Insignia NS-R5101HD Receiver Review-We Can Do Better

It’s a sorely under-appreciated piece of home theater hardware, but the right receiver can take your home theater from lousy to awesome in a matter of literally seconds.  And today, we’re taking a look at one of these receivers, though not necessarily the best.

The Insignia NS-R5101HD receiver is a 5.1 channel surround sound receiver that includes a radio tuner, an optical digital input, coaxial digital input, headphone jack, one composite video/audio input, a component video output port, two component video inputs, three HDMI inputs, three composite video inputs, two composite video outputs, and more.

The irony is that it’s actually comparable in price to other models that offer a handful more features, so in terms of value, the Insignia does suffer somewhat.  However, this is really only a minor problem, so if you dig the Insignia brand, you should do all right with this one.  The price isn’t too salty, though–about two hundred bucks, depending on where you shop–so you will be getting a good value, just not the best one.