Design

The 50-inch set measures 44.4 x 26.1 x 3.3 inches minus the stand and weighs only 25.4 pounds, making it small enough for one person to walk and assemble.

A pair of plastic legs support the screen, and while they feel a little chunky, they look great—they’re perpendicular to the display instead of the awkwardly angled position you find on so many cheap designs. It’s a marked improvement, but for a TV with a lower price tag, even small design changes make a difference.

Around the rear, there’s a four-hole pattern for a standard 200 x 200-millimeter VESA. Port options are a bit rare but acceptable for entry-level TVs. On the left, there are two panels of inputs, one on the left and includes two HDMI ports (the one with ARC support), a single USB port, and a headphone jack for audio output.

There’s also a second, rear-facing panel that provides a third HDMI, an RF connector for antenna and cables, composite video inputs, and digital optical outputs around an Ethernet port.

Wireless connectivity comes within the approach of 802.11ac Wi-Fi.

Performance

Going by its specifications, the Insignia NS-43DF710NA21 stands out as a good entry-level 4K TV: a 50-inch display, a 60-Hz refresh rate, and limited HDR capability. Amazon TV is a lot more than what you’re paying for, and it will definitely cost you that out of the box. It offers enough color accuracy that it simply matches the slightly costly TCL 55R625, creating a worthy budget TV. It can display 4K High Dynamic Range (HDR) content in HDR 10, but it doesn’t support Dolby Vision or other HDR content types.

When watching the BBC’s Planet Earth II, the visuals look great, though you can easily spot the TV’s dimmer screen and smaller color range than the 6-Series or more expensive sets like LG’s OLED55C9PUA or Samsung’s QN55Q70RAFXZA. Nevertheless, the trees and blue-green colors on the “Island” episode look clear and natural, although fine textures such as fur and bark are crisp when well-lit. That said, shadows do get blurred muzzy, and fairly dim screens do not look as vibrant as they are doing on brighter panels.

Fire TV Remote

Included is a Fire TV remote that’s been optimized for the TV, which is slightly larger and more complex than the typical voice remote included with Amazon Fire TV media streamers. The design remains the same, however, with a prominent glossy black circular navigation pad with a thin black plastic stick. Right above the pad, there are three menu buttons and the other three playback buttons sit below the pad, with the power and microphone buttons on the top of the remote near a pinhole mic.

Obviously, this is the standard layout for the Fire TV streamer remote, but the Insignia adds a volume rocker and Live TV button below the playback controls. Plus, there are dedicated buttons for Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, HBO, and PlayStation Vue. The remote sends signals via Bluetooth as well as infrared, which means you can use it to control the TV if the Bluetooth connection drops, without needing to reconnect to the remote.

Fire TV OS & Alexa

To get the most out of the Fire TV features, you’ll need to sign in with your Amazon account, which is very typical of Fire TV streamers, using your account for transactions like in-app purchases and media rentals. have been created by However, on the Insignia Fire TV Edition, you absolutely don’t need an Amazon account to use the TV. There’s an optional Basic Mode that lets you use the TV as a TV without access to most of the streaming features in the interface but gives access to the TV’s diverse inputs.

Still, most of us want to use our Amazon account to access the full features of the Insignia Fire TV Edition, considering how robust it is as a smart TV platform. For example, it lets you access most streaming services including Amazon Video and Music, Hulu, Netflix, Sling TV, Spotify, and Twitch. Curiously, Google Play Movies & TV as well as Google Play Music are absent, and YouTube only loads through Firefox or the Silk web browser.

Not surprising at all, while Fire TV OS is ideally based on Android, you rarely find Amazon and Google much on content. The Fire TV includes access to the Alexa voice assistant, which you can easily use on the Insignia Fire TV Edition by pressing the microphone button on the remote and speaking into it. Sure, it might not be as hands-free as the Echo or Echo Spot, but it still works out of the box with the press of a button.