Customer Ratings & Reviews

Great way to watch my 1yr old grand-twins grow, on my 70” TV!

We're enjoying the full view experience & how the camera follows our movements. Very nice to be able to invite family & friends into our living room to join in the fun when they can't be here in person!

This is a fun device that brings people closer. After hanging up, the question is often who do we call next! Using Facebook messenger on your TV is great. I can let my 2 year old daughter video chat with her Aunt and Grandma in their living room. I don’t have to hold a phone, worry about her hanging up, or chase her to keep her in the picture. She can play and Portal does it’s best to keep up. The included effects, shared games, and story time features are great for a laugh, even if they aren’t perfect. The effect that turns you into a fire breathing dragon had us in tears as my daughter squealed “I am a dragon Daddy, a dragon!” The pan and zoom sometimes misses on tracking you or doesn’t move quickly enough to follow you, but it works well enough to be a benefit and the adjustment speed is slow enough to not give you motion sickness. It tracks better when it can see your face. It comes with a remote, but many commands can be given just by saying “Hey Portal” then something you want it to do. It can even answer basic questions like weather or set reminders (if you need more you can also link it to Alexa). The video quality is very good considering the TV’s screen size, but it will vary depending on the quality of your connection. You can chat with anyone who has Facebook messenger or WhatsApp on their phone. You have to supply your own HDMI cable and the built in mounting clip didn’t fit either of my TVs. I set it on top using the front clip and twist tied the cord to the back of the TV (the back of the TV was too thick for the clip to clamp on to as shown in the directions). Input switching via HDMI link was also variable for me. Using Portal by itself was no issue; the TV would come on, switch inputs automatically and shut off when Portal shut off. If I was already watching TV, it didn’t go as well and there is no input toggle button on the Portal remote. It isn’t perfect, but this thing is great for a chat with family and friends. It has some thoughtful features that are both fun and useful. The experience is more relaxed than using your phone.

I have no regret getting this on sale. It functions perfectly in my samsung smart tv. A lot of things to do too.

Made my moms life so easier. No more holding mobile in her hands for the whole day

Works great. Zoom and Messenger calls are very easy.

The best option for over the TV video conferencing systems in the market right now.

The Facebook Portal TV with Alexa is a fun and interactive way to video chat with your friends or family. This device connects to your TV by way of HDMI and turns your TV into a large video chatting device. The camera on the Portal TV is a 12-megapixel camera that has full 1080p HD quality. 12 high quality microphones help to capture the audio on this thing, and I found it to work well. My daughter and my grandkids were on one end and my kids (yes, I have young kids and grandkids too) were on my end. 4 kids all excited and talking at the same time was a little too much at certain times, but for the most part the audio quality was great, and the “adults” could talk and carry on conversations. The pan and zoom features of the camera work great as well. Video quality does degrade a bit if it zooms in, probably due to the digital zoom) but when it is not zoomed in the quality is great. Some of the other features that the Portal TV offers is augmented reality masks, playing games (while video chatting with friends), watching TV (Facebook watch party) together while video chatting, and story time with some cute kids’ stories. My girls love the augmented reality masks when we do the story time apps and makes them part of the story as well. I did experience a small network issue after about 30 minutes, I noticed that my internet speed had dropped down to 3.19Mbps and the video and auto became very choppy, but a quick call disconnect and reconnect I saw my speed go up to the advertised speed of 102Mbps again. I don’t know if the Portal TV was to blame or my router was. Overall the quality has been good, and I haven’t experienced that same issue again. I was initially worried about privacy, but happy to see that the camera does have a privacy cover that you can close, and you can also mute the microphone on it. If you are worried about leaving this on all the time, then simply just close the cover and mute the microphone. Over-all this is a fun way to interact with your family and friends who are afar and can make it seem like you are all in the same room. It was fun to sit on the couch and watch them sitting on their couch as well and still feel close.

This is my review of the Facebook Portal TV. The device is smaller than I thought it would be so it was a nice surprise to see a small footprint for this little toy. The price of the Facebook TV Portal was $149.99 at the time of testing. The setup was easy however, the Portal update seemed to take a bit. The rest of the setup was an intuitive, easy step by step instructions. I would say it took approx. 20 minutes altogether. Also, the connection to FB, FB Messenger, and Alexa was a snap. The unit has 13 Apps (I’m sure there are more to come) like music apps Pandora, I Heart Radio and TV subscription services Stars, Showtime and Sling. I had a chance to review the video offered on Facebook and the steaming was smooth, High-Quality audio and video (Have this hooked up to a soundbar). The calling feature works with WhatsApp and FB Messenger. For the purpose of the test I used messenger and the quality was outstanding. Walking around the room and panning up close I found the device worked as advertised. You can add special effects when on the call which is really cool. I would recommend this to all my friends. Note to all about privacy. The device has a manual camera off slide Cover as well as a button shut off. The reason its manual is so that you have complete control. This device does not automatically come on when off and the camera won’t see anything if the manual slide cover is closed. So I think you're covered.

Using the Facebook Portal TV reminds me of the time in the movie Back to the Future part II where future McFly is talking to Needles on his big screen TV. However, the Portal TV is much higher clarity and we have face tracking. The Portal TV is like your own personal home video teleconferencing system. However, you don’t need an IT team to set it all up. If you know how to connect an HDMI cable to your TV, connect to your WiFi and use Facebook, you are already an expert. Once connected everything else is guided through on your TV. Initial setup did take about 30 minutes or so as it did require some updates plus you have to use another internet connected device to connect the Portal TV to your Facebook account. Once running though I was able to call anyone in my contacts that has Messenger, Whatsapp or another Portal device with voice or the included remote. Voice activation works with “Hey Portal” and some various commands. I found out the hard way that watching a Portal ad with Katy Burg will also try to call Katie on my friends list. The face tracking on this single camera is pretty surprising. For a single wide angle camera it acts like you have your own cameraman as it follows you around and zooms in and out when there are others in the room. However, it could still use some work as there are times when it doesn’t pick up others that you want or the tracking has your head more at the top of the screen. There are several times that I wanted to point something else out in the room, like my dog, but unless my face was there no one could see it. An option to manually control the pan and zoom would be ideal, but for now the only manual option is a spotlight where you can select one face out of the room. This strangely works on large pictures in the background too as I stole the focus from a friend and it zoomed into their picture on the wall. If you have kids or family and friends that are distant, this is by far the coolest thing. With the camera able to see the majority of my living room, kids are easily able to run around and play while talking to whomever. There are times I wish I had something like this when my kids were younger and we were hundreds of miles away from the rest of our family. Not only is it great for seeing and talking, but there are fun little augmented effects, games and story books that make it a fun event. There are still some minor issues with the effects and the position in which a single person is placed in the face tracking messes with some of them even more. Especially if you try the shared effects where it seems to only focus on the center of the camera and your head is is too high on the screen to play the games. The shared effects also only work Portal to Portal even though Messenger has some of the same activities. Another shared feature is being able to use Facebook Watch and view videos that are on Facebook with another Portal TV user. While watching the video either person has the option to play/pause the video however some other features will be limited. It also starts the video before the other person starts watching it, but will rewind it so that you are both watching it at the same time. This is a feature that I wish the could expand into other smart apps such as CBS and Starz so that you could watch other shows together or in group calls. Speaking of smart apps, there are a few apps like Spotify, Pandora, Red Bull TV, CBS, Starz, Showtime and a couple others that allow you to turn your TV into a smart TV. However, some of the most common smart apps are not available. Another smart feature is having Alexa integrated, once logged into your Amazon account. Just like any Alexa device, just say “Hey Alexa” and whatever it is you need and it will respond through the integrated speaker of the Portal TV device. Some of the features I have used on other Alexa devices did not seem to respond on this one though. You can have up to 5 accounts associated with the Portal. The primary account, or first account, will have to use the device code first in order to add another user which will have another device code. When the second user was added, none of their contacts showed up. However, we were able to call that profile and answer from the Portal. After a while though, contacts did finally show for this account. The only issue I had from there is when trying to connect with others on the Portal through Messenger as it will ask to answer and drop call until the other person answers on their other device. The portal TV reminded me a lot of the Xbox Kinect in the build style and size. However, the Portal TV easily rests on top of my thin TV or entertainment center with the ability to ever so slightly angle down. The Portal TV is also its own smart device so it only needs the TV for video and sound. For those concerned about privacy you can slide a little panel in front of the camera which turns off video and the button on the side disables the microphone, indicated by a red light that it is off. Bottom line is that this is an amazing device and is really meant for you to share with other Portal TV users to get the most out of it. If you want to stay visually connected with family and friends this is so much better than a webcam or a phone cam even though it is limited to the area the TV is in. I feel this is more of a 4.5 star, and since this is the first generation I feel they have plenty of room to improve.

I've waited a LONG TIME for somebody to invent a video camera that uses Artificial Intelligence to enhance video calls! Facebook did us right by inventing the Portal TV - it's simply awesome. So much so - I've already purchased more and sent them to my friends and relatives! Super easy to install - just a power cord and an HDMI cable to your TV - then join your WiFi netowrk and sign into your Facebook Messenger account and you're up and running! I had absolutely no issues what so ever. Usage is great! Camera features, clarify, overlays are awesome. I just can't say enough about this device. If you have friends or family that you are tired of crowding around a computer or mobile device to do a video call - the Facebook Portal TV is a no brainer! Great camera angle - 160 degrees I think, sits nively on top of or underneath your TV - just perfect!

That's what my kids called it. They love video calling everyone now on Facebook and WhatsApp account. They love that you can change your faces and you voices and how camera follow your movements. The picture and camera quality on the portal tv Is amazing. I also love the fact that now we have Alexa, which is also built into the portal tv. Before portal I hardly use to video call my relatives, but now we do it all the time. My family and I absolutely love our portal tv and I am certain you would as well.

This Portal TV is amazing. Since I bought it, I use it almost everyday with my family to have a family chat and play with my nephews using high quality and well-designed on screen AR effects and story time. Build quality is awesome, screen resolution is clear. The idea is to stay connected with family and friend through video chat either Facebook or WhatsApp. It makes family time interesting and entertaining. In addition to have built-in Alexa to control music and lights via voice.

The Portal tv basically turns our smart tv into a smartphone, which while it’s a cool idea, having to turn on my television, and switch outputs just to make a video call seems like a lot of unnecessary work. Nonetheless, the face tracking software is extremely accurate and seamless. It finds the first person and basically follows them around the room, zooming in and out. It really does look great —not jerky or confusing. It even pans around and almost feels like a real person is videoing! Also, for any other paranoid people out there, the camera does have cover to slide over when not in use, plus the mic can easily be muted as well. Also, no matter where you are in the room, the mics do a great job of picking up your voice. I didn’t need to shout or enunciate like crazy, even from across the room. It took me a while to figure out how to spotlight on someone else other than myself. My kids’ favorite thing about it is the Story Time feature, where you can watch the caller’s face integrate into scenes from a story as they read it. This feature did take a few tries to get it to work correctly for us. All in all, I am very pleased with the product and if you can afford it, it is a really col edgy gift for a friend or family that you don’t get to see often.

What a astonishing invention and fun for the whole family! I had my hesitations off course because how could a small bar the size of a candy bar do it all? Well it does... It tracks your face and moves with your movements which is the weirdest thing, voice recognition, funky games that had both families laughing and I can shut the camera off manually for privacy! I love that the person receiving my call doesn’t need to have a Portal but if you do be ready for fun times. My family and I use it weekly to catch up from a distance. I’m not able to go home often so I can keep up with my grandmother more often now. This is something everyone can enjoy and I’m so happy to have it in my home. Lastly, you can watch shows with other users, download apps like Stars within the Portal and it uses your Facebook photos as screensavers which came out beautifully! 100% recommend this for any person who loves to keep in touch.

Our daughter bought one for us for early Christmas, we love it so much we decided to buy her and our other two children one for Christmas. With family living several hours/days away - keeping in touch all on one big screen is such a treasure! We had sooo much fun playing with all the filters. Seeing our one years old grandson life size and live video makes the 2000 miles not feel so far!

Great product. Bigger screen obviously with being able to connect it straight to our tv, and it more convenient than using our cellphones. It helps us to keep in touch with our family who is scattered all over the country.

The Portal TV is a solid product. The hardware is quite well-built and the software has only gotten better since the product has been released. There is quite a lot of attention-to-detail that you'll be able to notice as you use the product. Things like the privacy cover for the camera and the killswitch for the microphone give you some peace of mind, as you'll know it's not watching/listening despite sitting sitting on top of your television. The user interface is pretty easy to learn and use. Calls through Messenger and WhatsApp couldn't be easier. Once you're on the call, the Portal does the rest of the work for you. It has some gimmicks like 'cute' filters to apply to your face during a call, but they're totally unneeded and get old after a while. Regarding the calls themselves - as long as you have good-enough internet connection, it can be a magical experience when you're on a call with a Portal, especially if the other user has a Portal device, too. The camera will follow you as you move around and maintain focus, allowing you to be relatively 'free' as you're on the call. You can move around and do your thing, and the camera will keep you in focus the entire time, to an extent (so long as you don't go too far). The microphones pick up sound pretty well, too. Alexa functionality is an added benefit. Getting a Portal TV can save you $40+, as you won't have to buy an Echo Dot or other Echo speaker to use Alexa. I can't recommend this device enough, especially if the people you're calling also have Portal devices. Even if you don't, it's still a great buy for the money. The interface is super easy to use, and there are quite a few nice-to-have but unnecessary add-ons like Alexa built-in, the ability to access streaming apps (Netflix, Paramount+, and more) through the Portal, things like Zoom-call support, and more. I definitely think this would be worth the money at $150, and even moreso when you find it on sale (usually at $100). The only gripe I have is that it doesn't come with an HDMI cable, which is needed for use. They're pretty cheap to manufacture - I think Meta could have afforded to include one. Nonetheless, you probably have one lying around and that's likely why they chose not to include one.

Purchased this for our 95 yr old mother that is confined to her assisted living home due to Covid. Love that she does not have to keep track of a tablet. She has a very large TV and poor eye sight so viewing 5 calls at the same time is great. Plus we get to see all of her not just her face. We have an assistant from the home come answer and change her TV back to input for viewing TV programs so she does not have to deal with this aspect. Would highly recommend this for anyone. Even has a story telling feature that would enable grandparent to engage a grandchild, very entertaining.

Works great, installed it on my 75” tv, highly recommended for chatting with friends and family