A Tale of Two Webcams§

Ah, webcams. Plug 'em in, show your face. As if it wasn't bad enough that we still have to pay absurd sums of money for webcams that barely manage to output 1080p30, using sensors even a no-name smartphone manufacturer wouldn't dare to put in their device, even if you actually pay the premium and get a 4K webcam, you're still getting fucked over.

In particular, I am talking about the Logitech Brio 4K and Brio 4K Stream Edition, released in 2017. Logitech decided that, while physically identical, one would be decidedly more gamery and includes a one-year XSplit license. Contrary to the typical gamer/streamer tax, this one is cheaper than the non-streaming edition on retailers such as Amazon.

Cheaper and value-added benefits? Sounds too good to be true, and it is.

You are, in fact, getting shafted.

It's the Firmware!§

Like almost all electronic devices, it runs software, firmware in particular. Like most other software, it gets developed as Bananaware, it ripens at the customer. Bugs and programming mistakes happen, nobody is getting paid enough to test their crappy products, therefore publishing fixed and improved software as fast as possible is very, very valuable.

Returning to our two webcams, there is a distinct difference between the two: One is getting updates, the other was forgotten. Both being equal physically, there is no excuse and it comes down to negligance.

The Brio 4K Stream Edition had its last update pushed in 2019, a nowadays harder to find LogiBrioStreamFWUpdate_1.3.14.exe given that Logitech seems to have wiped its existance from their website(s). That updater contains VIDEO firmware version v2.0.2.

The non-gamer edition? Still got stand-alone downloadable updates in March of 2022, FWUpdateBRIO_2.9.76.0.exe. VIDEO firmware version v2.0.58. And there are further updates being published Logitech's Logi Tune software.

Yeah, that's a bit of a difference, if you ask me.

What Firmware?§

Given that the hardware is identical, what is to stop us from loading the new-and-improved firmware on the Stream Edition? Nothing that can't be circumvented if you can risk the loss of the camera for questionable benefits!

If you open the (Windows) flashers, you can tell that they are practically the same. If you press the info button, it will tell you the target version.

• Brio 4K Stream Edition
  • VIDEO: 2.0.2
  • EEPROM: 1.22
• "BRIO ULTRA-HD PRO BUSINESS-WEBCAM"
  • VIDEO: 2.0.58
  • EEPROM: 1.18

The firmware is split into two parts: VIDEO and EEPROM. VIDEO is the main firmware, what is EEPROM? Given that it's versioned and flashed during update, it probably isn't calibration data, but simply product information.

This tracks: The Stream Edition was probably just a simple offshoot of the main business webcam. The EEPROM has been versioned up as it had changes made.

So, why not just crossflash it?

Crossflashing§

WARNING: This could void your warranty, burn down your house, etc... If you decide to follow these instructions and get an expensive paperweight, it's your fault and I bear no responsibility. You have been warned.

After setup/installation of the firmware flashers, you can look in C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\LogiShrd to find the actual flashers. The Stream Edition flasher won't find the Pro webcam and vice versa, so a simple one-click crossflash is out of the question.

I opened both of the flashers in Resource Hacker and looked around. There is an RCData with a small binary resource named EEPROM and a chonky boy called VIDEO. Could it be this easy?

Yes. Yes, it could be.

1. Open FWUpdateBRIO.exe in Resource Hacker.
2. Save VIDEO and EEPROM as bin.
3. Open FWUpdateLogi4KStreamEdition.exe in Resource Hacker.
4. Replace VIDEO and EEPROM with the previously extracted binaries.
5. Save modified exe.

Running the modified flasher will update the VIDEO firmware, but leave the EEPROM data at its current version as it is newer. This will get you all the bugfixes, but Logitech software will be a bit confused as it's something inbetween.

During my investigation, it turns out there is a magic -force flag to the exe which has no issues with downgrading firmware! Simply run the modified flasher with that flag and let it downgrade the EEPROM. This will make the webcam for all intents and purposes a Brio Pro.

After it finally gets recognized as a Brio Pro, you can use Logitech's Logi Tune to update it further to 2.0.64 which is current as of August 2024.

Summary§

It is surprisingly easy to crossflash the Stream Edition to the Pro variant. It yielded me fixes for problems I probably don't have and a warm fuzzy feeling!

There seems to be at least fixes regarding the autofocus and Windows Hello, both of which I don't use, as my camera is in a Kurokesu BRIO Rework Kit, which trades the IR Emitters, IR Camera and the lens - including the focus mechanism - for a sleek full-metal enclosure and CS-mount replacable lenses. Unaffiliated, but I've bought this in 2019 and I don't regret it one bit.