HD PICTURE QUALITY. HD picture quality fell short, overall. Reproduction of fine HD image detail was Excellent. Color accuracy was Excellent, so colors, especially flesh tones, look very natural and lifelike. Contrast—the difference between the darkest blacks and brightest whites—was Good, so images had some depth, but it was not the best. Black levels were overly bright, unfortunately, worse than many TVs. Image brightness was moderately low, dimmer than most—OK for a dark room but not the best choice for a bright room. Its reproduction of smooth edges on image content deinterlacing of 1080i video was Very Good (minimal "jaggies"); and film mode detection from 1080i content was Excellent.
VIEWING ANGLE. This Insignia has a wide viewing angle overall, better than that of most TVs. It will provide fairly consistent picture quality, with fewer problems than most TVs, for typical viewing conditions—say, if your family is seated across a long sectional or in chairs off to the sides. Our examination at various viewing angles indicated reasonably good consistency. In our tests, the picture did show moderate dimming from the sides. With dark scenes this model doesn't fare quite as well. When viewed from the sides, the depth of black levels varied depending on our vertical position. As we moved closer to the screen this limitation became even more apparent, especially if seated on the floor looking upward where black levels brightened significantly.
MOTION BLUR. In our motion tests, this Insignia TV had Good motion performance, with some blurring. It does not have a special feature to minimize motion blur.
SOUND QUALITY. We got poor sound from this TV. Its shortcomings were very apparent on typical programming, and especially so with movie soundtracks and music. In our listening evaluations, we found the bass (low frequencies) was notably missing. Treble (high frequencies) lacked detail. The overall sound was a bit thin and notably closed in. This TV is only OK for small, quiet rooms—we found that this TV's sound volume was limited and without obvious distortion. If you expect decent sound from your TV, especially one intended for primary viewing, look at other models or be prepared to add an external sound system.
EASE OF USE. Consider the TV's stand is 19 inches wide when choosing a table top to place it on. On first power up, an on-screen guide appeared—which you could choose to follow when setting up the TV. The remote controls the TV via an RF signal and doesn't need to be pointed at the TV. It has a simplified design with a reduced set of buttons. It includes many of the typical buttons: power, volume control, mute, menu, and exit. But annoyingly it lacks the, channel up/down, and source input buttons. The remote also has a microphone for accessing a built-in voice assistant feature. It also has dedicated buttons for streaming Prime Video, Netflix, HBO, and Hulu.
INTERNET FEATURES. This TV provides internet functionality via its "Fire OS" portal, with access to a library of applications. Movie streaming services that can be downloaded to this TV, or are built-in, include Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, Apple TV+ and HBO. Includes built-in Alexa, a virtual assistant, which allows you to use natural speech to ask questions, launch applications, and search programming by talking to the remote. Claimed support for external voice assistants (not built in to the TV) include Amazon Alexa.
CONNECTIONS. This model has three HDMI inputs (one supports ARC, Audio Return Channel), one composite input, and no component input. It also has one USB port, an optical digital audio out, a headphone out, an Ethernet port, WiFi wireless networking; Casting, which allows you to send streaming content from your mobile device to the TV via your home network.
WHAT'S INCLUDED. You get with this TV: a quick start guide, an electronic user guide via the TV's menu, a remote control with batteries, and a detachable power cord. No printed manual is included.
