Insignia NS-50DF711SE21: At First Glance
The Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 is a reasonable 4K smart TV with decent picture quality and Fire TV operating system.
This television display has an ideal contrast ratio and produces deep blacks. In addition to that, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s display also supports HDR.
Furthermore, the television comes with a good number of ports, which is very impressive. However, most users might not appreciate the television due to its poor display viewing angles.
Nonetheless, I believe that just a minor drawback considering the television’s reasonable price and other great features. Speaking of price, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 has a $349.99 price tag.
This price tag was accurate in October 2021, the time I wrote this review.
Having introduced the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 to you, let’s find out more about the television in other sections below.
Insignia NS-50DF711SE21: Design, Dimension & Weight
As one would expect from an affordable television, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s design is pretty basic. The chassis of the television is built of plastic and metal.
However, the television doesn’t have a premium appearance.
Moreover, the rear of the television is made of metal, and it looks somewhat boring. Additionally, there is not much space for cable management on the rear, as the television lacks one.
Furthermore, the back of the television has a four-hole pattern. This four-hole pattern is for a 200 x 200-millimeter VESA mount.
Unfortunately, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 is quite thick. Therefore, it should slightly stick out from the wall if wall-mounted.
However, if you decide not to wall-mount the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21, it features a pair of legs. These legs are made of plastic and they provide enough support for the television.
Unfortunately, these plastic legs are pretty chunky. Also, they sit close to the edges of the television.
Therefore, you might need a fairly large table to place the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 on if not wall-mounted.
Moreover, the legs aren’t the only chunky object the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 has. It also features chunky bezels.
Moreover, the chunky bezels, which borders the television’s display are also made of plastic.
On the upside, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s build quality is rather outstanding. Although the television doesn’t look stunning, there are no gaps or loose ends anywhere in its chassis.
Unfortunately, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 is fairly heavy. It weighs a massive 11702.6 g and measures 1127.7 x 83.8 x 662.9 mm.
However, despite having such massive weight, one of its closest competitors, the Hisense 50H8G weighs more. Specifically, the Hisense 50H8G weighs 12791.3 g and measure 1112.5 x 78.7 x 645.1 mm.
However, the Samsung UN55NU6900 is less heavy than the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21. The Samsung UN55NU6900 weighs a mere 7800 g and measure 1239.5 x 58.4 x 713.7 mm.
In conclusion, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 is a modest-looking television, with a very basic design. However, almost every part of the television is thick from its bezels to its plastic legs.
Additionally, the television is somewhat heavy.
Therefore, I believe an eight out of ten is a fair rating for the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 in this design review section.
Insignia NS-50DF711SE21: Display Features
Most people might think that the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 features a 50-inch display. This might be because of the “50” in its name.
However, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s display is 0.50-inch less than 50-inch. Therefore, it features a 49.50-inch display.
As stated in the “my Initial thoughts” section above, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 is a 4K television. However, what I actually mean is that the television’s display features a 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) resolution.
Moreover, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s display has a 16:9 aspect ratio. The aspect ratio of a display is the ratio between its width and height.
Impressively, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s display has an excellent contrast ratio of 4,660:1. The contrast ratio of a display is the ratio between the display’s brightest white to the deepest black pixels.
Additionally, the contrast ratio is a key factor in determining the picture quality of a display. Also, the contrast ratio determines the black level of a display screen.
Therefore, with such a contrast ratio, blacks on the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s display will look very deep. As a result, users will enjoy watching movies with lots of dark scenes without the fear of losing visual quality.
Unfortunately, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s display doesn’t support local dimming. Local dimming improves the contrast ratio in dark scenes by dimming backlight zones on displays.
This makes blacks on the display appear deeper than they normally are. Thus, enhancing the display’s overall picture quality.
Sadly, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s display doesn’t feature local dimming. On a bright note, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s display supports HDR.
High Dynamic Range (HDR) is a color technique that allows a display to display a wider range of colors. Additionally, HDR also improves contrasts.
Essentially, this means that an HDR-compatible display displays more colors. Additionally, they offer clear and bright picture details.
Hence, HDR-compatible displays are expected to be bright, in general. Well, this is evident through the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s display’s outstanding brightness.
The Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s display records an impressive maximum brightness of 315 cd/m².
However, despite featuring such impressive maximum brightness, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s display has poor viewing angles. Thus, viewing the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 off-center will result to picture quality and color accuracy dropping massively.
On the plus side, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s display handles reflection effectively. This is because it has a semi-gloss coating, which prevents reflection.
However, in a very bright room, the semi-gloss coating may find it difficult to lock out reflections. In a moderately lit room, however, it does a good job.
Moving on, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s display’s response time is pretty decent. It records a response time of 20.8 milliseconds.
A display’s response time is how quick it takes the display to convert from one color to another. Also, it means how quickly a display can handle motion.
Furthermore, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s display has a decent input lag of 34.5 milliseconds. Input lag is the time it takes a display to register an input.
Moreover, the lower the input lag, the better. Additionally, a display with low input lag is very ideal for gaming.
However, most people might find a 34.5 milliseconds input lag pretty high. So, I cannot recommend the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 for gamers.
Now to the part where I will be rating the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 based on its display’s performance. Well, I believe an eight out of ten rating is okay for the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21.
Moreover, I would have rated the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 higher if only its display was ideal for gaming. But still, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s display is impressive and an eight out of ten rating is appropriate.
Insignia NS-50DF711SE21: Sound Features
The Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 may be inexpensive, but it is clear of mediocre audio quality mostly found in budget televisions. The television includes two 8-watt speakers.
Even though these speakers aren’t particularly powerful, they provide a fairly rich sound.
However, the bass which the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s speakers can produce is minimal. This was proven through the television’s subpar frequency response performance.
Frequency response is the measure of a speaker’s output in proportion to its input. In other words, it refers to the accuracy with which a speaker reproduces each frequency of audio output.
However, the part in a speaker’s frequency response which records how much bass it can produce is the low-frequency extension. Additionally, low-frequency extension is usually recorded in hertz.
However, the lower the hertz generated, the better. In other words, the lower the hertz produced, the more bass the speaker can produce.
Unfortunately, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s speakers have a low-frequency extension of 134.54 Hz, which is practically high. Therefore, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s speakers won’t be able to produce thumping sounds.
Also, you won’t enjoy watching movies or listening to songs with lots of bass on the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21. However, I don’t really find the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s speakers’ lack of bass a major flaw.
This is because most inexpensive TVs also lack bass.
On a bright note, the distortion that the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s speakers produce is really low. Moreover, even at the maximum volume level, distortion is still minimal.
This was proven through the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s speakers’ impressive THD score of 0.231%. THD is an estimation of the quantity of distortion that a speaker can produce.
It is worth mentioning that the full meaning of THD is Total Harmonic Distortion. Moreover, THD scores are typically represented by percentages.
Thus, the lower the percentage, the lower the distortion the speaker or sound system produces.
If you don’t really understand what I mean by distortion, the next sentence is for you. Distortion is defined as the adjustment of the original signal a system produces.
Furthermore, distortion is seen as a major flaw in sound production. This is because it generates frequencies that aren’t present in the original audio content.
Therefore, reducing the accuracy of sound produced by the speaker or sound system.
Thankfully, distortion on the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s speakers is minimal. Therefore, listening to loud music or viewing movies with lots of noise on the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 isn’t a problem.
Moving on, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s speakers also produce clear dialogue sounds. Dialogue sound is a sound delivered during a conversation between two or more people in a movie.
In conclusion, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s speakers may lack bass, but they produce clear dialogue sound. Additionally, the speakers are clear from distortion, which would have been an issue to their sound production and accuracy.
Therefore, I believe the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 deserves an eight out of ten rating in this sound review section.
Insignia NS-50DF711SE21: Ports & Connectivity Features
Ports on the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 are really adequate and beneficial. Moreover, most of the television’s ports are on the left side of the television.
However, some are located on the lower part of the television’s back. The left side of the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 features three HDMI ports.
In addition to that, one of the three HDMI ports supports ARC (Audio return channel). Essentially, the ARC-supported HDMI port lets you use it as a video input and an audio output.
One practical application of the ARC-supported HDMI port is that you can use them to connect a Subwoofer to the TV.
Furthermore, there is a USB port and a headphone jack on the left side of the television.
Moving on, the back of the television offers ports like an Ethernet port and composite video input. Also, it offers a digital optical output and an RF port for connecting an antenna.
For wireless connectivity, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 has 802. 11ac Wi-Fi.
Moving on, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 has good remote control. This remote control has an inbuilt microphone.
Therefore, the remote supports voice command, which can be used via Amazon Alexa Voice Assistant. To use the voice command feature, you have to press the microphone button on the upper part of the remote.
Furthermore, the remote control is slightly longer than a typical remote control. Additionally, it has an Insignia logo imprinted on it.
Additionally, the remote features a ring-shaped directional button. Above the directional button are buttons for Home, Back, and menu.
However, below the directional button is where the media control buttons and volume control buttons lie. Additionally, the remote features dedicated buttons for streaming apps like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, HBO, and PlayStation Vue.
In conclusion, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 features an acceptable number of ports. Additionally, the television features a Voice remote control.
Therefore, I will rate the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 a nine out of ten in this review section.
Insignia NS-50DF711SE21: Smart Features
As a smart TV, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 is expected to feature a smart TV operating system. However, would it feature a “smart” smart TV operating system or a dull smart TV operating system?
Well, that is what we are about to find out.
The Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 features a capable Fire TV smart TV operating system, owned by Amazon. This smart TV operating system’s user interface is bug-free, so you won’t have any problems.
Additionally, navigating through the Fire TV interface and menus is very smooth because the interface doesn’t lag. Furthermore, the Fire TV smart TV operating system offers various streaming apps.
Major streaming apps on this OS are Netflix, HBO Now, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. However, as most of us know, these streaming apps are not free.
To be more specific, you need to pay a certain amount each month to have access to them. This might sound frustrating considering that the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21’s target audience – budget consumers.
On a bright note, Fire TV OS offers a few free streaming apps. Streaming apps that are free on Fire TV include BeeTV, CyberFlix TV, BBC iPlayer, and Popcornflix.
In conclusion, as far as smart TV operating system goes, the Fire TV OS is impressive. Therefore, I will rate the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 a nine out of ten.
Frequently Asked Questions
Even though both televisions have lots of similarities and Insignia TVs are less expensive, Toshiba televisions are better. Toshiba televisions offer better audio quality, color accuracy, and impressive display response time.
The Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 cost $349.99 in October 2021, when I wrote this review. However, the price might drop or increase by the time you’re reading this review.
Yes, it is. The Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 is a smart television that features Amazon’s Fire TV smart TV operating system. With the Fire TV OS, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 has access to thousands of movies and TV shows through streaming apps.
Best Buy owns the Insignia brand. Moreover, Insignia has a variety of low-cost televisions in various sizes and specifications.
For me, I would choose Insignia over VIZIO. This is because Insignia televisions minimize cost by having fewer features but high-quality parts.
VIZIO, on the other hand, cut costs by using cheap parts while attracting customers with appealing design and functionality.
Conclusion
The Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 4K UHD is a new generation of smart television featuring Amazon’s Fire TV operating system. In addition to that, this television comes with a Voice Remote.
Furthermore, with its 4K display and access to popular streaming apps, the Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 delivers an impressive TV experience. However, gamers should stay away from this TV as its display has a high input lag.
Overall, there isn’t much to hate about this television. Therefore, I would definitely recommend Insignia’s NS-50DF711SE21 to those on a budget looking for a television with adequate performance.
I hope you found this Insignia NS-50DF711SE21 review helpful. kindly click Yes to “Was this page Helpful?” below.
You could also share your thoughts with the “Leave a Comment” form found at the end of this page.
For more Television reviews, visit our Television review page. You may also find our Television Specs page very helpful.
