HACKER Q&A
📣 ryeguy_24

Good solution for video chat on home TV?


I’ve been searching non-stop and even trying to build my own solution with a raspberry pi but I have not yet found a good solution for doing video chat between my daughter and her grandparents. I have a nice big 4K tv and would love a simple way to connect TV to TV and do a video chat.

1. FaceTime is great but when hooking iphone up to TV it does not rotate into landscape mode. A ridiculous shortcoming that’s been there for years.

2. Raspberry Pi 4 with a webcam. Works ok but mine overheats and lags when steaming 1080p from webcam and displaying content on my 4K tv. Also less friendly for the grandparents.

3. Tried a MacBook to MacBook with hdmi out on both TVs. Works ok but the laptop screen has to be open and you wind up looking at the laptop screen.

4. Haven’t tried the Facebook Portal device yet but that may work.

5. Buy a pro video conference solution. Haven’t given this serious thought because of cost. Over 1k in most cases.

Anybody have success doing this?


  👤 wmf Accepted Answer ✓
There's also Solaborate although I haven't tried it. https://www.solaborate.com/hello2