One cent separates two Insignia Fire TVs on Amazon at the moment and it is in favor of the bigger one: The 32-inch F20 Series drops from $79.99 to $69.98, a 13% cut, which places it just under the 24-inch version of the same TV, listed at $69.99. The price is available to all customers, with no Prime membership involved, and it applies to a smart TV that runs Fire TV and comes with an Alexa voice remote.
Eight More Inches for a Penny Less
This is a second TV, and it helps to be clear about that. The panel is LED with a 720p resolution and a 60 Hz refresh rate, which is fine at 32 inches when you watch from the bed or from across a kitchen counter, and which I would not pick for a living room where a 4K set makes sense. The set measures 28.31 inches wide and 18.62 inches tall, so it fits on a dresser or a dorm desk, and it can be wall mounted if the furniture is already taken.
The software is the same Fire TV interface found on Amazon’s own streaming devices. Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, YouTube, Disney+, Apple TV+, ESPN+, Sling TV and Paramount+ are available from the home screen, and Amazon counts more than 1.5 million movies and episodes across the services, most of which require their own subscriptions. The remote has a voice button: you hold it and ask Alexa to find a show, open an app or switch to another input. Apple AirPlay is supported as well, which lets an iPhone send a video to the screen without any extra box.
Around the back there are two HDMI ports, one of which supports ARC, along with composite jacks, a digital optical output, a USB port, a headphone jack and a coaxial input for an antenna or cable. Two HDMI ports is the limit I’d keep in mind: a game console and a streaming box or Blu-ray player fill them both. The composite jacks are a nice touch for an old console or a DVD player that has been sitting in a closet.
Sound comes from the TV’s built-in speakers with DTS Virtual-X processing, which aims to give a wider, more three-dimensional effect than plain stereo. I would not expect much bass from a 32-inch set, and HDMI ARC is there for that reason, since it sends audio to a compatible soundbar over a single cable. The headphone jack is useful in a shared bedroom late at night. Parents get controls that block programs by rating or whole channels, with a PIN to lift the restriction once the kids are asleep.
No Prime membership is needed for this one: the Insignia 32-inch F20 Series Fire TV is $69.98 instead of $79.99 on Amazon, marked as a limited time deal. The 24-inch model of the same series sits at $69.99 on the same page, so the larger screen is the cheaper of the two.