Customer Reviews

Westinghouse LVM-37W1 37" HD Ready Flat Panel LCD Monitor

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Having been in the market for a flat tv for a few months I stumbled across this set last night on sale at Best Buy, the specs were much better than the sets i have been considering and it was hundreds cheaper. I wanted a 1080 resolution and the only other i had seen was the 45" sharp which is around $4500 i believe. So I came home and read reviews all night and went back to by it today as the sale ended today, picked it up for just under $1500 and opted for the 4 year service plan for $159 extra.

As part of checking this set out last night i looked at it in electronics express directly beside a 37 Olevia and the new 40 Sony XBR and the XBR was only slightly better looking. To my surprise the Olevia looked as good but has hideous speakers that arent removable.

My biggest fear when i went to get this set today was the remote, in other reviews and on westinghouse's website i read that there is no certainty of ever getting another remote (at least a non learning one) to work with this thing but by some twist of fate when i plugged it into my tivo, dvd plyer, etc in place of my 10yr old 27" sony and picked up my sony dvd remote to turn on the dvd to inspect the picture the LCD powered off, baffled i looked at the dvd remote and saw it was set to tv so i hit power again and it was right back, not believing what i was seeing i picked up my tivo remote and the power, volume, and input buttons all worked.

Sorry if im wasting anyones time with one of lifes small victories but this makes the unit complete, anyone challenged by the remote codes should be able to just use sonys codes for at least the basics that i use.

The dvd picture was incredible by the way, i am totally pleased and the 4 year plan gives confidence in the somewhat unfamiliar brand name. Cant wait for my HD cable box and the XBOX 360 to launch so i can get the most from this thing. May build another media center pc for it as well for the dvd library

I hope my experience helps persuade others that like myself almost passed this unit up because of brand recognition and assuming cheap meant no good.

Amazing price for such a versitile monitor. You should be able to get it for $1850 at best buy. I recommend the $400 4 year service plan as I believe this monitor may have very few, if any, reparable components and would be replaced if any major failure occured. The extraordinary variety of inputs makes this ideal for any application, including 1080p which may appear in 3rd generation game consoles or HD-DVD or computer displays. The native 1080i resolution matches Hi-Def cable, which other displays convert to 720p because they don"t have the sheer number of pixels this unit is capable of. A recent article in Home Theatre magazine stated that one could not tell the difference between a 720p and 1080i display unless your screen was very large. I differ with that opinion, this picture at home (not in a store with a degraded source for display) will blow you away, and any sensible enthusiast should wonder - why pay twice as much for half the resolution and the need to downconvert material from 1080 to 720? Other comments: The ability to adjust the backlight brightness is a big advantage for viewing in a variety of room lighting conditions. Like all lcd displays, this has absolutely no problem with reflections or glare from room lights or windows, this is a BIG difference from CRT or plasma displays and is a very important thing to consider when choosing a display. This display is no better than most LCD'S for off center viewing. Brightness, contrast and detail fall off considerably as the viewer sits further from the center of the screen. I only mention this because this is very difficult to evaluate in a showroom and the uninformed may be unpleasantly surprised when they get their new tv home and find that the best viewing is only within perhaps 60 degrees of center. I find that the speakers positioned below the screen an advantage in reducing width in a crowded installation, perhaps to be removed later. In conclusion, for my modest sized home theatre, this 37" display is perfect and seems to be the most advanced display available today at a very low price.

This 37" LCD monitor can be driven by a Matrox Millennium P750 card VIA DVI. You must download Monitor Manager from Matrox to configure the card's driver. The Matrox card MUST be plugged into DVI1 on the LVM-37W1 if you want 1920X1080 resolution. DVI2 only achieves 1600X1200 on my setup. I do not know why. I do CAD work and the LVM-37W1's image is excellent! I'm not a gamer and do not know how the system performs with games. The HDTV picture is good. If you need a big screen computer monitor with 1920 X 1080 resolution, I recommend this combination. I do not think you will be disappointed.

First I would begin with stating that this is a MONITOR but with all the "upscaling" / "upconverting" features of a TV. The only ommision from this monitor is a TV tuner.
Who wants a tv tuner anyway. I connect to my dvd player using the component video cables, my computer using the VGA and my Settop box using the DVI cables. THis set has ample number of video input connectors 2 DVI !! 2 Component video 1 VGA and the regular svideo and composite video jacks.

A tv tuner in today's generation would be a waste of money as any high quality video would have an equivalent receiver (Like a set-top box).

To talk more about the picture, The resolution is phenomenol and so obviously U can see hi-def channels very clearly. But the question is always with the standard def channels that we all see. The answer for that is it is phenomenol too! The upscaler built into the monitor does a great job on that. If you see a set in a store with lower quality, then probably it is not tuned properly. There is abundant video tuning available like the usual brightness, contrast, hue, saturation and one more ... Backlight ! Remember the standard-def channels will show in 4:3 format (though there is a fill function available that will "strech" the image). That means U will see 2 solid bars on the left and right. But again, this is an LCD monitor. So there is no fear of screen burns.

I have bought this monitor a couple of days back and I am happy having bought this Item. Being somewhat of an Audio Video buff, I tried out lots of stuff and to my surprise all of them work fine !

If you have a hometheater or are planning to build one or upgrade yours, this is the right choice as it is very "componentized" if I can use the word.

There is a word of caution though, if you have a non-learning universal remote, it may not be able to pick up the codes for the Monitor. I got a set of codes from the customer service, but they did not work. I went to best buy and bought a philips learning remote ($20) and it works perfectly fine then.

If you are thinking about the customer support, Beleive me it is great. I have bugged them a couple of times when I was trying out a lot of stuff with the monitor and not once anyone was rude or was un-knowledgeable. I got all the answers I needed promptly.

If you want ot read any more review of this set try

[...]

I used that for my research before the pourchase.

Addendum : Solution to "TV does not support HDCP" problem if you encounter it.
You have to switch on the Monitor first and the set topbox after that. If it the first time you will see the HDCP not Supported warning. Let it on for about 7-8 mins. It will go away after that and your screen will appear properly. After the first time just remember to switch on the Monitor first and the set-top box after that and you will have your signal.
Happy viewing :)

I bought this set first in July at local Best Buy store and was very satisfied with it.
It is having the best native resolution 1920x1080 from all 37" monitors. Other features include good on screen menu and lot of input options rarely met on such size monitor.
Sound quality is also one of the best in its class. The only severe problem which ruins the viewing experience is the LCD panel. After hooking the TV up to the computer or DVD I started to see a dead stuck red pixel in the middle of the screen. This was not seen and not bothered me during the SD TV viewing, but when full quality of the screen has been used, it was clearly seen and annoyed me. Besides that when TV was showing a dark scene I noticed several bright dots between pixel lines. I exchanged the set for another one and got dead pixels again plus the back light on a LCD panel started to blink. It started from once in several minutes at the beginning and going to every 10-15 sec blink after 30 minutes of usage. Service rep in Best Buy told me that this is a common problem for Westinghouse LCD monitors, because he himself had this problem with small 19" Westinghouse LCD monitor. So, I got another unit in exchange (3-d) and that unit was having not one but 12 light tiny dots all over the screen which in dark scenes looked like a night sky with stars. I am not a picky cinema purist, otherwise I would get a plasma TV but I am confused a lot now. It seems like all monitors I was getting were having some problems with LCD panel. Is this due to the fact that Best Buy gets them from 3 grade inventory? Not sure. Most likely the process of getting the LCD panel glass on Chi-May Opto Electronics plant is still not well worked out and needs serious improvements. I wish them good luck and ready to bring the last set back to the store. So far I concluded that despite to be priced aggressively against major brands (and very good for us) and having a perfect feature set and design these units are unfortunately not well build and all suffering from defects in the LCD panels. Very sad, I wish that Westinghouse would pick another LCD panel supplier for their TV.

For me, this is the perfect product. I was looking for a large flat screen that would support HDTV, computer and game console. I also did NOT want to spend more than a new car. Price IS a factor when considering one option vs. another for me.
My decision of LCD vs. Plasma was easy since I would be using the screen for computer and video gaming, I did not think Plasma would meet my needs. Once I decided on LCD, it was a matter of quality, features and price. Here is where the Westinghouse rose to the top quickly. For the money, it can't be beat right now. I paid $1799 at Best Buy after a 10% coupon.
I'm using Time Warner cable and the picture for both SD and HD is very good on all the digital channels. As you would expect, the analog stuff is a bit tougher on the eyes.
I find the volume of the speakers quite good (make sure you have the volume of the cable box turned up) but have not yet hooked up the sourround sound reciever.
The only complaint I've had so far is that it would be nice to have image adjustments stick with the input. I find myself adjusting when I switch inputs. A small price to pay for saving a grand vs. other options.

I bought this to use as an HD monitor for my cable box AND as a computer monitor for a second video channel, DVD player, audio source and AM/FM radio. The DV1 input will do a full 1900x1080 computer resolution with outstanding results. I have not hooked up the HD cable box yet, but the SD tv is very good.
This is an outstanding value. I'd like another one on the wall just beyond my desk as a work computer monitor!

I've had this monitor for 6 months now and I love it. I use it primarily with my HTPC outputting 1920x1080 to DVI1. The specs on the Westinghouse website say the VGA input can also take a 1080p signal.

Picture: When I saw the monitor in store, it had a horrible green tint that I couldn't get out with the settings. With my unit though, I haven't changed any picture settings (ie., brightness, contrast, color) and everything looks great to me. No dead pixels or broken backlights. I've only been using the DVI1 and YPbPr1 inputs which both work great so I can't comment on the other inputs. The response time of the LCD is a little slow if you're sensitive to ghosting. While playing video games, I've noticed ghosting on fast-scrolling objects. On the other hand, watching videos and movies has been fine for me.

Controls: The controls on the monitor are a little hard to press. The menus are hard to navigate with these controls but with the remote control, it's not a problem. One thing that annoys me is that when the monitor goes into power save mode, the first button you press just wakes up the monitor. Then you have to wait about 2 seconds for it to power up, then press the button you really want again. So if you left it at the component input and it goes into power save, it takes a couple seconds to get switched over to DVI. This is true even if you are trying to turn the monitor off. If you press power, it wakes up, then you have to wait 2 seconds and press power again to turn the monitor off.

Sound: Contrary to what others have said, I don't think the speakers are that great. I had a Playstation 2 connected to it and any high notes were cut off and distorted. Since then, I have bought a receiver so the sound on this monitor does not affect me.

Design: The monitor is a decent size for viewing from about 8-10 feet away. I like the silver look and the uniform frame around the screen. The stand is pretty sturdy and the speakers can be detached. The video inputs (2 component, 2 DVI, 1 VGA, 1 S-Video, and 1 composite) are easily accessible from the sides of the back panel.

As long as you are aware that this monitor is an HD monitor and not an HD TV (it doesn't have a tuner!), I would highly recommend it because of its low cost and great picture quality.

I just got my 37" Westinghouse LCD two weeks ago. I know that I should probably wait longer before giving it a review, but I am so impressed, I absolutely couldn't resist. I'll update this review if I have problems further on down the line.

To begin with, I got an incredible deal on this TV. I was in my local Best Buy and they had a one-day "market correction" price of $1,199. Normally, I'd think of that as a used car salesman ploy but hey, if you're going to screw me by giving my any product at almost half price, I'll take that any day.

The second deal I received was, because the price was lowered down to $1,199, the 4 year warranty was only $159! At the original price of $2,299, the four year warranty was a whopping $389. So I saved another $230 buckaroos. Okay, sorry about the long-winded prelude, I just wanted to let everyone know that there are killer deals out there.

Now for my review. Remember, this is only after two weeks, so I might possibly find more CONS later and it is unlikely I'll find any more PROs.

PROS:
- Incredible picture. I hooked it up to a Sony DVP-NS70H DVD player using component cables. The picture is absolutely astounding.

- Decent sound. I've read several times that it's supposed to sound tinny but I haven't had that problem.

- Security. Because I bought the 4 year in-home warranty, I'm fairly confidentthat no matter what happens, I can get this monitor fixed for at least the next four years. Without the warranty, I would have been more reluctant to buy an off-brand such as Westinghouse.


CONS:

- No HDTV tuner. Since I don't plan on getting satellite or digital cable anytime soon, I can currently only watch DVDs on this TV. I'll have to shell out another $250+ to get the required external receiver.

- Not sure if this is this TV's fault or not, but I've gotten dizzy a few times from watching it. On some movies, especially animated films like Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights, the picture is simply perfect and stunning. On some of my surfing DVDs, like Endless Summer and Step Into Liquid, the mist off the waves, the clouds, and the ocean reflections make me squint and seemed to give me a headache. At first, I thought it was the refresh rate (this TV has a 12 ms rate which should be fast enough). Then, I played these same DVDs on a CRT TV and got the same issues, so I believe that ruled out the refresh rate. I think that the picture is just so vivid and overwhelming, I'm going to have to get used to it.

- The remote is fairly plain. It seems like they could have come up with a better dseign with more features. No huge complaint here, it just would have been nice.

- As others have stated, the documentation is fairly minimal. For example, Westinghouse doesn't even state the monitor's refresh rate, I had to find that over the Internet.

- No HDMI connection. This was the main reason why I put off buying this TV. If you're not familiar with HDTV connections, you need an HDMI port to take advantage of the near HD-upconversion of the DVD units.

In summary, I've wanted an HDTV but I've been putting it off for almost two years. I've heard about problems with Plasmas (burn-in, high power consumption, etc.) and LCD flat panels are too high-priced. CRT HDTVs are too heavy and the screen is too small. And I won't get any type of projection HDTV.

So, in buying this 37" Westinghouse, I believe I've solved all of my problems. I have an AWESOME, inexpensive, lightweight (~50 lbs), widescreen HDTV that I can move from room to room by myself if I need to.

I bought 6 HD TV's and returned them all before buying the Westinghouse. No return here this LCD TV is great. Watching movies is a pleasure and the TV adapted great to my SONY remote. I did have to upgrade my cable to Digital cable with the HDTV package and I got a Digital Video Recorder as well. So that was an expense that anyone that is going to upgrade to HDTV should consider. I didn't and it is not cheap, on the plus side it is well worth it for such a superior image and sound. the set itself performs well. It does need some calibration (Manual adjustment) and understand that it will never be perfect to everyone's eyes. Best buy has dropped the price and if you can get one for around $1500.00 you are way ahead of the HDTV game. I did buy the warranty for the price you pay for the TV it is just added security. GOOD LUCK