Insignia F30 Series 2022 Review (NS-65F301NA23, NS-70F301NA23) (2024)

Curved No

Unfortunately, the Insignia NS 65F301NA23 has a fairly dated design, with thick, glossy plastic bezels that show dust and fingerprints easily. The feet are clunky and look cheap.

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Uniformity Pictures N/A

This TV isn't part of our 100 TV accelerated longevity test.

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Wall Mount VESA 400x300

The back is plain and looks cheap. Most of the inputs face to the side and are very easy to access when the TV is wall-mounted. There's no cable management.

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Borders 0.64" (1.6 cm)

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Max Thickness 3.63" (9.2 cm)

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The Insignia F30 has mediocre build quality. It's almost entirely made of cheap plastic, and the back panel and borders flex easily. The feet don't support the TV well, and combined with the cheap materials, it's a bit worrisome.

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Contrast

Native Contrast

Unfortunately, the Insignia F30 has very bad contrast. There's no local dimming feature to reduce the backlight around dark areas of the screen, so they appear blue and look washed out.

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Since this TV lacks a local dimming feature, there's no blooming around bright objects in otherwise dark scenes. Since the entire backlight is always on at the same intensity and it has a low contrast ratio, dark scenes still look washed out.

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Local Dimming

Backlight

Dimming Zones Count Of Tested TV

This TV doesn't have a local dimming feature; the entire backlight is always on at the same intensity, so there's no distracting flicker or brightness changes as bright highlights move across the screen.

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Switching to 'Game Mode' doesn't result in any noticeable difference in dark scene performance.

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Hallway Lights (~1950 cd/m²)

Yellow Skyscraper (~700 cd/m²)

Landscape Pool (~300 cd/m²)

Peak 2% Window

Peak 10% Window

Peak 25% Window

Peak 50% Window

Peak 100% Window

Sustained 2% Window

Sustained 10% Window

Sustained 25% Window

Sustained 50% Window

Sustained 100% Window

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

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Hallway Lights (~1950 cd/m²)

Yellow Skyscraper (~700 cd/m²)

Landscape Pool (~300 cd/m²)

Peak 2% Window

Peak 10% Window

Peak 25% Window

Peak 50% Window

Peak 100% Window

Sustained 2% Window

Sustained 10% Window

Sustained 25% Window

Sustained 50% Window

Sustained 100% Window

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

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600 Nit Tracking Delta

1000 Nit Tracking Delta

4000 Nit Tracking Delta

The TV has good PQ EOTF tracking, so most content is displayed close to the luminance level intended by the creator. Very dark scenes are too bright, and the TV starts tone mapping very early due to its low peak brightness, so moderately lit scenes are a bit too dim. There's a sharp cutoff at the TV's peak brightness, causing a loss of fine details in very bright scenes.

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Real Scene Peak Brightness

Peak 2% Window

Peak 10% Window

Peak 25% Window

Peak 50% Window

Peak 100% Window

Sustained 2% Window

Sustained 10% Window

Sustained 25% Window

Sustained 50% Window

Sustained 100% Window

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

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Wide Color Gamut

DCI P3 xy

DCI P3 uv

Rec 2020 xy

Rec 2020 uv

The TV has an alright color gamut. Coverage of the DCI-P3 color space is good, so most HDR content is displayed well. Coverage of the wider Rec. 2020 color space isn't very good, though, so content mastered in that color space looks dull and more muted, and colors are inaccurate.

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1,000 cd/m² DCI P3 Coverage ITP

10,000 cd/m² Rec 2020 Coverage ITP

White Luminance

Red Luminance

Green Luminance

Blue Luminance

Cyan Luminance

Magenta Luminance

Yellow Luminance

Unfortunately, the TV has sub-par color volume. It's limited by its low peak brightness in general, and colors don't get very bright. It also can't display dark, saturated colors well due to its low contrast ratio.

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White Balance dE

Color dE

Gamma

Color Temperature

Picture Mode

Color Temp Setting

Gamma Setting

The TV has great accuracy in SDR before calibration. The white balance and overall color accuracy are great, but there are a few noticeable issues with all shades of blue. The color temperature is slightly cool, so there's a minor blue tint. Gamma is close to the 2.2 target chosen for a moderately lit room.

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White Balance dE

Color dE

Gamma

Color Temperature

White Balance Calibration

Color Calibration

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50% Std. Dev.

50% DSE

5% Std. Dev.

5% DSE

This TV has good gray uniformity overall, but there are a few distracting issues. There are vertical bars that are mainly noticeable along the top and bottom edge, and the left and right sides of the screen are significantly darker than the center. There's just a bit of dirty screen effect in the center, though, which is great. Dark scenes look much better overall, though, and there are no noticeable issues.

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Std. Dev.

Native Std. Dev.

Unfortunately, the Insignia F30 has unremarkable black uniformity. The entire screen looks blue due to the low contrast ratio, and the backlight bleeds through a bit along the bottom edge. Sadly, there's no local dimming feature to improve uniformity.

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Color Washout

Color Shift

Brightness Loss

Black Level Raise

Gamma Shift

The Insignia F30 has a good viewing angle. It's a good choice for a wide seating arrangement as the image remains consistent when viewed from the sides. Colors hardly shift, but the image fades a bit at a moderate angle.

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Screen Finish

Total Reflections

Indirect Reflections

Calculated Direct Reflections

The Insignia F30 has decent reflection handling. The semi-gloss finish helps reduce the intensity of direct reflections a bit but adds a slight haze to the screen. Since it can't get very bright, glare is still distracting, so it's not suitable for a bright room.

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100% Black to 50% Gray

50% Gray to 100% White

100% Black to 50% Red

50% Red to 100% Red

100% Black to 50% Green

50% Green to 100% Green

100% Black to 50% Blue

50% Blue to 100% Blue

Gradients in HDR look excellent. There's some banding in dark shades of gray, but otherwise, there are no significant issues.

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Smoothing

Detail Preservation

Surprisingly for a budget TV, the Insignia F30 handles low-quality content well with the smoothing features enabled. There's very little macroblocking or pixelation, but some fine details are lost.

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Subpixel Layout

Type LED

Sub-Type

This TV has an RGB subpixel layout, which is better for PC use than BGR panels because it improves the text clarity, which you can read about here.

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80% Response Time

100% Response Time

The Insignia F30 has an alright response time. There's very little overshoot, but most transitions are a bit slow, so there's more blur behind fast-moving objects.

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Flicker-Free

PWM Dimming Frequency

Unfortunately, the Insignia F30 flickers at all backlight levels below max. There are two distinct flicker frequencies; the most significant flicker is at 220Hz, and there's a secondary intermittent flicker that sometimes occurs separately at 330Hz, as confirmed with an oscilloscope (220Hz, 330Hz). On the plus side, since this TV can't get very bright, it's probably best to leave the brightness at max anyway, and there's no flicker at max.

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Optional BFI

Min Flicker For 60 fps

60Hz For 60 fps

120Hz For 120 fps

Min Flicker for 60 fps in Game Mode

This TV doesn't have an optional backlight strobing feature, commonly known as black frame insertion (BFI).

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Motion Interpolation (30 fps)

Motion Interpolation (60 fps)

Unlike the step-up Insignia F50 QLED, this TV doesn't have a motion interpolation feature.

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Frame Hold Time @ 24 fps

Frame Hold Time @ 60 fps

Thanks to the relatively slow response time, this TV has very little stutter when watching low frame rate content like movies and most TV shows. It's still noticeable in slow panning shots, but it's not too bad.

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Judder-Free 24p

Judder-Free 24p via 60p

Judder-Free 24p via 60i

Judder-Free 24p via Native Apps

Unfortunately, this TV can't remove judder from any source.

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Native Refresh Rate

Variable Refresh Rate

HDMI Forum VRR

FreeSync

G-SYNC Compatible

4k VRR Maximum

4k VRR Minimum

1080p VRR Maximum

1080p VRR Minimum

1440p VRR Maximum

1440p VRR Minimum

VRR + Local Dimming No VRR Support

Unfortunately, this TV is limited to a 60Hz fixed refresh rate. It doesn't support any variable refresh rate.

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1080p @ 60Hz

1080p @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode

1080p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 144Hz

1440p @ 60Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1440p @ 144Hz

4k @ 60Hz

4k @ 60Hz + 10-Bit HDR

4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4

4k @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode

4k @ 60Hz With Interpolation

4k @ 120Hz

4k @ 144Hz

8k @ 60Hz

The Insignia F30 has fantastic low input lag, resulting in a responsive gaming experience, and there's almost no variation in input lag with different resolutions. Unfortunately, the input lag in the 'PC' Picture Mode, which is normally needed for clear text with a chroma 4:4:4 signal from a PC, is high. Since this TV can't display 4:4:4 properly anyway, this mode is useless.

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Resolution 4k

480p @ 59.94Hz (Widescreen)

720p @ 59.94Hz

1080p @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4

1080p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 144Hz

1440p @ 60Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1440p @ 144Hz

4k @ 60Hz

4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4

4k @ 120Hz

4k @ 120Hz @ 4:4:4

4k @ 144Hz

8k @ 30Hz or 24Hz

8k @ 60Hz

Unfortunately, this TV can't display chroma 4:4:4 signals properly. It results in some noticeable text artifacts when using it as a PC monitor, but it's not noticeable when gaming, either from a PC or a console.

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Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM)

4k @ 120Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 120Hz

HDR

VRR

Unfortunately, this TV can't take full advantage of the PS5. It's limited to a 60Hz fixed refresh rate, with no variable refresh rate support. It doesn't switch to game mode automatically, so for the lowest input lag, you'll need to manually switch to the 'Game' Picture Mode.

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Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM)

4k @ 120Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 120Hz

HDR

VRR

Unfortunately, this TV can't take full advantage of the Xbox Series S|X. It's limited to a 60Hz fixed refresh rate, with no variable refresh rate support. It doesn't switch to game mode automatically, so for the lowest input lag, you'll need to manually switch to the 'Game' Picture Mode.

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HDR10

HDR10+

Dolby Vision

HLG

HDMI 2.0 Full Bandwidth

HDMI 2.1 Class Bandwidth

CEC Yes

HDCP 2.2 Yes (HDMI 1,2,3)

ATSC Tuner

USB 3.0

Variable Analog Audio Out Yes

Wi-Fi Support Yes (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz)

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HDMI 3

USB 1

Digital Optical Audio Out 1

Analog Audio Out 3.5mm 1

Analog Audio Out RCA 0

Component In 0

Composite In 1

Tuner (Cable/Ant) 1

Ethernet 1

DisplayPort 0

IR In 0

Unlike most modern TVs, the Insignia F30 Series has a full-sized composite input, no adapter required, which is great if you have older devices, including some older game consoles.

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ARC/eARC Port

eARC: Dolby Atmos Over Dolby Digital Plus

eARC: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1

eARC: LPCM 7.1 Over Dolby MAT

eARC: Dolby TrueHD 7.1

eARC: DTS:X Over DTS-HD MA

eARC: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1

eARC: LPCM Channels (Bitstream)

ARC: Dolby Digital 5.1

ARC: DTS 5.1

Optical: Dolby Digital 5.1

Optical: DTS 5.1

This TV doesn't support any DTS formats, which is disappointing as DTS is often used as the main audio track on Blu-ray movies.

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Low-Frequency Extension

Std. Dev. @ 70

Std. Dev. @ 80

Std. Dev. @ Max

Max

Dynamic Range Compression

The Insignia F30 Series has an okay frequency response. It can't get very loud, and like most TVs, it has very little bass. There's no room correction feature, and there's quite a bit of compression at max volume. The sound profile in the mid-range and low-treble range is good, so dialogue sounds good at lower listening levels.

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Weighted THD @ 80

Weighted THD @ Max

IMD @ 80

IMD @ Max

This TV has decent distortion performance. There's very little noticeable distortion in the vocal range, even at max volume, which is great for clear dialogue.

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Smart OS Fire TV

Version 6420030.1

Ease of Use

Smoothness

Time Taken to Select YouTube

Time Taken to Change Backlight

Advanced Options

The Insignia F30 runs Amazon's Fire TV smart interface. The interface is very smooth and easy to use, and it has a great selection of additional streaming apps.

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Ads

Opt-out

Suggested Content in Home

Opt-out of Suggested Content

Unfortunately, like almost every TV on the market, there are ads throughout the home interface and content store, and you can't disable them.

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App Selection

App Smoothness

Cast Capable

USB Drive Playback

USB Drive HDR Playback

HDR in Netflix

HDR in YouTube

The app store has a great selection of additional apps to download, and you can also cast content from your mobile device.

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Size

Voice Control

CEC Menu Control

Other Smart Features

Remote App Fire TV

The remote is identical to the one included with the Insignia F50 QLED. It's a pretty basic remote, but it has built-in voice control, which you can use to change inputs, launch apps, or search for content in specific apps, but you can't use it to adjust settings like the backlight.

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There's a single button along the bottom bezel. You can use it to turn the TV on and off or switch inputs.

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Power Consumption 79 W

Power Consumption (Max) 129 W

Firmware Fire OS 7.6.1.4 (PS7614/3231)

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