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.

I have seen a lot of reviews saying that you can't enable drop-in for a grandparent. I found a way to pull this off, it took a little work though.First I setup zoom on this device. Then I made a new zoom account, with a unique username and password just for this device specifically.I logged in to the account on my computer. A computer and installed software is necessary for some of this. You can get to advanced settings directly from logging into the zoom website to avoid the software, but its a bit cumbersome. Since "advanced settings" and "contacts" are not in the same area, you'll need to add/edit contacts elsewhere. If you already use zoom on a computer, you can just switch back and forth easier than other ways.Then I went on zoom and added my personal zoom account to the device contact/my friends list, and vice versa.Then I had to go onto the zoom settings on my computer, then to the advanced settings at the bottom which redirected me to the zoom website for the advanced account settings.I enabled "Auto Answering group".Also took off a few of the restrictions from the account. Allowing everyone (me on other end) to share screen without permission, white board, etc... basically giving them nothing they need to press or allow for me on my end.Then I went back to contacts, clicked my name and added myself to "auto answer group".Then on the device I opened the zoom app and left it there to see if it would work.Then I went back to my personal account on my phone, to contacts, to their name and pressed the little video icon and it connected automatically. Also did it from my computer by clicking "meet with video" and it also worked.I then setup a wifi IR blaster to allow me to control their television remotely, so that I would be able to turn on their television and switch inputs from my house.Its a lot of work to begin with. But once its all setup its really cool. Especially how the portal automatically zooms and follows the people on screen. So that everyone is in view.

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.