Metz 24MPE7002Z

Price

Selling for £299, the Metz MPE7 is undoubtedly a bit niche. While it lacks some of the basic niceties you might expect from a portable telly, it compensates with genuine portability and a versatile feature set.

In Europe, you’ll find it on sale for around €360. It’s not available in North America or Australia, so don’t bother looking.

Design

• Compact design
• Matte screen treatment
• Carry handle

Charming in a way that only a titchy telly with tasteful design can be, the Metz MPE7 is finished in  fashionable white, weighs a manageable 4kg, and occupies roughly 548 x 366 x 74mm of your airspace. Basically, it’s compact enough to easily tout around the house, or pack into a vehicle, whenever required.

The set’s stereo sound system faces forward beneath the screen, in a faux soundbar arrangement, with a single manual control button at the centre, which offers on-set access to sources and volume.

Spin the set and you’ll find a pleather carry handle mounted on the rear.

The TV base is slightly wide, allowing the screen to stand proudly without a separate pedestal stand. This makes placement refreshingly straightforward. Put it on a table, a kitchen counter or a bedroom dresser and it sits perfectly stable.

The screen sports a matte anti-glare finish, which proves useful when the TV is used in bright environments.

The set ships with a tidy, white remote includes quick-access buttons for Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube, plus a programmable ‘Daily Key’.

Connectivity

• Single HDMI
• Dual band Wi-Fi
• Digital optical audio output

When it comes to connections, there’s no terrestrial tuner nor satellite equivalent. You can’t watch linear TV channels out of the box.

Connectivity is stacked to the left, so cables remain accessible even when the set is placed against a wall or on a narrow surface. There’s a single HDMI input, most likely be used to connect an external streaming device, games console or disc spinner, as well as a USB port that allows playback of media files from external storage devices.

A digital optical audio output can be used to connect the set to a separate audio system. There’s also a LAN Ethernet port for those who prefer a wired network connection over the TV’s built-in dual-band Wi-Fi.

Additional inputs include a 3.5mm AV connection for analogue video and audio, along with the DC power input for the supplied power brick.

The set can also be powered directly from a vehicle, useful for those with motorhomes, caravans or boats.

User Experience

• Google TV smart OS
• No BBC iPlayer or ITVX
• Can feel sluggish
• No Freely

The Metz MPE7, by design, is something of a digital nomad; it’s reliant on a broadband connection, rather than conventional aerial, to entertain.

It can, of course, run happily off the mains, but the provision of battery power goes a long way to justifying its premium over rival small screens. 

The built-in lithium cell provides around three hours of viewing, which is just about adequate for a sports event, movie or TV binge.

This portability is what makes the MPE7 genuinely appealing. It’s easy to move from kitchen to garden, bedroom to guest room, or pack for a weekend away.

The TV runs the familiar Google TV, which aggregates content from Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV, YouTube and Paramount+, alongside the likes of YouTube Music and others into a single home screen.

Google Assistant voice control is supported, so you can search for films, or check the weather, by barking into the remote. It’s got to be said though that responses can feel a little sluggish; still the interface remains straightforward and intuitive, particularly for anyone already familiar with Android-based smart TVs.

Baked in extras include Google Cast, personalised viewing profiles and parental controls.

Unfortunately, the set lacks key UK catch-up services. There’s no BBC iPlayer or ITVX. Channel 5 is the only familiar PSB available. Attempting to access ITVX, which appears in some of the Google TV recommendation rails, results in a compatibility message indicating that the Metz ‘device’ does not support the application.

What’s more, there’s no Freely provision, which would have seemed a natural for inclusion.

There is, of course, an easy fix. You can use the HDMI input to connect an external streaming receiver or set-top box. Freely gadgets from Netgem or Manhattan will sidestep the limitation, although they’re only really usable if the TV is sedentary.

Gaming

• Dedicated Game mode
• Low input lag

As long as you’re not expecting something akin to a dedicated gaming monitor, you’re unlikely to be disappointed by this small screen. It’s perfectly fine for casual gaming. I measured input lag at 10.5ms in Game mode (1080/60), which is a pretty sprightly performance by TV standards.

Picture Quality

• HDR compatible
• Various picture presets
• Limited black level

The Metz MPE7, as befits its size and price, is built around a  24-inch Full HD (1080p) LED panel, and while not the kind of display that would make cinephiles swoon, it’s perfectly suited for the job at hand.

Its most obvious attribute is that matte anti-glare coating. This proves particularly effective against strong light sources, such as lamps or daylight streaming through a window. This makes the TV usable in bright rooms and even outdoors (although not the full glare of a Summer sun).

While this isn’t a display for high-impact HDR spectacle, it acknowledges HDR sources from streaming platforms and processes them accordingly. I measured peak HDR brightness at 293 nits, using a 10 percent patch, which is in line with what I’d expect from a TV at this price point. 

Watching the Ryan Gosling action comedy The Fall Guy on Netflix, the image appears punchy enough, with decent colour saturation and respectable dynamic range. Black levels lean toward grey – a typical characteristic of small LED panels – but colours are on the right side of pleasing.

Animation also benefits from the set’s compact pixel density. Anime streamed on Prime Video displays excellent colour gradation and clarity. I dare say Paw Patrol looks just as good.

Picture modes are comprehensive for a compact portable display, and include Standard, Vivid, Movie, Sport, Game and Energy Saving. More advanced options such as dynamic noise reduction, local contrast control and colour enhancement are also available deeper down, although there’s little obvious benefit to be had from tinkering.

The Energy Saving mode should be avoided like the plague, and I felt Movie mode was a little too dim on this backlit set. Standard and Vivid would be my go-tos.

Sound Quality

• 2 x 6W stereo sound
• Speaker bar design

The sound system here is surprisingly capable. Behind the grille are two front-firing 6W drivers. While there’s not enough width to offer an appreciable stereo presentation, the output is fittingly robust with some welcome weight – I’ve heard larger TVs that sound a lot worse.

Audio presets include Standard, Movie, Music and Sport. Standard would be my recommendation. Dialogue remains clear and movie soundtracks have moderate heft. 

Should you buy it?