Meta Portal TV - Big Screen Smart Video Calling for Group Calls on Your TV

I am a professional A/V Integrator and company owner. So I wanted to demo this myself before recommending it to my clients. I had ours installed within 5 minutes and on our first video chat. Our Portal is connected through the HDMI input of a Denon AVR and the video is shown on a new 75" Sony UHD-TV. We have had a few calls that were pixelated or where the calls were dropped, however I believe that was most likely a reception issue originating from the person(s) we called. Both parties we called live in rural areas or areas that have poor cellular and Ethernet reception. I am quite pleased with the video quality when WiFi strength is good and how effectively the camera adjusts to Zoom and Pan thus accommodating people moving about in the room. If I make a Portal call from my couch the camera zooms onto me and any movements. If my wife enters the room the camera immediately zooms out to get her into frame until she sits next to me on the couch, then the camera zooms in closer to include us both in the video call. Using a Sony Smart TV and enabling HDMI-CEC I can be watching Netflix from the Sony Netflix app and all I have to say is "Hey Portal Call Mom" The Portal responds and begins the call. Once the call begins the Sony TV automatically switches from Netflix to Portal TV. This is perfect for the older generation who are not technically savy. A great way to stay in touch with kids, parents, grandparents and friends afar. We have used the Story Telling feature with our 2 year old grandson who loved the interaction with us. Only Con I have is that it has no hardwired Ethernet connection, only Wi-Fi. When we first installed Portal TV we had Xfinity 300mbps Wi-Fi, last week we upgraded to Google Fiber Gigabit so I again I am certain that any video issues we are experiencing are actually originating from whom we called. It may be they do not have their mobile device camera set at the highest resolution, poor celluar and or Wi Fi reception. I have not tried any of the included streaming apps on the PortalTV as we use the apps from our Sony UHD TV. For the price this a wonderful device, for my many deaf and hearing impaired friends this is AWESOME, as it does have a hand held remote so speaking commands is not necessary.

Great prodect and a great seler thank you so much.

A couple Christmas ago my mom and I bought portals for all the members of our extended family. We used them for our annual gift exchange to talk virtually. They worked perfectly. We could see everyone in the room. We could zoom in on specific people opening presents. It was like we were all really together. We have also used it for some of its filter functions to entertain nephews and nieces from afar. It has a lot of the same filter games you get on Facebook messenger. But it has the added functionality of story mode where you can read a book and it transposes your face on the characters. Very interactive and engaging for kids. I can’t wait to see what more functionality they add. We like it so much, we are buying more this year for other family members.

It handles it's primary function of video calls OK enough. The way the camera tracts people within it's field's range is pretty cool. And it's nice that now I have a large screen to see our grandchildren, but at times it seems a bit grainy compared to the first generation smaller portal I used to have. Also, I miss the touch screen capabilities of the original portal for doing things like selecting a subject to stay focused on. The available applications seems to be very limited as well. I could swear the 1st gen had a lot more apps to choose from. I do watch Amazon Prime through it, which so far works flawlessly, but it would be nice to have a browser, maybe utube.. or come on, this is a facebook product so how about facebook on it? I do have to admit that story time is a lot of fun with the youngest in our family. :) Alexa is OK on this.. handles my home automation OK enough, and MUCH clearer audio than my 3rd gen Echo Dot, but is a bit cumbersome in some aspects. If I want to see my Ring Doorbell video I can't just say to show me the front door. First I have to say "hey portal, show me the home page." This changes the HDMI port to the correct one for portal, as well as turn on the TV if its off. Once I have the portal screen showing then I can say "Alexa, show me the front door." and by that time I've already walked to the front door to see who's there. If I just tell Alexa to show me the front door it'll say OK, but nothing happens until I activate portal first. Frustrating. The HDMI-CEC control is also interesting. Yes, it will turn on my TV while switching to the portal port.. however; I can't use it to switch back to my cable-box's HDMI, control volume or turn the TV off. Perhaps there are commands to do this, but I haven't found them yet.

Good

It works very well. If you have a FaceBook account and video conferencing through Messenger is what you want, I recommend it.

Muy versátil y buena calidad de imágen.

Funktioniert mit Facebook und indirekt mit Whatsapp. Leider kam das Netzteil mit vergossenem UK-Stromstecker. Ich musste ein deutsches neu kaufen :-(

It's good for distance communication. My kid talks to her grandparents everyday and feels lively. However I am experiencing issues with remote. Occasionally remote stops working and you cannot see anything on screen. You need to pair the remote every time this happens which takes up almost 10 mins and is tedios. Hope Facebook resolves this issue with a software update. Other than this issue we have not faced any other problem. Zoom feature works really well.

Great gadget so food for catching up with family and friends