Customer Reviews

Westinghouse SK-19H210S 19-Inch LCD HDTV

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(71)

 

 

Bought this for kitchen HD.
Good: Nice HD picture. Fairly simple screen navigation
Bad: Horrible connectivity. All the ports are bunched up w/in millimeters of the other- to make matters worse its on the left-hand side.
Ugly: The HDMI connection. When switching between SD and HD sources using your HDMI cable-you will get a blue screen. You will need to cut the power to your source 1-4 times before finally arriving at a picture. I took the first back to BB and they said its something w/the encoding system for the HDMI connector. Hmmm funny, my Panasonic plasma doesn't have that problem.

Summary: its a nice set for a nice price if you can put up w/the maddening problem w/its HDMI switch.

Side bar: I've tried cheap-o HDMI cables and better-made cables and you'll be smart to use the better ones. Yes a digital signal is a digital signal-but brightness is a big issue w/the cheaper ones.

Bluejeans cable or monoprice cable is the way to go.

My unit failed after about 14 months in service of relatively light use. It appears to be the same power supply problem that has been reported throughout these reviews. I called the Westinghouse customer service group, provide the information they asked for & was told I would be contacted by a certified service technician within 2 to 3 days. NEVER received a call.

I opened up the unit & noticed a slightly "ballooned" capacitor which is the same one discussed in another of these reviews. Location CE105 which is the electrolytic radial polarized 2200 MFD 10V. I have on order a replacement capacitor & will see if that fixes the problem. I'm ordering a Panasonic 16V thinking that may protect against any slight overvoltages & am also ordering one rated at 7000 hours @105C versus the typical 2000 hour ratings. A CapXon capacitor was in my unit & they are not known for their reliability.

Mike

GOOD -- PRICE, BI-PLATFORMED FOR TV AND COMPUTER
BAD -- NOT TRUE 16:9 (16:10), ACCESS TO DIGITAL QAM DIFFICULT, VIDEO AND AUDIO MEDIOCRE

For a cheap utility hdtv that can double as a vga plugged computer screen (or visaversa) as in a home office, this screen is a really good deal for the money. However pix and audio quality only mediorce and the viewing range on the lcd limited.

16:10 slightly distorts hdtv pix, elongating images by 10%.

CAUTION: You can not key-in digital channels directly on the remote, even though it has a dot key.
The only access to Qam digital is via on screen menu and then you can only access channels directly through the onscreen programming guide. Lots of key strokes. NOTE QAM is important, since it allows access to local HDVD channels without renting a box from cable or satellite.

As all the other posters who had it fail at about 14 months - ours just bit the dust. At first it would turn itself on at random times, then it wouldn't shut off, now it's finally just dead - won't turn on.

I'll likely replace the capacitor that is causing the problem - it's well documented and I have the needed skills and tools - but it's disappointing to say the least. Westinghouse used to have a motto of "You can be SURE if it's Westinghouse" (referring undoubtably to the 55 year old refrigerator I keep my beer in) - now you can be sure that it's a piece of crap if it's Westinghouse.

I bought a Westinghouse SK-19H210S in February '08. It was an acceptable, modest cost HDTV until it suddenly stopped powering on 21 months after purchase (and very light use during those months).

New it was $330 plus tax. Now it is worthless.

Though well out of its one-year warranty, I thought it worth asking if the company would address the problem (since who would ever pay a nickel for a TV that would die in less than two years). A Westinghouse customer service supervisor said they would only stand by their one-year warranty.

I won't buy a Westinghouse TV again, and you shouldn't buy one in the first place. A tip: Many Visa and MasterCard bank issuers include a one-year warranty extension on products with warranties of three years or less. If your bank offers this benefit, save your itemized original receipt, your card statement, and your warranty terms so that you can make a claim through Visa or MasterCard.

I purchased this TV from Sam's Club one year ago for [...]. At first........the picture was great and I had no regrets about the purchase. However, last week the TV failed to turn on...no sound, no picture, no little red light...NOTHING! I contacted Westinghouse (I should have just had a conversation with my living room wall), but they consider the TV to be out of warranty and will not offer to repair or replace the set. I was so angry that I decided to see if any other folks have experienced the same problem. Lo and behold....ARGH! How many folks need to be scammed out of their hard-earned money by one company? It seems clear to me...Westinghouse has a problem with the SK-19H210S, [...]. This will be the LAST item (TV or otherwise) I purchase from [...]. I, too, will contact [...] For the record--my TV was also manufactured November 1, 2007!!! Interesting, isn't it?

UPDATE: June 2010
Westinghouse ended up exchanging my dead set for a "refurbished" set...they do not have "new" sets for a warranty exchange. I received the exchange at the end of Sept 2009. I've had the set for less than 9 months. The problem now...my "refurbished" set died this week. Same issue as with the first set...and the same as everyone else...no power, no sound, no picture. !? I called Westinghouse today..."Sorry, because you have a refurbished set...you only had a 3 month warranty." Seriously? Like I CHOSE to have a refurished set...I wanted a new set, but they don't have them to give. To make matters worse, I was told I was sent a "class B" set refurbished set...which isn't as good as a "class A" set. Huh? They could tell I had the inferior set because of the last digit of the serial number was a "B" and not an "A"....nice, huh? So, let me get this right...............I, like others, bought a piece-of-junk $300.00+ set TV, that died....and that TV was exchanged for another piece-of-junk set that was in worse condition than the first. Westinghouse KNOWINGLY exchanges inferior TV's as part of their warranty program. Who here is going to purchase anything with the Westinghous label?

I purchased my 19" SK-19H210S on 2/15/08 from Best Buy. I researched it and thought I'd made a very good buy even at $409 (on sale). Yesterday (04/11/09) it died. Now I've done more research in hopes of an easy solution. Turns out this has been a common problem for this model with sets failing usually 1-3 months after the one year anniversary. In addition, it seems that some of the problems I had before it died are also common (HDMI screen troubles that I attributed to cable). One site estimated repairs at $150 to $250 (over and above what I already paid) AND it is still likely to fail due to the way the components are welded together and the fact that one failed part usually affects others, which means future repairs and lost $. If the manufacturer is aware of these problems, they should have a recall. They definitely will not be getting any more of my money!!!

The TV worked great for 1 year and 1 week. Then it stopped working altogether. It is almost like it is programmed to last until the warranty period is out and then quit, forcing another purchase. Well, Westinghouse won't get my money again. Unbelievable.

I bought a similar model a couple years ago. The picture went bad on it within a year. They replaced it with a newer model, didn't extend my warranty and bingo, after the year was up the new one went bad as well. Same exact problem. I will never buy westinghouse again. You get what you pay for. I'm going Samsung.

Purchased this t.v. for our daughter to play her Wii on. The television only worked for about 13 months before dying. Sincerely disappointed.