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Toshiba and Insignia’s Amazon Fire TV Edition sets are inexpensive and feature an excellent built-in smart TV system. So how do they compare to Roku?
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David reviews TVs and leads the personal technology team, spanning mobile, software, desktop, streaming and home entertainment. We provide helpful, expert reviews, advice and videos on which gadget or service to buy and how to get the most out of it.
Expertise David, a 20-year veteran, has reviewed TVs from the CRT, rear projection and plasma days. Before that he worked at Sound & Vision magazine and eTown.com. He is known to two people on Twitter as the Cormac McCarthy of consumer electronics. Credentials
If you’re getting a budget TV for a bedroom or den, you’ll want to look for something with a good “smart TV” system built in. It’s more convenient to get your streaming shows and movies from the TV itself rather than worrying about a separate stick or other device.
Amazon Fire TV Edition TVs are some of the cheapest TVs on the market. The voice features are best in class, all models include a voice remote and Echo and Dot owners can control it with Alexa. The app selection is excellent and responses are quick.
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It has a worse picture than TCL’s cheaper Roku TVs and Vizio’s E-series TVs. The UI promotes TV shows and movies from Amazon and its partners that you probably don’t care about.
While Alexa and Amazon fans have a lot to love, most budget shoppers will be happier with TCL’s Roku TV models.
Two smart TV systems stand above the rest today: Roku TV and Amazon’s Fire TV. Both deliver more apps, better searches and more options than rivals from traditional TV brands like Samsung, LG and Vizio.
Between the two, I prefer the Roku TV. It’s simpler and puts all apps and services on a level playing field. The Fire TV, on the other hand, obviously favors Amazon, and Amazon Prime Video seemed to be everywhere I watched on these TVs, displacing Netflix, Hulu, HBO and the rest. That’s why a Roku TV like the TCL S425 or S325 is a better choice for most people than one of those Fire TV Edition sets from Insignia or Toshiba.
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There is one exception to this rule: you’ll love these sets if you love Alexa. Unlike Roku sets, all Fire TV Edition televisions include a voice remote with Alexa. And if you have an Alexa speaker like an Echo Dot, you can turn on the TV, change inputs, do searches, and a bunch of other things hands-free without the need for a remote.
In terms of picture quality, neither these Fire TV sets nor the TCL S325 and S425 Roku models are great shakers, but I liked the TCLs a bit better. If you want a home theater-worthy picture in a budget set, start with the Vizio E series – keep in mind that it’s not available in sizes under 43 inches.
There are many different models of Fire TV Edition sets, so before we get into them, here’s a breakdown.
Despite the fact that some of these TVs are of the Insignia brand and others of the Toshiba brand, I reviewed them at the same time. According to my testing, both brands have similar (not great) image quality, and the only other differences are cosmetic.
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The same goes for the 4K and 1080p or 720p versions of each brand. The cheapest Fire TV models have 720p resolution in the 24- and 32-inch sizes, and 1080p (aka Full HD) resolution in the 39- and (some of) 43-inch sizes. They can’t do high dynamic range (HDR). Meanwhile, the 43-inch and larger models have 4K resolution and HDR capability.
Most people choose their TV size first and then worry about everything else. In the 43-inch class, however, you have a choice. If the 4K version costs more when you read this, save your money and get the 1080p version. I saw almost no improvement in picture quality when feeding 4K HDR video to these TVs. See the image quality section for more.
Between the two brands, the main cosmetic difference is the stand legs. The Toshiba’s legs are a bit closer together and at sharper angles, while the Insignia’s are further apart and more square. Both have the same remote control, menu system and connectivity:
TCL’s cheapest Roku TVs, like the S325 and S425, lack the microphone and voice buttons found on all Amazon Fire TV remotes. You can speak into the remote after pressing a button, and things happen. Normal TV commands like “Launch Netflix”, “Show Sci-Fi Movies”, “Play Black Mirror” (which launches the Netflix app and starts an episode) and “Fast forward 30 minutes” worked as I expected. Many popular apps, including Hulu, HBO Now, and Movies Anywhere, support voice commands. However, YouTube does not.
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Fire TV also lets you do everything Alexa does. It can control smart home devices, get a weather report and answer questions, with results on the screen. Alexa’s voice also responds through the TV’s speakers.
Fire TV also works with Alexa speakers for the same hands-free voice commands. With a paired Echo Dot, I said, “Alexa, turn on the TV,” “Alexa, start Hulu,” “Alexa, play Handmaid’s Tale,” “Alexa, play Westworld,” “Alexa, go home,” ” Alexa, pause” and they worked as expected. I also liked that I didn’t have to use complicated phrases like adding “…on Fire TV” to the end of most commands. Here’s Amazon’s list of voice controls.
The Roku’s on-screen menus trump the Fire TV. As I switched back and forth, I appreciated the Roku’s clean and simple design. By comparison, the Fire TV’s menus are busy, confusing, and cluttered with ads. Here, too, access to the most recently used applications is easy thanks to the “Recent” top row. The next one down, “Your shows and channels”, lets you move your shows around.
But the rest of the screen, including the main section, is used to promote various shows, many from Amazon’s Prime library, that I had little interest in watching. There’s a big “sponsored” ad right below the first two lines that always seemed to advertise Amazon stuff, and most of the lines revealed as you scroll down are devoted to Amazon videos. The rows of thumbnails are similar to the Netflix layout, but there is more clutter and the overall effect makes me feel compelled by the capital A.
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Returning to Roku’s simplicity, even with its one big announcement, was a relief. Roku’s search results are also more agnostic, listing TV shows and movies from multiple apps side by side and sorted by price — including “free” options if you sign up.
Like Roku, Fire TV puts your external devices next to apps and lets you rename them. Fire TV’s over-the-air antenna menus are also excellent, with thumbnails of shows in the schedule guide.
As I mentioned at the start, don’t expect any of these Fire TVs to perform like a champ, but many people will probably be happy for the price.
I compared four Amazon Fire TV Edition televisions — the 32-inch 32LF221U19 (720p) and the 50-inch 50LF621U19 (4K) from Toshiba, as well as the 39-inch NS-39DF510NA19 and the 50-inch NS-510DF7 from Insignia — with the TCL 50S425 and the Vizio E50-F2. I didn’t put them through my usual TV review process and measurements, but I took some basic measurements and saw enough to convince me that, like the TCLs, these Fire TVs are just “good enough.” Neither was as good as the Vizio, but between the 50-inch TCL and Fire TVs, I preferred the picture quality of the TCLs.
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First and foremost, TCL Roku TVs make it easy to adjust picture quality. In addition to the standard picture modes (Standard, Movie, Dynamic, etc.), they offer five brightness levels, from Darkest to Normal and Brightest. The Fire TV buries the picture settings a bit – you either have to dive deep into the menu or long-press the Home key on your remote and select “Picture” from the list. I tried saying “picture settings” into the remote mic and Alexa just said “hmmm not sure”.
The TCL’s settings also seem a bit better than the Fire TVs. For my darkroom tests, I compared the best default settings (Darker or Film for the TCL, Film for the Fire TVs, Calibrated Dark for the Vizio) and the Vizio won by a walk away. I watched the dark parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 and Black Panther, the Vizio showed a clear advantage with deeper, more realistic letterbox bars and shadows.
However, the 50-inch TCL was better than the 50-inch Fire TVs, which looked washed out in comparison (bright black levels) and obscured many details in shadows.
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