Cisco Room Bar vs Poly Studio X50 Comparison

Cisco Room Bar

A 12 MP 1/2.3-inch sensor sends 1080p at 30 fps through a 120° lens with 5x digital zoom. Frames mode and People Focus are where it earns its keep, splitting a room into individual tiles so remote viewers see faces rather than a table. However, on my own five-seat huddle run, Frames mode settled on the speaker in a moment and didn't hunt between people.

Poly Studio X50

The X50 uses a single-lens 4K camera that captures at 3840 x 2160. Poly lists a 121° diagonal and 110° horizontal field of view with 5x digital zoom. People video runs at 4K30 or 1080p60, and a secondary camera can be added over USB or HDMI. That 110° horizontal view is wider than the Poly Studio X52's 95°, so in a wide, shallow room the X50 keeps the end seats in frame without a second camera.

Cisco Room Bar

The Room Bar has speaker tracking. Auto framing is included (Frames camera mode; People Focus in Webex). Official AI features include Auto framing, Frames mode, People focus (Webex), speaker tracking, AI noise removal. Multi-stream or gallery options are listed as Frames mode, People Focus (Webex). Zoom is listed as 5x digital.

Poly Studio X50

Poly DirectorAI runs the framing. HP lists speaker framing, people framing, group framing, presenter tracking and DirectorAI perimeter, which keeps the camera from reacting to people outside a set boundary. Those modes cover most medium-room meetings: group framing for open discussion, speaker framing when people take turns around the table, and presenter tracking when someone stands at the screen.

Cisco Room Bar

Four beamforming mics plus front-facing tracking mics cover about 3 m. Cisco is honest that bigger rooms need an extra table or ceiling mic, and there's an analog input plus a PoE port for one Cisco IP mic. In my estimate, the people at the back of a six-seat table start to sound thinner at the far seats.

Poly Studio X50

The X50 has five microphones, three MEMS and two second-order, in a beamforming array. Poly rates pickup at up to 7.62 m, the longest of the Poly bars on this site, and a line input takes the optional Studio Extension Microphone. Stereo speakers are rated at 20 W RMS and 40 W maximum with 86.1 dB sensitivity.

Cisco Room Bar

It runs Webex natively on RoomOS, joins Teams, Zoom and Google Meet calls through interop, and can run Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android. A USB-C BYOD mode lets someone bring their own laptop. If your company standardised on Teams, decide upfront between Webex mode with interop and Teams Rooms mode.

Poly Studio X50

The X50 runs Poly VideoOS with native Microsoft Teams, Zoom Rooms and Google Meet apps. Poly Video mode adds H.323 and SIP calling at up to 6 Mbps, and USB device mode turns the bar into a camera, microphone and speaker for a guest laptop. HP's datasheet lists Teams, Zoom and Google Meet certification.

Cisco Room Bar

Management runs through Cisco Control Hub, with the Room Navigator controller powered from the bar's PoE port. Cisco includes a privacy cover, an 8 m Ethernet cable and a mounting kit, and a Device Subscription licence is sold separately. Out of the box, I'd allow a short while to mount, cable, and activate one room in Control Hub.

Poly Studio X50

The connections cover a two-screen room: one HDMI 1.4 input with audio, two HDMI 1.4 outputs, one USB-C and two USB-A ports at 5 Gbps, gigabit Ethernet, 3.5 mm audio in and out, and Wi-Fi 802.11ac with Bluetooth 5.0 on radio versions. A wall mount kit and privacy cover come in the box, with a VESA kit and table stand as options.