insignia smart tv lcd panel factory

It’s time to shop for a new TV and the Insignia name lines the displays at Best Buy. Many consumers are accustomed to Sony, Samsung, Phillips, and other widely known manufacturers. With the surge of Insignia TVs and electronics, some consumers ask who makes Insignia TVs?

While owned by Best Buy, Insignia TVs are manufactured by Hisense, a Chinese company responsible for a wide range of home appliances and electronics. There are rumors that Best Buy manufactures these televisions themselves, but the flow of production is not what some assume.

Best Buy shoppers may have noticed other Insignia products premiered as a dependable Best Buy brand. It’s common for stores to feature brands, take the Kenmore line of appliances at Sears as an example. Keep reading to clear up the details surrounding the relationship between Insignia and Best Buy.

Best Buy, known for its wide selection of electronics, and appliances and home to the Geek Squad offersInsignia TVsand electronics in their stores and online.

They own the trademark for the Insignia brand, but Best Buy is in the retail business, not manufacturing. Instead, they outsourced, usually to China, to assemble products. Insignia’s Fire TVs are exclusively made by Hisense.

The fact of the matter is nothing is exclusive when it comes to Insignia TVs. Pondering minds have found evidence that suggests that other Chinese companies have a part in their development.

So little information can be found about the manufacturer of Insignia’s products other than the Hisense name. However, contradicting information is floating all over the web, and some wonder where these misconceptions started.

A quick Google search about the manufacturer of Insignia TVs spurs more questions. Are their parts made by LG? Does Samsung make Insignia TVs? The only clear answer can be found by turning our direction to the physical product itself.

As a child, did you enjoy taking things apart and reassembling them one metal scrap at a time? This practice of digging deeper can lead to additional discoveries. What could be revealed by disassembling an Insignia TV?

The mainboard of a TV serves as its brain so to speak. A closer look at the label on Insignia TVs reveals a name that resembles that used for Samsung TVs.

The LCD panel or eyes of the TV is the main component of the screen. Insignia TVs have either LCD or LED displays depending on the model and size. Disassembling some of these TVs, it has been found that these displays are manufactured by a smaller Chinese company China Star Optoelectronics Technology.

Modern TVs come standard with built-in Wifi connections as more families turn to stream services for entertainment. To equip their TVs with this function, Insignia turned to Taiwanese manufacturing company Wistron NeWeb.

The business model of Insignia makes sense. Find the best components from other TVs and use them together to create a lower-priced TV. One could liken this TV to Frankenstein, made up of disjointed parts. It hasn’t taken long for Insignia to make its mark in the world of electronics.

Insignia offers more than just TVs. Customers turn to them for refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, and much more. Perhaps their composition of parts from multiple manufacturers has been the recipe for their success.

Small electronics like cameras, air fryers, power banks, and phones are offered by Insignia. One feature that Insignia seems to strive for across their products is good quality for a competitive price point.

2018 marked the dawn of the partnership between Best Buy and Amazon. This brilliant business plan, spurred by Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos and Best Buy’s Hubert Joley secures the Fire TV market. Insignia has quickly established itself as a leader in Fire TV sales.

You won’t find Insignia’s products for sale at Best Buy’s rival stores. It’s in Amazon’s interest to have a brick-and-mortar retailer that promotes Fire TVs as their house brand.

The Insignia brand is owned and operated by retail giant Best Buy. Best Buy outsources the parts from more than one manufacturing company. Best Buy’s partnership with Amazon has resulted in Insignia’s concentration on producing fire TVs.

https://homeaffluence.com/who-makes-insignia-tvs/amp/#:~:text=Hisense%2C%20a%20Chinese%20company%2C%20manufactures,primary%20provider%20of%20Insignia%20televisions.

Insignia is Best Buy’s in-house brand that makes all kinds of tech from appliances to GPS systems. However, Insignia is most well known in the consumer electronics world for its budget TVs that compete with the likes of TCL, Toshiba, Hisense, and Amazon, to name just a few.

Insignia TVs are today divided up into four distinct lines: the N10 Series, F20 Series, F30 Series and F50 Series. These TV ranges scale up in terms of features and price, but the biggest and most expensive Insignia TVs will still cost you less than $1000, placing the brand firmly at the budget-conscious end of the market.

So, does retail giant Best Buy know what it takes to make a good TV? What features do Insignia TVs offer, and why might you want to buy one over a set from another brand? We haven’t put these Insignia TVs through our comprehensive review process, but there’s still a lot we can learn from delving into the specs of these sets.

So if you"re wondering whether to take the plunge on an Insignia TV deal, sit back, strap in, and read on to learn all about the 2022 Insignia TV range…

Insignia has a vast selection of TVs that range from 720p resolution to 4K; from ‘smart’ and app-filled to, well, non-smart and app-less; and from less than $100 to around $850. However, despite models boasting different feature sets, all Insignia TVs do share some things in common.

Firstly, Insignia TVs don’t carry premium picture-related features often associated with higher-priced TVs, such as HDR10+, 120Hz support or gaming-focused features like VRR. Screen technology like full-array local dimming is also absent, as is HDMI 2.1 support. While these ommissions may disappoint those looking for a no-compromises set, they also invariably help to keep Insignia’s prices competitive.

Secondly, most – but not all – of its models across the ranges are ‘smart’ TVs, meaning they can be connected to the internet and that supported video streaming services can be played directly from them. As all of Insignia’s smart TVs use Amazon’s Fire TV smart platform, the choice of apps available is plentiful, though the interface is rather Amazon-centric, so if you’re not an Amazon Prime subscriber or fan of the Amazon ecosystem, you may want to consider TVs based on other smart platforms, like TCL’s Roku TVs or Hisense’s Google TVs, to name a few.

Luckily, all of Insignia’s TVs come with familiar features like VESA mounting support and a variety of HDMI inputs including HDMI ARC. Generally strong user ratings and reviews attached to their listings on Best Buy help their case too.

In short, Insignia TVs aren’t at the cutting edge of TV tech. They don’t have premium OLED or Mini LED panels or next-gen gaming features. But if you’re not concerned with buying the best set money can buy and your priority lies with getting the most screen for not a lot of money or just finding a cheap set for a second room in the house, Insignia offers up a spread of affordable TVs you’d have no trouble using to watch or stream whatever you’d like or casually play some games on.

The N10 Series is Insignia"s most basic TV range, starting at $90 and topping out at $220. This is the only Insignia line without smart support, so if you want to stream from, say, Netflix or Hulu, you’ll need to go up a TV range. Alternatively, you could buy and connect a cheap dedicated streamer.

The 19-inch, 24-inch, and 32-inch N10 TVs only support 720p, lower than the 1080p of today that is nowadays considered fairly basic in light of the increasing prevalence of 4K TVs. That said, for a 19-inch display, the difference between 720p and 1080p is going to be a lot less noticeable than it is on a larger screen.

Features-wise, the N10 TVs are generally about as basic as TVs come these days, but they are also some of the cheapest too. The 19-inch N10, for example, will only run you $90, so if you’ve got a small space you’d like to squeeze a small TV into, like a kitchen, then a set like this might be just the ticket.

We will say this, though: spending $220 on a 43-inch N10 1080p LED TV is very unlikely to be the best deal out there. Even for that modest budget, it isn’t hard to find 4K/HDR TVs of the same size from other competing brands as well as Insignia’s own F30 Series and F50 Series TVs…

Insignia’s F20 Series Fire TVs are a step up from the brand"s N10 Series TVs, but not in the way you might expect. In terms of picture quality, we’d expect much the same performance from F20 TVs as we’d see from 1080p N10 TVs, considering they both have 60Hz LED displays.

The big difference between the two comes down to the F20 Series having smart functionality courtesy of Amazon’s Fire TV OS. With the F20 Series, you can stream from a wide variety of video and music apps as well as enjoy Alexa voice control support, too. The F20 Series has a more limited choice of screen sizes than the N10 Series, though all the F20 TVs are 1080p regardless of size.

Pricing on the F20 Series TVs is, unsurprisingly, similar to the N10 Series. A 24-inch F20 will run you $190, a 32-inch costs $200, and a 42-inch is $270. Over the N10 Series, the F20 Series will go for around $50 to $90 more for the same size set to get that Fire TV functionality. So, we’d consider opting for an N10 Series model and buying a $25-$35 streaming stick if you’re looking to save.

The F30 Series Fire TV line is where Insignia’s offerings start to get interesting. Like Insignia’s N10 and F20 lines, F30 TVs also have LED displays and 60Hz refresh rates and are smart, but they"re also 4K resolution and support both HDR10 and HLG. HDR is about displaying a wider and subtler range of colors, which can look great, but you will need HDR content to take advantage.

The F30 Series TVs are much more in line with the best-spec’d TVs at the budget end of the market nowadays. They put ticks next to 4K and HDR support, though reasonably their spec sheets stop short of fancier display technologies, like QLED and OLED panels, and niche features like VRR for gamers. That’s OK, though, as TVs boasting such skills are far pricier than the F30s…

Insignia’s F30 Series starts off at $300 for the 43-inch set and goes all the way up to $850 for the 75-inch set. These are often on sale for much less, too, so that can be a huge bonus. If you compare prices with Insignia’s other TV lines, a 43-inch 1080p (no HDR) N10 is $220 and a 42-inch 1080p (no HDR) F20 is $270.

That $30 to $80 extra spend for an F30 model (or zero if the sale price is right) will net you a massive increase in resolution alongside HDR and HLG support, and you’ll be getting smart TV functionality over the N10 Series.

This combination of features and price is about what you’ll see from other budget manufacturers’ flagship TVs – those from TCL and Hisense and the like offer similarly spec’d, similarly sized sets for around the same prices.

The F50 Fire TV Series is where Insignia starts adding in some more premium features. These smart TVs sport QLED displays alongside 4K/60Hz support, HDR10, HLG, DTS Virtual-X, and HDMI eARC.

While we haven’t seen firsthand how QLED tech is implemented in Insignia TVs, QLED technology is the real deal. QLED displays routinely offer better color and contrast over traditional LED TVs and can potentially provide better brightness than OLED TVs (though typically don’t go as dark as them).

Insignia’s F50 Series Fire TVs go for $430 for the 50-inch, $500 for the 55-inch, and $650 for the 65-inch, making them only $30 to $80 more expensive than an equally sized F30 Series set. For the price of sales tax, you can get yourself a meaningful upgrade in image quality.

What’s more, these Insignia QLED sets are competitively priced compared to the QLED competition. For reference, Amazon’s new QLED Fire TV costs $800 for the 65-inch mode, though you can find similarly sized QLED sets from other competitors like Hisense and TCL that cost less.

Insignia TVs have a lot to offer, albeit some models more than others. In 2022, you can do better than spending hundreds of dollars on a 1080p TV or a TV without smart functionality. You can almost always find smart, often 4K/HDR-supporting sets for the same or similar prices.

However, the more expensive lines of Insignia TVs, like the F30 Series and the F50 Series, appear to offer better value for the money than models further down, delivering 4K/HDR picture support at decent screen sizes for anywhere between $300 and $650. And look out for those deals and discounts at Best Buy, not least during the Black Friday sales.

There is only so much anyone – including us – can tell of a TV’s value for money without having properly reviewed it. Picture performance quality can vary wildly, of course, and we’d be hesitant to heartily recommend anything we hadn’t put through its paces. (For tried and tested TVs, check out our best budget TVs, and below you"ll find links to Insignia TVs.)

But judging from the specs, features list and the many positive reviews from customers online, an Insignia TV looks to be a solid, cost-effective way to bring a smart TV into your home. So long as you don’t mind the Amazon OS.

40-inch N10 TV:$189$139 at Best Buy(opens in new tab)This 40in TV features an LED-backlit LCD screen that offers a 1080p Full HD picture. You get 3 HDMI ports, composite (AV) jacks, digital optical audio output, headphone jack, coaxial jack and USB port. Basic, but a bargain at this price.

Insignia 24-inch F20 Series TV:$189.99$169.99 at Amazon(opens in new tab)The smallest Fire TV Edition TV that Insignia makes is now available at a great price. At 24in, it"s not going to suit a big lounge, but would be perfect for a more modest living space or as a bedroom set. And it"s HD quality, not 4K.

Get yourself 50-inch smart TV for under $300. Enjoy all your favorite streaming services thanks to Amazon"s Fire TV OS, and enjoy modern picture quality thanks to 4K/HDR support. Act fast and get one $120 off, too!

Frequently asked questionsAre Insignia TVs smart TVs?Luckily, the majority of Insignia TVs are smart TVs that use Amazon"s Fire TV platform and operating system. The only current range that isn"t is the Insignia N10 series. Though, sometimes it can be more cost-effective to buy an N10 TV and a streaming stick over a more expensive smart TV, depending on what you"re looking for.Which is better, Insignia or TCL?Insignia and TCL are both popular brands targeting the budget end of the market, and oftentimes, if you"re looking for a deal, you may well be choosing between a TCL set and an Insignia set.

TCL makes a lot of Roku TVs, while Insignia makes Fire TVs. If you prefer the Amazon ecosystem, go with Insignia, and if you like Roku more, go with TCL. Depending on what services you already use, one may be a better fit for you than another.

In general, though, if you aren"t comparing TVs with the same spread of features, some TCL sets will offer extra features like full-array local dimming and VRR. More basic sets tend to be cheaper over at Insignia, while if you"re willing to pay a bit more, TCL tends to offer more for your money.

Depending on what you"re looking for out of a TV, you may prefer the fuller feature set of TCL; however, some will prefer the Fire TV experience of Insignia and may not care about more niche gaming features like VRR.Which is better, Insignia or Hisense?Hisense is another brand that usually targets the budget end of the market, and oftentimes, if you"re looking for a deal, you may well be choosing between a Hisense set and an Insignia set.

As is the case with TCL, some Hisense and Insignia TVs will be similar in terms of specs and prices. One of the differences that might swing your decision could be the operating system they use, whether that"s Google TV and Hisense or Insignia and Fire TV.

However, in general, Hisense TVs tend to be a bit more expensive than Insignia TVs. Though, you will be able to find Hisense TVs with more features than Insignia TVs, including IPS panels and VRR support.

So, if you"re looking for a simple TV at the lowest price, you might look at Insignia, and if you"re looking for a budget TV with the most competitive features, you"re more likely to be swayed by Hisense.

With a built-in Fire TV experience and a voice remote with Alexa, Insignia – Fire TV Edition is a smart TV that gets smarter every day. Your voice remote allows you to easily launch apps, search for TV shows, play music, switch inputs, control smart home devices and more — using only your voice.Shop Fire TV Edition ›

If your Insignia TV will not connect to the internet, your internet provider service could be the problem. Check your internet connectivity by connecting another device to your internet. If your other device fails to connect, contact your internet providers to check for outages in your area. Consider switching to a more reliable provider.

If your Insignia TV will not connect to the internet, it may be because your home wifi settings are restricting access to it. The Insignia TV requires a lot of data in order to stream channels and your Wifi may not support this need. Try adjusting your Wifi settings to allow more data to be used. Consider upgrading to unlimited data. You can also plug the computer directly into an ethernet source, by using one of the USB ports on the back of the tv, and a USB to ethernet converter.

If the screen is black but you can still hear the audio, try shining a bright light on the screen. If an image can be seen, the lighting element in the screen has gone out. Since Insignia Televisions are a self contained unit and most small parts cannot be replaced, this problem would require the entire screen to be replaced. Replacing your television, however, would be less expensive than replacing just the screen.

If your Insignia TV will not turn on, you can try a power reset. To perform a power reset, unplug the set from the outlet. Then proceed to hold down the power button for one minute. Release the power button, plug the TV back into the outlet, and attempt to power on. If the TV turns on, it is likely that a power supply replacement may become necessary in the near future. If the TV does not turn on, the issue is with either the power supply or a fault on the motherboard itself.

To do an HDMI reset, unplug both the TV and all other connected devices. Then, disconnect all of the HDMI cables from both ends and reconnect them. Lastly, plug in all of the connected devices to the power. Give them about 30 seconds to boot up before plugging in the TV.

The computer may be operating in an incorrect resolution. To fix this, double check the Resolution settings by right-clicking the desktop, and selecting “Screen Resolution.” The ideal resolution for every computer is different. To change the resolution settings of your computer display, go to settings, display, advanced display settings (if you cannot currently see a setting for the resolution) and change the resolution to best fit the TV. Play around with different resolution settings, until you find the one that looks the best on your TV.

There are various panel technologies. Each has its own specific features - viewing angles, color reproduction, response time, brightness/contrast, production cost, etc. The image quality depends directly on the type of the display panel used.VA

The most widely used panels are those with 6, 8, and 10 bits for each of the RGB components of the pixel. They provide 18-, 24-, and 30-bit color, respectively.8 bits

The maximum number of colors, which the display is able to reproduce, depends on the type of the panel in use and color enhancing technologies like FRC.16777216 colors

The backlight is the source of light of the LCD display panels. The type of backlight determines the image quality and the color space of the display. There are various backlights such as CCFL, LED, WLED, RGB-LED, and etc.Direct LED

The TV tuner is a device, which allows the receiving and visualization of a certain type of television signal. There are tuners for digital, analog, cable and satellite television.TV tuner

The operating systems of the smart TV sets feature user interface technologies for navigation and other ways of interaction with the smart TV - installing applications, internet browsing, video calls, sharing content with other users, playing videos and music, etc.Roku TVAudio

I am sorry about the issue you are experiencing with the Fire TV. Thanks for sharing the troubleshooting steps you have already performed on the device.

Insignia is Best Buy"s discount electronics sub-brand—and products that bear its... symbol... are HDTVs like the NS-50L440NA14 (MSRP $549.99). If you"re anything like us, your first thought when you saw this TV online or in the store was: "What? A 50-inch TV for $550 bucks? What kind of sorcery is this?"

Yet that is the kind of price point that Insignia exists to boast of. An LCD of the same size from Samsung, Panasonic, or LG is going to list at least $200 higher—more if they"re smart TVs. While you might love the idea of saving a couple of benjamins, Insignia"s low prices have caused some to believe that build quality is a concern.

Regardless of this Insignia"s physical quality, anyone looking for a budget-friendly buy with a solid picture should stay away. Its pre-set picture modes are set up incorrectly, and it tested with a host of errors.

After receiving a whopping roundhouse kick from our in-lab testing process, the NS-50L440NA14 was left reeling like Rocky Balboa—if Rocky Balboa had color production issues, incorrect reference levels, and a host of other problems. This budget-friendly Insignia is an enemy to your eyes—it"s bright and inexpensive, yes, but otherwise produces a fairly terrible picture.

We consider the ability to produce a good black level (or minimum luminance level) to be amongst the loftiest goals for a TV. Unfortunately, the CCFL-backlit L440 produces grayish, polluted black levels that are severely distracting while you"re watching it.

On the other hand, its peak luminance is quite dazzling—but at what cost? Prior to calibration, the TV brightens so quickly that shadow details are glossed over by an imbalanced enthusiasm for middle tones and highlights.

The biggest issue with this TV"s skewed color production—way off of the international standard for color—is that it also creates visible error within the TV"s blacks and grays. Visible tinges of color mar what should be neutral tones, adding unsightly tint to picture details like snow, clouds, or a silver automobile.

A complete inability to soften or correct these errors is the straw that breaks this camel"s back. Most TVs, even lower end ones, contain color or grayscale controls to greatly increase the accuracy and clarity of an image—even if it comes out of the box with a lot of problems. Insignia doesn"t include any of these controls besides a very basic color temperature option.

Finally, while many of these issues will be much more pronounced on 1080p content like Blu-ray discs, cable and satellite content suffers as well. Gamers and sports fans should steer clear of this set—its motion handling is quite poor, even with the Insignia Motion 120Hz setting enabled, which aggressively smoothes without correcting issues associated with complex pattern artifacts.

The most notable aspect of the NS-50L440NA14"s design is that there"s absolutely nothing notable about it. Well, that"s a little harsh, but it smacks of some truth: A bigger rectangle attached to a smaller rectangle is an apt summary of this Insignia"s looks.

Digging a little deeper, this TV is not particularly thin compared to the market leaders, but it looks modern... ish. A black-and-gray plastic casing wraps the panel, terminating in thicker-than-average bezels.

There are some advantages to the cheap build, however. The panel is light, despite its thickness, so assembly is easy and the TV can be hefted around without much strain—ours is a 50-inch unit, and I"m a 5"4" tall tech reviewer, to put it in perspective. It"s also safe to assume that the low-cost plastic design, standardized parts, and CCFL backlight contribute to this TV"s cheap price.

From a usability standpoint, the NS-50L440NA14 is fairly well designed. On-set controls (Power, Menu, etc.) are within easy reach on the TV"s right side, comprised of small, etched buttons that provide good tactile feedback. You"re probably better off using the included remote—a standard infrared affair.

The L440A is equipped with an above-average port selection that lists vertically along a cutout on the rear-left side of the panel. From bottom to top, users will have access to one USB input, three HDMI inputs, VGA in, a shared component/composite cluster, digital audio out, and a coax jack for cable/satellite. These ports are labeled and evenly spaced, and the horizontal orientation of the plugs makes the 50L440NA14 a good candidate for wall mounting.

Whether you"re an avid AV nerd or a tech-shy shopper, TV menus can be hard to keep up with. Over the last few years, they"ve evolved industry-wide by way of control options, available settings, and aesthetic quality. Yet the NS-50L440NA14"s software sits squarely within the realm of yesteryear, offering a sparsely populated interface replete with ugly, blocky symbols for each sub-menu. That $550 price tag is starting to make sense, eh?

Anyway, down to brass tacks. The software available to consumers is rather limited by modern standards, but its biggest flaw is that it"s just flat out ugly. Having reviewed the priciest, most high-end TVs this year already, this Insignia"s unsightly white text and pseudo-drop-shadow emblems look nothing short of awful. This doesn"t discredit the NS-50L440NA14"s value, as much as it offers some insight into the higher prices of its competitors.

From a practical standpoint, however, things aren"t much better. This TV"s software is broken into four sub-menus: Picture, Audio, Channels, and Settings. The Channels menu is only available if you"ve scanned for over-the-air content or connected a direct cable cord, which leaves the majority of users with audio, video, and system adjustments.

The usual picture controls are included (Backlight, Brightness, Color, Tint, Sharpness, and Contrast) as well as more advanced settings for color temperature, dynamic backlight, aspect ratio adjustment, overscan, motion processing, noise reduction, and automatic contrast. While this sounds like a lot of options, it"s really quite standard by modern TV parlance.

Audiophiles would probably never watch TV without a surround sound system, but at least Insignia includes treble, bass, and balance adjustments within the NA-50L440A"s audio menu, as well as no small amount of pre-set modes—five in total, each purposed for a different task. Beyond the picture and audio settings, however, this Insignia"s feature list proves a very short one, and is bereft of the most important picture controls: white balance, gamma, and color management.

The Insignia NS-50L440NA14 is one of the worst TV"s I"ve tested all year. The picture it produces is riddled with errors, and the on-board software does not supply the controls to fix them. You don"t need test equipment to rule this one out—even lower-resolution content looks shoddy.

It may seem like a steal at $549.99, but we strongly urge you to shop around. Within this size class, plenty of lower-cost products don"t utterly deny you the potential beauty of movies and TV:

The Insignia NS-50L440NA14 (MSRP $549.99) was shredded by the flurry of origami cranes that are our in-lab tests. An in-depth look at this TV"s out-of-the-box performance revealed very poor color production, a grayscale riddled with errors, overly bright black levels, and an RGB balance that we were unable to correct. It may be cheap for a 50-inch set, but this value TV is a wolf in budget clothing.

Calibrating a TV should improve it. Unfortunately, to calibrate any display, you need the necessary controls over the image it produces—and Insignia includes none of them in the stingy software loaded onto the 50L440NA14. We were able to correct this Insignia"s reference levels—something that 90% of TVs already do correctly—but lacked the advanced controls for further correction.

Short of adjusting the Backlight control for 40 fL, the Brightness control for proper legal limits, and the Color control to slightly correct the L440"s color production, no other calibration was possible, so the lion"s share of this TV"s errors remained uncorrected.

Contrast ratio—expressed as X:1—is a telling measure of how immersive a TV"s picture will be. To determine this Insignia"s contrast ratio, we divided its peak brightness by its minimum luminance level. The result was below average, due to an overly bright black level.

In the lab, I measured a black level of 0.17 cd/m2 , which is rather poor even for an LCD. The L440"s peak brightness was commendable at 345.80 cd/m2 , giving it a total contrast ratio of 2034:1, which is bad by the year"s current standards.

A display"s viewing angle is a measure of how far off-center you can watch it before its picture begins to degrade. The L440"s poor black levels hurt its off-angle viability—we tested a total horizontal viewing angle of 18°, or ±9° from center to either side of the screen. This is very bad, even for an LCD—black levels rose to 0.50 cd/m2 and above beyond 20°.

RGB balance refers to the way a TV incorporates its red, green, and blue sub-pixels into the production of grayscale elements—white, silver, or any colorless shade. TV"s use additive color, meaning the sum of their sub-pixels creates the grayscale. The L440"s sub-pixel balance prior to calibration was quite bad—blue was emphasized heavily after 30 IRE whereas red and green both begin to decline rapidly around 65 IRE. My post-calibration results were roughly identical, since this Insignia lacks the controls to correct its grayscale or balance.

Gamma correction refers to how a TV alters the interval space between its middle luminance steps in order to make increases in light output more obvious to human eyes. Gamma sum is communicated in sets of standard numbers—1.8, 2, 2.2, 2.4—with higher numbers meaning a slower increase from black to white. Prior to calibration, the L440"s gamma sum was 2.06, which is much too low. The ideal gamma sum for theater displays is 2.4, but 2.2 is also acceptable. After calibration, despite no gamma control being possible, the TV tested with a gamma sum of 2.23—much better.

A color gamut illustrates of all of the colors a TV can produce. International standards dictate that a TV should produce just such an exactly saturated red, green, and blue, and that they should be the proper hue and luminance. In other words, TV"s have a strict set of rules for what their colors should look like. Unfortunately, the L440"s produced color was quite askew—green and blue were especially off, but magenta and cyan were much worse. Calibration allowed me to correct cyan quite a bit, but at the expense of magenta. There"s just no way to win with this TV!

Lee was Reviewed"s point person for most television and home theater products from 2012 until early 2022. Lee received Level II certification in TV calibration from the Imaging Science Foundation in 2013. As Editor of the Home Theater vertical, Lee oversaw reviews of TVs, monitors, soundbars, and Bluetooth speakers. He also reviewed headphones, and has a background in music performance.