Television technology has flipped completely over the past two decades. A 40-inch TV in 2005 would have cost you well over $1,000, featured a bulky CRT or early plasma design that weighed a ton, and offered basic cable input with no smart features whatsoever. Fast forward to today, and Amazon is offering this Insignia 40-inch Smart Fire TV for just $99, down from its already reasonable $149 price. You’re getting a sleek, wall-mountable display with full HD resolution, built-in streaming capabilities, voice control, and modern connectivity options for less than the cost of a nice dinner out.
The 1080p Full HD resolution delivers 1920×1080 pixels to the 40-inch display, providing clear, razor-sharp images for movies, TV programs, and games. Full HD is the perfect balance for screens this size, and offers excellent picture quality without the bandwidth and processing for which 4K plays its stratospheric tune. You’ll enjoy clear text in menus, crisp character and object edges and smooth action sequences. The screen size is great for bedrooms where you’re viewing from 6 to 10 feet, or in tiny living rooms where a massive 65-inch screen would overwhelm the room.
Fire TV OS lives within this TV itself and removes the need for separate streaming sticks or boxes. You have instant access to more than 1.5 million movies and TV shows on more than a thousand channels and apps. Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, YouTube, Apple TV Plus, Disney Plus, ESPN Plus, Sling TV and Paramount Plus all operate natively without the added hardware cluttering your entertainment unit or taking up HDMI ports.
The included Alexa voice remote changes everything about how you interact with your TV. Press and hold the voice button and simply say what you want to watch, what input to switch to, or what you want to know. Alexa can be used to find specific movies, launch apps, adjust volume, pause a movie, or even control compatible smart home devices without ever leaving your couch.
Connectivity choices give you everything you need for an entire entertainment system: Two HDMI inputs are available for game consoles, Blu-ray machines, or cable boxes. Older DVD players or vintage game consoles are handled by composite AV jacks. Digital optical out is utilized to hook up to audio systems and a USB port is available to play back media files from flash drives.
For $99, this Insignia Fire TV is less expensive than most standalone streaming devices but includes an entire 40-inch screen.
