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Date: 2005-11-29 [Was] A super TV, Well priced, But you'll need the right signal -- UPDATE (Feb 2008) -- Time tells another story ... 2 problems have developed now. First, it's been a little over 2 years, and 3 months ago a vertical line appeared on the right side (where non-HD signals make a black line). It was not horrible to live with, but it was disappointing to see this apparent burn-in occur on a technology that is not supposed to get burn in. Second, the picture and sound are cutting off at random -- sometimes after 5 minutes sometimes after 5 hours. Either way, it's annoying because we have to use the remote or power button to turn it off, then back on again. But the the problem will occur again -- blue power light stays on, but the picture and sound go off. Sometimes, it needs to be turned off for some time before it will show a picture again ... almost like it's overheating. I read about this problem on another site -- other buyers are having the exact same problem after the exact same period of time. Boo, hoo. I don't know if we can get it fixed. Two years is not enough for what we paid. -- Original Review (Dec 2005) -- The 32" Westinghouse LCD HDTV is marvelous. The TV does have a built-in TV tuner, but not an HDTV tuner, so the quality of the picture will be quite low unless you buy some sort of signal conversion box to go with it. It's more like a monitor than an actual HDTV. The necessary receiver can either be a cable box rental for $5 or $10 per month or a broadcast receiver that costs about $200 to purchase at this time. I also understand that you must have a clear line to the source of your signal. When I tried the old rabbit ears, I got next to nothing that would be considered watchable. Even with extended cable, the current choices of HD channels is limited. Without an Hi-Definition signal coming in the picture is pretty crappy, average at best. There are a number of picture/sound inputs and sound outputs on the back and side. There's an RCA video input, an S-Video input, a VGA computer input, 2 RGB component inputs, and a DVI input (worst to best quality in that order). There are stereo inputs for each one, too, either RCA or mini-jack. So far, the VGA input has produced a rather ghosty picture that I couldn't use for reading. The drop-down menus give numerous options for adjusting the picture quality. The picture itself can be stunning. The darks tend to be dark gray but the whites are white hot. The color saturation ranges from none to painful, however you like it. The only concern I have is that the lower-middle tones tend to be a bit dark and just slightly gray. Still, the picture is quite brilliant and a major improvement over traditional cable or broadcast TV. There are speakers attached to the bottom of the screen, so it is not a perfect rectangle, somewhat like an upside-down house shape. The sound is good, but not enough bass for me. There is a stand attached, too, which we're using now. It does have screw holes that would allow it to be wall-mounted. You'd need to buy a separate device to attach it to the wall. The TV is only a few inches thick and gets warm, but not hot, and it's rather heavy. I don't know what the picture-in-picture option would be good for. A fairly small remote is included that allows us to switch between the various audio/video imputs. There are RCA sound outputs and a heaphone jack, too. I patch that through our surround-sound stereo receiver system. It works okay but there's a ton of wires involved that way. I would totally buy this TV again, and if you must have one today, a decent sale price can't be beat. (Best Buy's website lists it for $300 more today than what I bought it for last week on sale.) I wish it would've cost less, but impending curiosity got the better of us. Prices for all the equipment involved will surely drop fairly quickly. 2006 is the mandated switch over to the new signals, and now I can at least explain to friends and family what they can expect and how they can get the most of their money. Westinghouse's "old-brand" reputation be damned. It's a damned good picture -- I love it. I give it an 4-1/2 stars, an A, or 9 out of 10. Date: 2005-11-26 Best In The League This is my 3rd HDTV, fist 2 went back to store. I had two other brand and types all in this price range. This TV is great. I am hooked up to cable box with HD comp out, digital cable with S-video and dvd with comp out. Works great this way. I have to do a little switching but it looks great in all modes. Can't wait to hook up my computer to it. I do lots of research on the web and this is the first product I would review. Date: 2005-11-21 One Tiny Problem I bought the Westinghouse 32 in. LCD TV three weeks ago. The picture quality is great, especially the HDTV stations on our cable network. One problem I've had, however, is a bright thin line of blinking white pixels at the top of the screen. I only see this line with the DVI cable attached, and it only appears when I am looking at non-HDTV channels. When I use the component video cables, the line goes away, but of course the picture quality isn't as good with the component video. This line is very thin, so it's hard to see at first, but once you notice it, it's hard to ignore. The funny thing is, when I'm looking at a DVD movie or an HDTV channel, everything looks great. I've tried a bunch of different "fixes" including swapping out cable boxes, DVI cables, etc. I'm just about ready to return the TV to see if that fixes the problem. I'm kind of at my wits end on this one. Has anyone else ever had or heard of this problem? I bought the extended warranty from Best Buy and I still have a week left before I can exchange the TV under the 30 return policy, so I know I'll get it fixed (hopefully) one way or another. Just curious if anyone else has had a similar experience with this TV. Date: 2005-11-16 Flawless with my Powerbook I just picked this TV up the other day. I wont have Hi Def TV till next month but I hooked up my Powerbook to the DVI input and was stunned at the image quality. Imagine surfing the web and video chatting on a 32 inch screen. Regular TV thru the coaxial input isnt good but not terrible either. This has to do with the source quality. If you feed it a low resolution image it will display one. Get yourself this TV and subscribe to Hi Def cadle or Satellite and you'll be glad you did. Date: 2005-11-02 Excellent Television For Price I got this set yesterday from best buy. Initially I was looking at the 27 inch westinghouse, but when i saw this one for only $100 more, I had to buy it. I am very pleased with the picture and sound quality. For under $1000 you just can't beat it. Sure, i've seen other LCD and plasma televisions that had better pictures, but I really had to LOOK to notice, and I wasn't willing to pay 2x's the price or more for them. The PIP isn't that great, but I have a DVR through the cable company, and it adds PIP features to any television, so I am not bothered by this. I too have a blue LED indicator when the set is on. There is a setting in the menu where you can turn it on and off. Mine was on by default. This is the one for you if you're looking for an LCD T.V. with a decent picture at a decent price. * Price is subject to change. |
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