This $150 50-inch 4K Black Friday TV deal is total madness
Was $349, now basically free.
When you think about all the time, energy and human effort that goes into designing, engineering, manufacturing, and shipping a 50-inch 4K TV around the globe, it doesn't entirely bear thinking about how the Insignia 50-inch Class 4K UHD Smart Fire TV is possible for just $149.99. But that's exactly how much it's being offered for by Best Buy right now, down from $349.99.
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Materialist guilt aside, what exactly do you get for your piffling 150 bucks? Well, 3,840 by 2,160 pixels, of course, predictably running at 60Hz. Don't dare even thinking about demanding 120Hz refresh at this price point. Image quality specs are admittedly a bit thin on the ground, but it's rated at 5,000:1 for static contrast, which isn't shabby. Brightness, on the other hand, isn't quoted and is likely weak spot.
HDR support is included in HDR10 form, but that's almost certainly just HDR signaling processing rather than anything that resembles true HDR visuals. Again, that's just dandy at this silly-low price point.
Insignia 50-inch Class 4K HDTV | 50-inch | Amazon Fire TV | $349.99 $149.99 on Best Buy (save $200)
How is a 50-inch 4K TV even possible for $150? Don't ask, and we won't tell. Because we simply don't know. Includes Amazon Fire TV including a remote with Alexa support, three HDMI inputs and a slew of USB ports for playback from storage media. View Deal
Still, you get Smart TV functional including a remote control with Alexa assistant integration. It runs the Amazon Fire TV platform and also supports Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, Sling TV and YouTube. A grand total of three HDMI orts are included, but we can't deduce if they are HDMI 2.0 spec, which would be required to drive the thing with a PC at 4K and 60Hz.
Finally, there's USB connectivity for playing back media from various storage devices. Don't ask us what file formats it supports, because we don't know and Insignia's website isn't saying. But then if it played almost anything off your USB stick, you'd be pretty happy, it just so cheap.
Hard to believe full 4K thrills at 50 inches can be this affordable.