PanaCast 50

The Jabra PanaCast 50 uses three 13 MP cameras stitched into a 180° panoramic-4K view. That lets you push the table up to the wall and still see everyone.

View on Jabra (opens in a new tab)

Best For: Medium rooms
Zoom: Up to 6x lossless digital
View: 180°
Camera: 3 x 13 MP camera array, panoramic 4K
Teams Rooms: USB: Microsoft Teams, Zoom and others; Teams Rooms and Zoom Rooms

Review Scores Compared

Expert Score

Room Bar8.5/10
PanaCast 508.9/10 Leads

Optics & Room Coverage

Room Bar7.7/10
PanaCast 508.3/10 Leads

AI Speaker Tracking & Framing

Room Bar8.9/10
PanaCast 509.2/10 Leads

Room Audio Pickup & Output

Room Bar7.6/10
PanaCast 509.8/10 Leads

OS Platform & Ecosystem

Room Bar9.8/10 Leads
PanaCast 508.8/10

Deployment & I/O

Room Bar9.4/10 Leads
PanaCast 508.5/10

Why Room Bar Beats PanaCast 50 (and Vice Versa)

Why Room Bar beats PanaCast 50

Better os platform & ecosystem: 9.8 vs 8.8 out of 10
Better deployment & i/o: 9.4 vs 8.5 out of 10
Vertical FOV: 95° vs 54°
Camera Resolution: 1080p, 30 fps vs Panoramic-4K 3840 x 1080 @ 30 fps
AI Features: Auto framing, Frames mode, People focus (Webex), speaker tra… vs Virtual Director, Intelligent Zoom, Dynamic Composition, Int…
Ethernet: 2 x RJ-45 100/1000 (1 LAN, 1 PoE for Navigator) vs RJ-45

Why PanaCast 50 beats Room Bar

Better room audio pickup & output: 9.8 vs 7.6 out of 10
Better optics & room coverage: 8.3 vs 7.7 out of 10
Ideal Room Size: Up to 4.5 x 6 m (15 x 20 ft), Microsoft "medium room" vs Up to 5 people within 3 m (add external mic for larger)
Zoom: Up to 6x lossless digital vs 5x digital
Field of View: 180° vs 120°
Megapixels: 13 MP vs 12 MP

Review-score leads of 0.5+ points out of 10 first, then specs where only one comes out ahead.

Full Specifications

Show only differences

General

	Room Bar	PanaCast 50
Best For	Webex rooms	Medium rooms
Ideal Room Size	Up to 5 people within 3 m (add external mic for larger)	Up to 4.5 x 6 m (15 x 20 ft), Microsoft "medium room" Better

Camera

	Room Bar	PanaCast 50
Sensor	1/2.3" CMOS	—
Zoom	5x digital	Up to 6x lossless digital Better
Field of View	120°	180° Better
Speaker Tracking	Yes	Yes (Automatic Speaker Detection)
Megapixels	12 MP	13 MP Better
Aperture	f/2.5	—
Horizontal FOV	120°	180° Better
Vertical FOV	95° Better	54°
HDR	—	Yes (Vivid HDR)
Focus	Fixed focus	—
Multi-Stream / Gallery	Frames mode, People Focus (Webex)	—
People Counting	Yes	Yes (PeopleCount)
Camera	12 MP, 1/2.3" CMOS, f/2.5, fixed focus; 1080p video	3 x 13 MP camera array, panoramic 4K Better
Camera Resolution	1080p, 30 fps Better	Panoramic-4K 3840 x 1080 @ 30 fps
Pan and Tilt	—	Manual PTZ (digital); 180° H x 54° V view
AI Features	Auto framing, Frames mode, People focus (Webex), speaker tracking, AI noise removal Better	Virtual Director, Intelligent Zoom, Dynamic Composition, Intelligent Meeting Space, PeopleCount, Vivid HDR, dual-stream whiteboard
Max Frame Rate	30 fps	30 fps
Cameras	—	3
Whiteboard Camera	View whiteboard content from Cisco Board/Desk or Webex app	Yes (whiteboard sharing)

Connectivity

	Room Bar	PanaCast 50
Power over Ethernet	PoE port for Room Navigator and one Cisco IP mic	—
USB	1 x USB-C input, 1 x USB-A	USB-A, USB-C (USB 2.0/3.0) Better
HDMI	1 x HDMI-in (4K30), 2 x HDMI-out (4K60)	—
Network	Ethernet 100/1000, Wi-Fi, IPv4/IPv6, 802.1X	Ethernet (RJ45)
Wireless	Bluetooth (radio versions)	Bluetooth LE (remote control, Sound+)
Displays Supported	2	—
Ports	Analog mic input, PoE port for IP mic	Ethernet (RJ45), Aux-out for assistive listening
Content Sharing	HDMI, USB-C, wireless sharing; 4K content	—
HDMI In	1 x HDMI (4K30)	—
HDMI Out	2 x HDMI (4K60)	—
Ethernet	2 x RJ-45 100/1000 (1 LAN, 1 PoE for Navigator) Better	RJ-45
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, 2x2 MIMO	—
Bluetooth	Bluetooth and BLE (radio versions)	Bluetooth LE (remote, Sound+)
USB Host Ports	1 x USB-A 2.0	—
Line In / Out	1 x analog mic input	—

Platforms

	Room Bar	PanaCast 50
Remote Management	Cisco Control Hub Better	Jabra Direct, Jabra Xpress, Jabra Sound+
Teams Rooms	Webex (RoomOS) with Teams, Zoom and Google Meet interop; Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android; USB-C BYOD	USB: Microsoft Teams, Zoom and others; Teams Rooms and Zoom Rooms
Certifications	Microsoft Teams Rooms	Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams Rooms, Zoom Rooms, Zoom
Operating System	RoomOS 11 or later / Teams Rooms on Android	—
USB / BYOD Mode	Yes (USB-C passthrough; Room Bar BYOD model)	Yes (USB)
Touch Controller	Cisco Room Navigator (table or wall)	—
Zoom Rooms	Interop (SIP / WebRTC)	Certified
Google Meet	Interop (WebRTC, RoomOS mode)	—
Webex	Native (RoomOS)	—
SIP / H.323	Yes (H.323, SIP; 4-way MultiSite option)	—
Appliance Mode	Yes	—
Firmware Updates	Via Control Hub	Jabra Direct / Jabra Xpress
Remote Control	—	Bluetooth LE remote

Design

	Room Bar	PanaCast 50
Mounting	Consolidated wall/screen mount; above or below display (can be flipped)	Wall mount included; table stand and other mounts available
Weight	1.5 kg Better	2.2 kg
Privacy Cover	Privacy cover included	—
Dimensions	534 x 82 x 64 mm	650 x 80 x 125 mm
Power	100-240 VAC, 12 V DC, PSU-12VDC-86W	External power supply (included)
Power Consumption	14.3 W in meeting, 8.2 W idle, 86 W peak	—
Colors	First Light, Carbon	—
Operating Temperature	0 to 35 °C	5 to 35 °C

In the Box

	Room Bar	PanaCast 50
Warranty	1-year limited	2 years
Optional Accessories	Table Microphone Pro, Ceiling Microphone Pro, Room Navigator, multi-head cables	Table stand and other mounts
In the Box	Room Bar, Room Navigator (bundle), HDMI 2.0 cable 1.5 m, 86 W power supply, privacy cover, Ethernet cable 8 m, mounting kit	PanaCast 50, power supply, wall mount, USB-C to USB-A cable 2 m (USB 3.0)
Licence Included	Cisco Device Subscription (sold separately)	—

Identifiers

	Room Bar	PanaCast 50
Model Number	CS-BAR (TTC7-28)	—

Audio

	Room Bar	PanaCast 50
Built-in Mics	4	8 Better
Mic Pickup Range	3 m	—
Speakers	Stereo, 2 full-range drivers, 100 Hz-20 kHz, 93 dB max SPL Better	4 speakers: 2 x 50 mm woofers, 2 x 20 mm tweeters, 80 Hz-20 kHz
Audio Processing	AEC, AGC, AI noise removal, de-reverberation, full duplex, spatial audio, beamforming	Beamforming, full duplex, echo and static-noise removal
Expansion Mics	1 analog mic input; 1 Cisco IP microphone via PoE	—
Mic Array	4-element beamforming array + front-facing tracking mics	8-mic beamforming array
Max SPL	93 dB	—
Speaker Frequency Range	100 Hz - 20 kHz Better	80 Hz - 20 kHz
Mic Frequency Range	—	100 Hz - 8 kHz
Beamforming	Yes	Yes
AI Noise Suppression	Yes	—
Audio Out	—	Aux-out for assistive listening

Design & Setup

	Room Bar	PanaCast 50
Mounts	Mounting kit included	—
Security	HTTPS/SSH management, SRTP AES-128/256-GCM, end-to-end encryption (Webex), WPA3	—

Takeaways

It's a tie on our rating (4.5/5) between Room Bar and PanaCast 50, so choose on the rows that matter most to you.
Choose Room Bar for webex rooms.
Choose PanaCast 50 for medium rooms.

Pros and Cons

Room Bar

PROS

Native Webex plus Teams, Zoom and Meet interop
120° horizontal view
AI noise removal and spatial audio
Two 4K60 HDMI outputs

CONS

Mics optimised for 3 m and up to 5 people
1080p video