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70 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent TV - Excellent Brand, November 24, 2006
Let me start off by saying that this is my 4th Westinghouse TV(monitor). I've spent this last year replacing all of the CRTs in my house with flat panels (as opposed to "flat screens" which usually indicates bulky CRT/tube TVs). The logic was, I wanted to get rid of the weight and the bulkiness of the CRTs and I definitely wanted to upgrade to the High Definition picture and connections. I researched for about 6 months before deciding on the Westinghouse brand. There are several equal or better brands but some of them are twice the cost of the comparable Westinghouse and I am more of a bargain hunter. Okay, I'm thrifty.
I bought my first 37" Westinghouse (an LVM37w1) in January of 2006. I had heard of the Westinghouse brand, but it was only based on alarm clocks and other appliances that we had around the house as kids. I was spending over a $1,000 on this first purchase, so I crossed my fingers AND purchased the 4-year replacement warranty. Overall, I was ecstatic with the first TV. My only complaint was of a peripheral nature, the LVM37w1 is a monitor, not an actual HDTV(television with tuner) so I had to go out and purchase a separate used HDTV tuner(for ~$75 off Craig's list) in order to watch Hi-definition television.
I was so happy with the first Westinghouse TV, in June 2006, I bought my second one, a 32" HDTV (with an HD tuner built in). Again, I crossed my fingers and paid extra for the 4-year extended warranty.
This October, 2006, very happy with my previous purchases, I went ahead and completed my LCD flat panel for CRT swap around the house by buying one 42" Westinghouse LCD HDTV monitor (the LVM42w2) and one 37" Westinghouse LCD HDTV monitor (the LVM37w3). I didn't buy the 4-year extended warranties this time because I feel like the 1-year factory warranty is good enough. If you're going to have problems with your LCD, like dead pixels, it's invariably right out of the box. Thru my research, I've learned that pixels will rarely, rarely die out two or three years later.
I moved the original 37" LVM37w1 into my home office and hooked it up to my computer. I was able to instantly get the phenomonal 1920x1080 resolution using a cheapo $5.00 VGA/VGA cable. Some of my friends thought the monitor would be too large but trust me, once you work on your computer with a 37" monitor with a crystal clear picture, you will NEVER go back to a little 19" or 20". For example, this review I am writing is overly long but I can see the entire review on my 37" monitor in huge, perfectly defined 1/4" high text. It's wonderful.
So now I have experience with FOUR Westinghouse monitors (from 1-1/2 months up to 11 months) serving as computer monitors, televisions (with separately purchased HDTV tuners) and DVD monitors for movie night ... and I couldn't be happier with my choice of monitors. (NOTE: make sure you use an UP-CONVERSION DVD player as opposed to just a progressive scan. It makes your DVDs look fantastic and converts them to 1080i).
I think the moral of the story is:
- Buy from a reputable source. That way you can return them if necessary.
- I bought local. The stores I bought from gave me a 14-day return policy if I noticed any dead pixels. They claimed that the # of pixels had to be grouped in 10 or more, but their policy allowed a universal return, meaning even if I didn't like the color of the outer bezel, I could return the set. Therefore, if I had even noticed ONE dead pixel, I would have returned the set and stated that I didn't like the color of the bezel!
-NOTE: Out of my four monitors, three are 1080p(meaning 1920x1080 resolution) and one is 720p (meaning 1320x768 resolution). That means that I had over 7 MILLION pixels that could have been "dead" (meaning that the pixel was locked in on one color --- typically blacked out) and yet, after scouring all four sets, I never found a single dead pixel. The easiest way to check for dead pixels is to hook it up to your computer and run it thru its paces as opposed to trying to located them off a paused DVD or TV screen.
Sorry about the extended length but I hope this helps.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Monitor for the Price, June 2, 2007
I've owned the Westinghouse LVM-37w3 for about two months now so here's my take on it:
The Basics:
The LVM-37w3 is a high-definition monitor, not a television. This is an important difference in that there is no built-in tuner. You cannot connect this set directly to a coaxial cable from your wall or an antenna. You have to have some sort of source with an output (such as a dvd player, game system, cable box, computer, etc.) to connect to this set. For my use, this feature was actually a plus - not having a tuner makes this set considerably cheaper than comparable TVs, and considering how poor the over-the-air channel selection is in my area I knew I'd be using cable TV with this set.
It is a true 1080 set with a native resolution of 1920 * 1080. It can display every pixel of high-definition content that is broadcast in either 720p or 1080i. It is also capable of displaying 1080p sources through four of it's inputs and it scales non-1080p sources up to 1080p for display.
The set has eight video inputs and seven audio inputs. It's selection includes 1 HDMI, 2 DVI, 2 Component Video, 1 RGB, 1 S-Video, and 1-Composite input. 6 of these are high-definition capable, and four of them are cable of accepting everything input type of 480i to 1080p. The audio inputs are standard analog audio for the DVI and Component connections, built-in in the case of HDMI, and mini-stereo for the VGA. The only snag is that the s-video and composite input share a single set of analog stereo inputs. Needless to say, the chances of running out of inputs on this set is pretty slim.
What's really good:
* This set does an outstanding job displaying whatever you throw at it. High-definition content looks as good on this set as I've seen on any comparable set. Basically, if the quality of the source is good - this set will display it well. I've hooked a dvd players, computers, and a cable box to this set and have been really impressed.
* The sheer number of inputs - with four 1080p HD inputs, plus two more component video inputs, this is a future-proof set. While two of the digital inputs are DVI rathern than HDMI, the power of HDMI to DVI cables prevents this from being a major problem with this set.
* This set also makes a great computer monitor since it has both DVI and VGA inputs. Granted, it's a little big to have sitting on your desk, but it'd be idea to pair with a home theater PC.
* A minor feature, but a nice one it how it handles audio. In additional to the stereo inputs, there is then a stereo audio outputs that you can connect a set of speakers. Thus, this set can function as a poor-man's stereo receiver. This also enables you to shut off the internal speakers and only hear them through your sound system.
* The price - the price on this set, given it's features, is incredible. Comparable 37inch LCD 1080p TVs cost a couple hundred dollars more than this one.
* Autosource - this simple feature is actually quite handy. Because there are eight inputs on this set, flipping through them all can be a pain. With autosource, if the set is on, and then you turn on a device it'll automatically detect that and switch the input for you.
What's not so good:
* While the image is beautiful, the set itself is not. The very plain gray and metallic black design is nothing to write home about.
* When it comes to adjusting how the images are displayed there are only two options - Standard and Fill. While for HD content these two options are sufficient, when it comes to displaying older Standard Definition content it leaves a little to be desired.
* De-interlacing. While the set claims to scale all inputs up to 1080p my experience it does a better job with some inputs than it does others. Not surprisingly, the set does a decent job de-interlacing native 1080i material. The high definition material off my cable box (which is coming in at 1080i) tends to look pretty good. A little ghosting and a few artifacts here and there, but all things considered it looks solid. When accepting a 1080i input from an upconverting DVD player, the story was not nearly as good. Ghosting and artifacts were easily observed. Lesson learned: set all inputs to progressive scan if possible.
* DVI1 - there are three digital inputs on this set, HDMI, DVI1, and DVI2. The problem is that DVI1 does not work properly when connected to something that has HDCP. For my purposes, this wasn't a huge problem - my cable box (switched to DVI mode) displayed without a problem on DVI1. But my DVD player would not - I had to use either the HDMI port or DVI2. For me, it's a minor inconvenience because I have an HD source that will display okay, but it could be problematic.
Overall assessment:
If you're in the market for a HDTV but don't have tons of money to spend, the Westinghouse series is an ideal set. Good image quality, lots of HD inputs with 1080p support so you won't have to replace it in the near future, and a great price make this a good entry-level HD set. Comparable sets also come in 42 and 47 inch versions.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Buy, November 22, 2006
For the money, the Westinghouse is a great buy. Having said that, I am not sure why I preface this "for the money." It is a great LCD. It has all of the features you could want and a great picture. I guess it could have a better remote but all TV's should. In any case, you always end up using the cable company's remote or buying a higher tech one. Be aware that the preset list of TV's that come up with DirecTV or other services do not list Westinghouse and if you call Westinghouse Customer Service they tell you that the model is too new to have a code to program remote. Rediculous. Just do a search on line for an AV Forum and they will suggest a code that works. If not, just select Samsung or Sony and try their codes. I can't remember which one is right but it is not an off-brand name.
OH, and the first review of ONE STAR is a review of a retailer and has nothing to do with the LCD.
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