You can now receive Zoom calls from an Amazon Fire TV Omni TV

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Amazon launched its branded Fire TVs last month with attractive price tags for a large, albeit disappointing 4K screen, and today they’re receiving the promised Zoom video calling app so you can chat with family and friends. friends during the holiday season (and beyond). While we noticed that Zoom was missing at launch and simply “coming” starting December 7, Amazon managed to launch it in time for the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

There is obviously no built-in camera in these TVs. As Amazon explains in its official blog post, you’ll need a compatible USB webcam to make it work, one with 720p or 1080p resolution, and the company specifically lists only the Logitech C920, C922x, and C310 as examples. And even if you have a good microphone on that webcam or a set of excellent speakers, you won’t be able to use them – Amazon notes that the Zoom app will use the TV’s microphone and speakers for now.

That said, it seems like an easy way to bring your family celebration to the big screen, compared to the clutter of laptop, webcam and cable, HDMI cable, and laptop power cable I found myself using to do the same thing. The video shows that you don’t even need to dig into the Amazon app store to find the Zoom app; “Alexa, find Zoom” will take you there.

Amazon also brought Zoom to its second-generation Fire TV Cube this July, though not the first-generation Cube. Its Fire TV Sticks don’t have a USB port for connecting a webcam, however.

If image quality isn’t important to you, the sets are on sale now. The two most popular sizes are currently $ 410 for the 55-inch model or $ 660 for the 65-inch model. For budget shoppers, we’d probably recommend TCL’s Series 6 Roku TVs instead, but Zoom isn’t currently available on Roku and you’d pay around $ 100 more for the set.

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