Product: AVerMedia PW513 Live Streamer CAM 513
Type: 4K UHD Webcam
Price: $269.00 AUD
Availability: Out Now
Link: mwave.com.au/product/avermedia-513-4k-ultra-hd-live-streamer-webcam

In the age of Zoom meetings and digital streaming, having a decent cam on hand is just about as important as a stable internet connection. Throw in platforms like Discord for catch-ups and online game sessions, or going that one step further by hooking into Twitch or YouTube, it’s good to know decent video quality doesn’t have to be an expensive proposition. Sure, dedicated and costly DLSR cameras for streaming and content creation will bring a professional sheen you won’t find elsewhere, but you’d be surprised just how much mileage you can get from an off-the-shelf webcam.

Case in point, the new AVerMedia Live Streamer CAM 513, which has a very wallet friendly price-point alongside features that make it a versatile option for Zoom action and streaming on Twitch. From RTX Broadcast integration, the expanded field of view, impressive low-light performance, and a simple plug and play setup -- it’s a great all-rounder. Not to mention it’s 4K-capable. So if you’re looking for a camera to jump into streaming or take a sizable leap forward from whatever in-built webcam your laptop is rocking, read on.

Video Ezy – Tech Talk

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AVerMedia is a company that has been building and iterating on products designed to make content creation and streaming easy for years now. Having road-tested some of its capture cards around the time of the launch of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X last year, heading into this review we kind of expected there to be more than a few game-friendly design touches. And really, the ‘Streamer’ tag in the product name should clue you in as to what the AVerMedia Live Streamer CAM 513 has been designed for.

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From RTX Broadcast integration, the expanded field of view, impressive low-light performance, and a simple plug and play setup -- it’s a great all-rounder.

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And with that the two most notable out-of-the box features worth delving into first is the 94-degree field-of-view and the RTX Broadcast integration found in the robust AVerMedia CamEngine software. The latter, although limited to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 cards or higher, offers AI-powered green screen effects that sit alongside AVerMedia’s simple tools for image adjustment, zooming, and framing. Both work well with the out-of-the-box capabilities of the camera, where the wide-angle means placement either on a stand or on top of a display results in, well, quick results. Paired with a light and you have just about one of the easiest to put together streaming setups (sans microphone) you’re likely to find.

Technical Specifications:

• Type: USB 3.0 4K UHD Webcam
  
• Image Sensor: Sony Exmor R 4K CMOS
  
• Image Resolution: 8 Megapixels
  
• Video Resolution: 4k/30 fps (3840 x 2160 pixels) or 1080p/60 fps (1920 x 1080 pixels)
  
• Lens F#: 2.8
  
• Focus Method (Lens Type): Fixed Focus
  
• Field of View: Diagonal 94°
  
• Video Mode: MJPEG and UYVY
  
• Distance: 50 ~ 200 cm
  
• Microphone: Stereo built-in microphones
  
• Dimensions (W x D x H): 130 x 52.6 x 29 mm

As per the technical specs you get the option for 4K video at 30fps or 1080p at 60fps, and you can easily switch between the two via the supplied software. Paired with the 94-degree viewing angle and the impressive low-light performance, you get a bright and vibrant image with only daylight or ambient room light. Naturally, there are limitations here in terms of noise and colour grading, two things that are dramatically improved when you throw in some proper dedicated lighting. For streaming on Twitch a dedicated light is a must, no matter the camera.

Lights, Camera, Capture

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The AVerMedia Live Streamer CAM 513 is Zoom certified, which is good news for those of us working from home. Which, as per the current climate, is most people. And on that note the Live Streamer CAM 513 comes with a handy cover that slides up and down for that added bit of security. Testing across Discord, Zoom, and recording 4K test footage, the Live Streamer CAM 513 proved to be an impressive all-rounder. It’s one of those situations where once you get used to the wide-angle lens, it’s hard to imagine going back to the realm of the standard webcam.

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Paired with a light and you have just about one of the easiest to put together streaming setups (sans microphone) you’re likely to find.

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As mentioned above, the AVerMedia CamEngine software is intuitive and provides all of the features you’d want to see -- from image calibration to green-screen effects (powered by RTX Broadcast) to the ability to capture images at the press of a button. The in-built microphone works well for stand video conferencing, though when it comes to online gaming and streaming you’d want to pair this with a microphone or headset. Ultimately the only real drawback here is that when it comes to streaming 1080p is fine, so the addition of 4K is nice but not all that necessary. Especially when the image quality in terms of brightness seems to be better in 1080p mode. In the end though, the AVerMedia Live Streamer CAM 513 is an impressive all-rounder, and one where the wide-angle lens and versatility gives it an edge over some of its USB-cam competitors.