You don’t have to spend $1,000 or $2,000 on an OLED from LG or Samsung to get a solid viewing experience. Insignia sits in that sweet spot between budget junk and premium pricing, and it’s actually Best Buy’s house brand that Amazon sells by the truckload. This 50-inch F50 Series has become Amazon’s best-selling TV model, and right now it’s hit an all-time low at $169, down from its usual $299. You get 4K resolution, HDR10, Fire TV built right in and enough smart features to replace your streaming stick.
Built-in Streaming Without Extra Dongles
Fire TV comes baked into the television so you can skip the mess of HDMI dongles and extra remotes cluttering your entertainment center. An interface that boots directly when you power on the TV gives instant access to Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, and hundreds of other apps. The ability to search across many services at once, through the voice remote with Alexa built in, enables you to hit the button and ask for a show or movie, and have Fire TV find where it’s streaming.
This 4K Ultra HD panel offers a resolution of 2160p, an amount four times that of the standard 1080p displays. Movies and shows shot in 4K look crisp and detailed, with visible texture in fabrics, foliage, and facial features. The TV upscales lower-resolution content to near-4K quality using built-in processing, so even older shows look better than they would on a 1080p screen. HDR10 support expands the color range and contrast and makes bright highlights pop without washing out darker scenes.
DTS Virtual-X creates a three-dimensional soundstage from the TV’s built-in speakers. The technology uses audio signal processing to create an illusion for your ears that sounds may be coming from everywhere. This gives you a more immersive experience during action movies and hours of gaming, without ever having to install a full surround sound system. An HDMI eARC port sends full-resolution audio out to compatible soundbars and AV receivers and passes along Dolby Atmos and DTS:X signals if you upgrade your audio setup down the road.
Three HDMI ports handle game consoles, Blu-ray players, and cable boxes all at once. You won’t have to switch cables every time you want to use one device or another. The TV also has composite AV jacks for older equipment, a digital optical output for sound systems that can’t be updated to HDMI, a USB port for playing media files, and both Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity. The headphone jack allows you to watch late into the night without keeping anyone else awake.
For $169, this 50-inch 4K TV is less expensive than most streaming sticks are when you add in the cost of a decent monitor. You’re getting a comprehensive entertainment system, which takes care of streaming, gaming, and smart home control without additional purchases. This is one of our favorite smart TV deals for Black Friday.
