# Is technology available to embed a camera into a screen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2018, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953 "2018-04-07T01:27:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953/21 "2018-04-09T20:24:25Z")
how about a camera on an arm so you can place the camera over the face of the person you are talking to. It would block part of their face, but at least your conversation would be more transparent. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2018, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953/22 "2018-04-09T22:56:02Z")
Of possible interest, Errol Morris’ “Interrotron” camera setup: [https://www.fastcodesign.com/1663105/errol-morriss-secret-weapon-for-unsettling-interviews-the-interrotron](https://www.fastcodesign.com/1663105/errol-morriss-secret-weapon-for-unsettling-interviews-the-interrotron) ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953/23 "2018-04-10T14:56:33Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > how about a camera on an arm so you can place the camera over the face of the person you are talking to. It would block part of their face, but at least your conversation would be more transparent. I have a USB camera for my desktop, so yes, I can already do this, but blocking the face of the person you are talking to is a high price to pay for being seen as making eye contact. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953/24 "2018-04-10T15:55:13Z")
> [@awldune](#): > > Of possible interest, Errol Morris’ “Interrotron” camera setup: > [https://www.fastcodesign.com/1663105/errol-morriss-secret-weapon-for-unsettling-interviews-the-interrotron](https://www.fastcodesign.com/1663105/errol-morriss-secret-weapon-for-unsettling-interviews-the-interrotron) Otherwise known as a [Teleprompter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprompter). At least it’s the exact same setup, only used to display the interviewer rather than the script text. Anyway, placing a camera behind a screen is possible, but it’s difficult to do it in a way that it’s completely unnoticeable. There is no such thing as a true one-way mirror. If a camera can see you, then you can see the camera. No matter how small the camera lens is, the glint off the lens may be noticeable behind the screen in some situations. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953/25 "2018-04-11T11:20:43Z")
[quote=“scr4, post:24, topic:811953”] Otherwise known as a [Teleprompter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprompter). At least it’s the exact same setup, only used to display the interviewer rather than the script text. [quote] The Interrotron is not just a Teleprompter, it incorporates a device like a Teleprompter; the critical thing is that there are two of them so each participant makes virtual eye contact with the other. > [@](#): > > Anyway, placing a camera behind a screen is possible, but it’s difficult to do it in a way that it’s completely unnoticeable. There is no such thing as a true one-way mirror. If a camera can see you, then you can see the camera. No matter how small the camera lens is, the glint off the lens may be noticeable behind the screen in some situations. The point is not to hide the camera, but to position it so the person being recorded is making eye contact with the camera. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953/26 "2018-04-11T12:00:32Z")
If you _really_ want to work on it, you could get a larger monitor and a camera with a telephoto lens and sit further from the screen–the difference in eye angle would be smaller. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953/27 "2018-04-11T13:41:13Z")
If the larger monitor is to keep the image at the same size in your field of view, then you’re just taking away the gains you made by putting it further away. The only reason putting the screen further away would work is that you’re decreasing the angular size of the screen. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953/28 "2018-04-11T13:54:08Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > The point is not to hide the camera, but to position it so the person being recorded is making eye contact with the camera. My point is that a camera in the middle of the screen will be visible. Nobody wants a shiny little lens in the middle of their smartphone screen. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2019, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953/29 "2019-07-05T01:52:13Z")
This just in: the new iOS 13 (still in beta) features _FaceTime attention correction_. Basically it alters your image so that your eyes seem to be looking straight at the camera. Details [here](https://www.fastcompany.com/90372724/welcome-to-post-reality-apple-will-now-fake-your-eye-contact-in-facetime). ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2019, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953/30 "2019-07-05T09:29:54Z")
> [@Heracles](#): > > This just in: the new iOS 13 (still in beta) features _FaceTime attention correction_. Basically it alters your image so that your eyes seem to be looking straight at the camera. Details [here](https://www.fastcompany.com/90372724/welcome-to-post-reality-apple-will-now-fake-your-eye-contact-in-facetime). I was wondering if iPhones already do something similar. I have noticed when taking selfies that if I look at my own face on the screen, I seem to be looking “at the camera” whereas if I look at the lens (at the end of the phone, when held in landscape orientation), it looks like I’m looking off to one side. This makes no sense, unless my eyes are really wonky. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2019, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953/31 "2019-07-05T14:21:28Z")
Here is an [Ars Technica article](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/06/oppos-first-under-display-camera-demo-looks-decidedly-first-generation/) on this subject. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953/32 "2021-03-10T03:04:19Z")
Here is a startup project that popped up on my Facebook feed. This is not embedded into the screen but is a poor-man’s version that just hangs down in the middle of your screen to get the same result. > **[Center Cam: Finally- a middle-screen webcam!](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/center-cam-finally-a-middle-screen-webcam--2#/)** > > Center Cam is an adjustable webcam that operates in the middle of your screen. | Check out 'Center Cam: Finally- a middle-screen webcam!' on Indiegogo. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953/33 "2021-03-10T04:20:33Z")
Man, I remember reading the O.P. way back in the day and thinking at the time that this was an understandable, but rather specialized, problem. Back then, it seemed trivial - a cosmetic issue, really, and nothing more. Fast forward a year & change, and suddenly, EVERYone wants a solution to the problem. It ain’t trivial no more. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953/34 "2021-03-10T05:43:15Z")
The ZTE Axon 20 5G, released in December 2020, was the first smart phone with an under display camera. The reviews of the camera seem distinctly meh. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953/35 "2021-03-10T08:22:32Z")
An interesting and different approach to this problem is to use Machine Learning to reconstruct a frontal view of the speaker using input from a camera mounted to one side - there’s a demo of this here: [Is Videoconferencing With Smart Glasses Possible? 👓 - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atzPvW95ahQ) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953/36 "2021-08-11T07:26:18Z")
According to PR, this is the first invisible below-display camera. (The earlier tries had a much lower resolution in the cutout area, which was noticable during use.) > **[Xiaomi’s Mi Mix 4 is its first phone to officially launch with an invisible...](https://thenextweb.com/news/xiaomi-mi-mix-4-under-screen-camera)** > > Xiaomi finally debuted its Camera Under Panel (CUP) technology with the Mi Mix 4 phone reveal last night. The company had demoed this tech last year, but the Mix 4 is the first commercial device to feature it. > > > > > > > > So how does it w [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-available-to-embed-a-camera-into-a-screen/811953.md?page=1)