Customer Reviews

Westinghouse LD-3255VX 32-Inch 720p LED HDTV, Black

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

After researching the purchase of 2 LCD TV's for my kids, I was shopping around and discovered this Westinghouse. I actually didn't think it would be a serious TV, as it was less money that comparable LCD TV's sitting on either side of it on the stores shelf. All were on, and set to the same channel. So comparisons were easy! I was prepared to hate the Westinghouse, thinking is was in the same class as some of the "no name" brand sets..junk! After all it was less than $400.00!

But when we were getting ready to pick up the boxes of Phillips TV's and put them in the cart to take home, we started reading the box thatthe Westinghouse was in. Did my eyes deceive me? Did it really say LED on it! No way. We walked over the the high end and expensive LCD TV's. and the 32" ones that said LED were $700.00 plus! Samsungs, Vizio, Panasonics, etc.

First of all, an explanation for the "electronically challenged among us..like me! A regular LCD TV uses fluorescent edge lighting to shine thru the LCDs to make the picture viewable. Good enough!

Then there are newer technology LCD TV's with LED edge lighting...LED's all the way around the screen shine thru and illuminate the TV screen. Saves energy because LEDs use a small fraction of the energy as the fluorescent lights. Better but the black and darker colors are not as "black", and colors a bit washed out.

BUT...the Westinghouse LED back lit LCD's have black blacks! Deeper color, brighter, vibrant colors (wait till you see the yellows!). And way less energy, about the same as a 40 watt light bulb. And the TV is slim..I mean slim!
1" thick and 14 1/2 lbs!

Terrific featurers, nice price, outstanding technology for way less than others, all the featurers..great value over all! And I can't even begin to tout the picture quality except to say you have got to see it yourself!

I first noticed this television at Target when I saw the word LED and realized the the very inexpensive price ($429). The television looked pretty good on display, and was very thin. I decided to check if they had it on Amazon, and yes they did. However, the model number was different and it was much cheaper here. I'm guessing that the Target model (LD-3257DF) was specifically made for them, and on the website it lists that the model adds a QAM tuner. QAM isn't a necessity so I purchased this one.

The TV itself is very easy to put together, all you do is screw a few screws in for the base. Next just plug the TV into the wall for power and you're set. If you do use cable television, be sure to plug that in. Put the two batteries in the remote and press the red power button on the remote. One thing, the remote really does suck, it's very ugly and sometimes you do have to press a button twice in order to get it to work. I have no idea if you can set up another remote with it or not. When you first turn on the TV it will bring up a setup guide to search for channels. I had previously connected a coaxial cable to the RF Input, the TV scanned for channels and found the same amount as my older Sony did. However, when I began to skim the channels, they all looked disgusting. Even the HD channels it picked up (720p and 1080i) looks like crap. The Sony displayed these channels brilliantly. It crossed my mind that maybe I set my standards too high because of the Sony, after all, this is only a $350 dollar TV. As another reviewer said, it does take a couple seconds to change channels. Also, channel names will not be displayed as you switch.

I hooked up my PS3 to the TV via HDMI, and this is where the TV actually shines. I popped in Uncharted Drake's Fortune, and it actually looks pretty darn good. In the areas where there was sunlight the grass looked kinda iffy, but I was okay with that. In the really dark areas, it was pretty darn hard to see. Now this doesn't mean that the TV has excellent blacks, because it made almost everything black, I could barely see Drake's head. I must mention that there is a Dynamic Contrast setting which should be turned on in order to get blacker blacks, it seemed to help a lot. Playing HD movies through the PS3 looked pretty good too. Again though, the blacks were not very black. Also, you need to look directly at the TV to get the maximum viewing angle, any change in seating will diminish the all the colors to nothing. I do have one major gripe though that made me decide to return the TV, when using the PS3 and switching to a movie, or game, the TV will lose the signal from the PS3. It will say that it is searching, and after a minute, it will give up. Sometimes, this wouldn't happen, and sometimes it will happen, and the image will pick up after a few seconds. When the TV gives up on searching, I found that the only way to fix it would be to turn the TV off and on a couple times. When I popped in the Star Trek (2009) Blu-Ray, it did this in between the trailers. Star Trek looked good, but not great on the TV. I believe that a television viewing experience should be seamless. I am hoping that this was only my TV set, and if not, that Westinghouse should issue an update quickly.

About the sound, if you care anything at all about sound, please buy decent speakers to go with it. The TV has no bass, and will squeal if any high pitched noises come from it. There is an optical out which is nice.

A quick list of things I like and didn't like:
+Thin (1.5 inches maximum)
+LED Edge-lit
+Exceeds Energy Star 5.0 requirements
+Great for console gaming
+Very light
+Inexpensive
-Television channel quality
-Not the most vivid colors
-Blacks aren't very black
-Signal loss
-Very limited viewing area

I purchased this TV despite all the negative reviews I have read about the Westinghouse brand. Other people have liked this TV, I am hoping that I will be only a handful of unhappy customers. I recommend this TV if you are looking an inexpensive set for the kids, but not for a living room experience.

I have had good experiences with Westinghouse TV and monitors in the past so when i saw this LED TV at my local club at such a low price, I went ahead and get this and the 26" for my guest bedroom and home office. This 32" ends up in my office and 26" in the guest bedroom (LOL, the original plan was the reversed). The image is just amazing. 1080i source from my satellite box, and my PC. I totally love it!! The viewing angle is wide enough for me to roll my chair around the office and still get a great picture. Another amazing thing is how thin and light it is. I mean my other 32" LCD TV weights like almost twice heavier than this unit. I wish it has 4 HDMI rather than 2 but hey, for the price, i can't complain.

I highly recommend this TV for bedrooms and home offices because of the size. I think 32" is too small for a living room. I have a surround sound speaker system in my office and using that combined with the TV, I feel like I am in my own private movie theater. Now how do get my wife to stuff bugging me and I will live a peaceful and happy life.

Pros: slim, stylish, clear picture (720p), lightweight, easy set up, optical output (digital audio), low price ($350).

Cons: stand does not swivel, tv seems to be angled downward slightly, unimpressive speakers, only 2 hdmi inputs.

Other thoughts: no component inputs, but it does come with a vga adapter kit so you can hook up a single device using component connections. Also might want to make sure your hdmi cables are 1/2" thick or less (most I have seen are), my hdmi cables barely fit into the slots because of their thickness (this is understandable, as the tv itself is only 1.5"). The TV does slant downwards slightly. Not a terribly big deal, but modestly annoying since the stand cannot be adjusted. speakers are on the bottom/back of the tv, so sound is below average. Overall, you will have a tough time finding a better 32" 720p LED tv for the same price.

I'll try and cover points not covered by other reviews:
- Unlike the 26" LCD TV it replaced, "Native" mode works so that I get a 1:1 pixel mapping from my HTPC (i.e. no scaling); curiously the HTPC (a Dell Inspiron 400 "Zino") defaulted to 1360x768 but this was easily changed to 1366x768, the true native resolution, where it's stayed since.
- I run HDMI from aforementioned HTPC to the TV, then an optical digital cable from the TV to a soundbar; both the TV and soundbar are wall-mounted in my bedroom, and the shallow depth of the TV makes for a nice clean install.
- The TV is mounted using a "Peerless Universal Flat Wall Mount for LCD Flat Panel TV's 22"-40"" also purchased from Amazon.
- The power cord from the AC adapter to the TV is a bit short, about 5" and I'm going to try and extend it so that I can run it through a conduit to conceal the cables.
- Very energy-efficient; I observe this by feeling how emitted heat I feel if I hold my face an inch away from the screen. With CCFL-lit LCD TVs I can feel a lot of heat from the screen (heat = wasted energy). With the LED-sidelit screen there's almost no heat felt, and also very little heat felt rising from the back of the unit.

A couple of issues to note:
- The first unit I received from Amazon had some kind of problem with the IR (infrared) remote control receiver such that the remote would only work 1'-3' away from the TV. I sent it back to Amazon and the replacement they sent me works just fine (remote control works from across the room).
- I have the TV speaker turned off through the Audio settings and occasionally the TV seems to "forget" this setting and I have to turn it off again.

Well, great deal for sure.
For the pros: First of all, amazing TV/Display design. I have to say, beautiful, slim, awesome finishing. Great job there Westinghouse!. The TV is super slim, 1.5 inches at the thickest part. Is so thin that it feel wrong not to mounted on a wall!!.(I still have it on a stand). The image is great too, colors are superb. No need for more resolution for a TV of this size, the image is very sharp. Blacks are really blacks and whites are absolute whites. Best technology for TV (LED LCD). I'm never going back to no LED (Sorry!). And all this for less than $ 350.

conts: Well, the most annoying thing for me is the TV tuner, I get HDTV from my air antenna, and changing channel is really slow (when I say slow, like 5 seconds from the time you hit the remote control to when you get your new picture, feels like satellite TV slow). This probably won't matter if you have cable and a cable box. The control remote design sucks (well, doesn't match the nice slick TV, is like what the heck!). And I got a little confused with the inputs in the back (doesn't have that 5 cable A/V digital input anymore, instead comes with an adapter, this uses up your computer input, so now you might need a computer to HDMI adapter if you want to hook both at the same time).

I like this TV a lot. Again awesome picture quality! I totally recommended this product. Love the display design... really nice (nicer than most other brands). I have to say I bought it because of the great price. But if I would need to go back, I now would buy it because I think is a great TV, is stylish and has great technology.

I got this at a local target store where it was very inexpensive (275) on sale and easy to carry out for use in a bedroom with over the air (free) digital tv. I had very low expectations considering the price, the maker and the inputs. WOW - what a surprise! This TV shows the digital channels over the air in beautiful HD. I no longer need a converter box because it has a tuner built in, so all I had to do was hook up my antenna. Setup was easy. I don't read the manuals, and setup was intuitive. The picture is so good that it is making my analog TV less attractive to me. Even in the box it's light - I didn't have to get any help - and I have a breathing difficulty, so really anyone could carry this which is a surprise for a 32" television. This TV is so much better than I expected that I am planning to buy two more of them. I was wondering where because there were no more where I bought the first - but now that I found it on Amazon.com I am thrilled. This TV also has a very small footprint. This 32" HDTV takes up less space than a 19" analog television took up. It is very slender and comes with a sturdy base.

I am finding the picture a little dark, but I'm sure I just need to adjust the brightness. On the other hand, the blacks are very deep and more like a plasma screen quality.

I will add a caveat that I am perhaps not the most sophisticated television consumer and definitely not the pickiest. But the price, ease of carry and setup, slimness, minimal footprint, combined with good picture quality and good tuner for over the air digital make this TV absolutely irresistible.

This was my second HDTV and of course it is not close to my Samsung 6300 LEDSamsung UN46C6300 46-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LED HDTV (Black), but the price also was not close either. This TV met all of my expectations and exceeded them when I realized it played 1080p. You really see the full capability of this TV when watching Blueray and playing the PS3.

Pros:
1) Price
2) Slim Design
3) Light Weight
4) Picture Quality / When watching movies, HDTV and playing PS3

Cons:
1) Watching regular cable looks worse than my old "box" TV ... need to get an extra HD box soon!
2) Remote is very cheap and the back cover comes off often ... may buy an universal soon.
3) TV stand does not swivel, but not an issue for me.
4) Sound is weak at times,, but my bedroom is small and it is loud enough most of the time.

Overall Opinion:
I understood that with such a low price that costs needed to be cut in some areas and I can deal with the Cons mentioned above. This is a solid HDTV for your bedroom, or kids room. I would not use this as my primary HDTV, due to size and other high end features missing. However, this was a great deal and I would buy it again. ... best deal around!

***UPDATE*** Westinghouse fixed a couple input and sound bugs via software download. It still seems to have trouble with my ps3 but it occurs less often now and corrects itself in time.

Here is the update page: [...]

What can I say, the price point says it all. If you play ps3 on a non-hd tv (like i did) and don't have the money for a newer samsung or panasonic, GET THIS!!! I am a techy, so I know what people say about westinghouse. I took a leap of faith but it looks like it paid off. I was really unsure of the picture quality when I plugged the tv into my cable HDMI, but upon comparison with other LCDs in my house, I noticed they were all underperforming. Simply put, Comcast sucks. How do I know this? Because I just moved and had Verizon HD service in my old house and it blows Comcast out of the water. In my disappointment, I rushed to connect my PS3 and test it to see if the mediocre picture quality was universal. Thankfully it was not; the ps3 truly shines on this TV. Blacks are not as black as a plasma but the refresh rate is fast and the contrast ratio is extremely high, which is important when gaming. I will admit that the connectivity (the ability for the tv to respond to inputs) is rather slow and requires some patience. It might be a software issue and not hardware.
In the end, the TV has a few cons:

- Only 2 HDMIs (not and issue for me BUT may be a problem for some)
- No TRUE component HD input (BGR cables) rather, it uses a VGA converter.
- Sound is poor (BUT not an issue for me: you can shut off the TV speaker output in the settings and use your own sound system)
- Stand does not swivel, BUT TV weighs 14 pounds, so its not hard to adjust.

+ Picture quality on HD channels is amazing.
+ Set is thin and lightweight
- Sound is awful. Highs are piercing, bass is nonexistent. I've heard it can be fixed with external speakers and an amp. Factor that into the cost of the TV if you care about sound quality at all.
- Lag time when changing channels is long.
- Remote hardly works. Has to be lined up perfectly, and no further than ~4' from the set. Sound can be rectified with external speakers.. there's no fix for a bad remote, which is a dealbreaker when it's something I use so much.