The Insignia Fire TV Edition may be a solid smart TV, with good picture quality and sound. it is the best Amazon-powered TV yet. Find more in Insignia NS-43DF710NA21 43-Inch Smart 4K UHD – Fire TV Edition Review.
Pros & Cons
FOR
Affordable 4K smart TV
HDR support
Alexa voice assistant inbuilt
AGAINST
No far-field mics for Alexa
The Insignia 43-inch 4K Fire TV Edition ($299 as tested) is that the third Amazon-powered smart TV we’ve reviewed, but it is the first we’d recommend and is one among the simplest TVs overall for those on a budget.
We’ve seen Amazon’s capable Fire TV OS hampered by bargain-bin 4K TVs from brands like Westinghouse and Toshiba. So, it’s fairly refreshing to ascertain Best Buy’s Insignia brand stepping up to supply an honest TV to match the standard of the software. This set isn’t perfect by any means, but the Insignia is that the best Fire TV we have seen , and it delivers an honest picture for a smaller set. Although its lineup includes one among the simplest 55-inch TVs, too.
Insignia NS-43DF710NA21 43-Inch Smart 4K UHD – Fire TV Edition Specs
| Price | $299 |
| Screen Size | 43 inches |
| Resolution | 3840 x 2160 |
| HDR | HDR10 |
| Refresh Rate | 60 Hz |
| Ports | 3 HDMI, 1 USB |
| Audio | 2 Channels, 8 Watts |
| Smart TV Software | Amazon Fire TV, with Alexa |
| Size | 38.2 x 22.5 x 3.2 inches [w/o stand] |
| Weight | 19.6 pounds [w/o stand] |
The 43-inch set measures 38.2 x 22.5 x 3.2 inches without the stand and weighs a manageable 19.6 pounds, making it small enough for one person to assemble and move.
The attached stand consists of two feet, and while the plastic feet are a touch chunky, they sit perpendicular to the display rather than at the awkward angled position that numerous inexpensive TV designs prefer. it is a small improvement, except for a low-priced TV, even small touches make a difference.
The TV itself is fairly thick, with a rounded chassis. On the rear panel may be a four-hole pattern for a typical 200 x 200-millimeter VESA mount.
Ports
On the left side of the TV, you’ll find two panels of inputs, one that faces left and includes two HDMI ports (one of which has ARC support), one USB port, and a headphone jack for audio output. A second, rear-facing panel offers a 3rd HDMI port, an RF connector for antenna and cable, composite video input, digital optical output for surround sound, and an Ethernet port.
For wireless connectivity, the set has 802. 11ac Wi-Fi.
Insignia NS-43DF710NA21 43-Inch Smart 4K UHD – Fire TV Edition Performance review
Looking over the specs for the Insignia — a 43-inch 4K display, a 60-Hz refresh rate and limited HDR capability — I wasn’t too excited about the prospect of another mediocre Amazon TV. However, the Insignia impressed me right out of the gate. Watching scenes from Spider-Man: Homecoming, we saw vibrant colors and fairly smooth action for a 60-Hz panel. during a scene during which Spider-Man climbs the Washington Monument , the brilliant blue skies and green lawns of the National Mall looked great, and therefore the reds and blues of Spidey’s suit looked faithful life. Night shots of a Marvel-inflected Manhattan offered bright city lights, especially on Avengers Tower.
More-demanding tests proved that this good first impression wasn’t a fluke. In Blade Runner 2049, close-ups of faces and hands demonstrated that the display handled flesh tones fairly well. It produced realistic shades and none of the banding we frequently encounter on less-expensive displays.
Watching scenes from Spider-Man: Homecoming, we saw vibrant colors and fairly smooth action for a 60-Hz panel.
HDR support is restricted to HDR10, and without local dimming, the effect isn’t as rich as you would possibly expect from an HDR-capable TV. That said, in Blade Runner 2049, realistic light shone on bones presented on a lit examination table. In another scene, crammed with deep shadows, unwanted light spilled over into portions of the screen that ought to are nearly black, but no more so than we have seen on other sub-$500 TVs.
Viewing angles are pretty limited. Even once we sat directly in from of the screen, we saw minor color shifting at the proper and left edges of the panel, a drag we generally encounter only on much larger displays. At 45 degrees, this discoloration covered half the screen, so sharing the screen with quite one person was tough.
The Insignia Fire TV is way from an ideal display, but as budget-friendly TVs go, it’s pretty solid. Color reproduction is best than average, with the set achieving 99.4 percent of the Rec. 709 color space in our gamut measurements. That’s slightly but the results from the LG UK6300 (99.8 percent) and therefore the TCL 43S517 Roku TV (99.8 percent), but it’s significantly better than those from the opposite current Amazon smart TV, the Toshiba 55-inch Fire TV Edition (98.2 percent).
Color accuracy is best , as well. The Insignia Fire TV Edition registered a Delta-E rating of three .9, which isn’t spectacular; that score makes the Insignia slightly less accurate than the LG UK6300 (3.7) and decidedly worse than the TCL 43S517 Roku TV (1.7). But the Insignia still managed better color fidelity than the Toshiba Fire TV (5.05). That not only puts the Insignia among the typical budget TVs, but it also means it is the most color-accurate Amazon Fire TV we’ve tested, by an extended shot.
When we plugged in our Xbox One X, the sport console was able to rock and roll. Not only did it support 4K gaming, but the Insignia also supports HDR and 10-bit color, which many inexpensive TVs don’t . In actual gameplay, we were impressed to ascertain that colors were vibrant and HDR lent a vividness to content that SDR-only sets can’t replicate. In Assassin’s Creed Origins, that meant lush greenery during a desert oasis and glowing torches when exploring underground tombs. In Forza Horizon 3, cars shone with a sensible gleam within the sunlight and taillights had a sensible glow in nighttime races. Visually, the set is well-suited to 4K gaming, but its tested lag time of 38 milliseconds may postpone more-competitive gamers.
Audio
The small TV could also be inexpensive, but it’s largely freed from the anemic audio that’s so often heard within the sub-$500 range. The TV features a pair of 8-watt speakers, and while they are not remarkably loud, they are doing offer fairly rich sound.
When I listened to Twenty One Pilots’ “Jumpsuit,” the 43-inch set managed to supply clean treble and a suitable level of bass for a TV with no subwoofer. While you’ll fill the space with audio, doing so requires really cranking the quantity , and at 40 percent volume, the bass took on a “womp-womp” quality.
On the entire , the audio quality is sweet enough, but we’d still recommend getting a soundbar.
Smart Features – Insignia NS-43DF710NA21 43-Inch Smart 4K UHD – Fire TV Edition Review
Amazon’s name is everywhere the Insignia’s packaging and residential screen, and with good reason. Where past Insignia models relied on Roku’s smart TV OS , this new model is all about Amazon’s Fire TV OS.
As smart TV platforms go, Fire TV is fairly capable. It offers most of the apps you’d expect, like Netflix, Hulu and HBO (both HBO Go and HBO Now), also because the expected Amazon Prime Video. What this OS doesn’t have is Google’s streaming services, whether it is the Google Play Store for video or YouTube (and the various YouTube variations). While you’ll still enjoy YouTube through the TV’s browser , the official app is nowhere to be found.
Insignia NS-43DF710NA21 43-Inch Smart 4K UHD – Fire TV Edition customer Review
Excellent value and love the built in Fire TV
This is a great TV, especially for the price we got it for on Black Friday. The remote is very similar to the Fire TV remote and I find it very convenient not having to hook anything up to this TV since it already has Fire TV built in. The screen is very bright and clear and the speakers are much better than most TVs. The volume gets very loud so we are now reconsidered our original plan to add a soundbar. We added an intenna to watch local channels and if you do that, the channels become integrated within the Fire TV home menu so you can see what’s on TV without having to switch back and forth between inputs.
By Stephen at Best Buy
