DEAD Westinghouse 32" Flat Panel LCD HDTV at bestbuy.com for $699.99 shipped

[tuffgong]

So if I wanted to use this as my main monitor, how would I connect it to my 6600GT? Would I have to get a conversion adapter?

 

[slag]

plug it into the vga port on the right side

 

[HyTekJosh]

Nice. I got this TV 1.5 months ago for $700-ish. Best bang for the buck! HDTV for the win (and HDTV DVR).

 

[tuffgong]

I would be all over this...but I think for my photoshop and video editing, I better just save up for a 24 or 30 incher. This is a killer deal though.

 

[usernamemax20charact]

Went to BB to look at this and it looked just as sharp and crisp as tv's from HP, LG, and Samsung that cost $200-$300 more.

One thing I'm worried about is the long-term reliability. Anyone here know how reliable Westinghouse lcd's are?

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: usernamemax20charact
Went to BB to look at this and it looked just as sharp and crisp as tv's from HP, LG, and Samsung that cost $200-$300 more.

One thing I'm worried about is the long-term reliability. Anyone here know how reliable Westinghouse lcd's are?

My Westinghouse 32" turns 1 year old on November 8th, no problems so far. Unfortunately I sold it a few months ago

If BB will take 12% off $699 I'm buying.

 

[usernamemax20charact]

Thanks for your feedback/input RossMAN. Reading your comment calmed my fears about their reliability,..... until I read this

"Originally Posted by cnIsfg@fatwallet
1080p is nice. However, despite what the ignorant masses may think no current LCD/plasma out today does TRUE native 1080P at the descaler level which is all that counts so what?s the point? Also comparing the Westinghouse to the sony Bravia, Sharp Aquos or any other truly engineered LCD panel is like comparing an AMC Pacer to a Ferrari. We own 12 major authorized service centers for just about every brand, model LCD and plasma sold in the in US. In terms of quality. picture reproduction and subsequent need for warranty repairs the Bravia is one of the best right behind the Panasonic TC series and the Aquos Professional series. On the other hand Westinghouse, Visio, Synax and other low end panels are PURE junk. We get around 75 Westinghouse 32" or larger LCDs for warranty repair a week in our Northeast service center alone. The Westys are poorly designed and have backlight inverters that are run at 200% over their OEM rating. This is intentional on the manufacturer part to make their cheap sets look bright and will no fdoubt evenutally lead to a clsss action suit. In less than a year average use for the ones that don?t burn out Westys age significantly and the brightness diminishes accordingly when compare to quality LCDs. Bottom line you get what you pay for. "

and other issues about Westinghouse lcds over at AVS forums and now I'm not so sure anymore...... going to do some more reading on them before I decided anything.

 

[joelmold]

i got this for ~$750 about 2 months ago and love it, fwiw. this is such a great deal i'm tempted to buy another one, but i really don't need it!

 

[gclg2000]

We have the 1080p Westinghouse 42" and it looks great. We've had no problems at tall with it. My parents checked it out and they purchased the same 1080[ 42" and the 32" listed in this thread as well. The 32" had about 100 dead pixels, took it back, the 2nd one had one bright white in the middle, took it back the 3rd 32" was perfect.

I think they are good panels. They may not meet the extreme top end panels, but hey...for $1600 42" 1080p LCD TV w/ 5 HD inputs its not bad..

 

[lsman]

so where to get a good deal on wall mount?

 

[Childs]

Originally posted by: JasonE4
I have this TV and it's great. It has qam so you can get unencrypted digital channels, although they probably won't be the normal channel numbers.

Are you sure it does unencrypted QAM? I havent seen that mentioned anywhere.

EDIT: Looks like it does....I guess I'm in. Has everything I want besides native 720p resolution.

specs

 

[usernamemax20charact]

Originally posted by: gclg2000
We have the 1080p Westinghouse 42" and it looks great. We've had no problems at tall with it. My parents checked it out and they purchased the same 1080[ 42" and the 32" listed in this thread as well. The 32" had about 100 dead pixels, took it back, the 2nd one had one bright white in the middle, took it back the 3rd 32" was perfect.

I think they are good panels. They may not meet the extreme top end panels, but hey...for $1600 42" 1080p LCD TV w/ 5 HD inputs its not bad..

So far I've read quite a few people having to return and rebuy these units (sometimes up to 3 times) before getting a problem/issue-free unit. That doesn't exactly allow me to put much confidence in their quality..... but still researching.

 

[Farhood]

I bought this a week ago from BB (w/ 12% coupon) for $615. It had one dead pixel, couldn't fix it w/ UDpixel.exe, so I took it back for a second set. I love it thus far as my monitor.

I use my GeForce 7300 (DVI to HDMI) and my iBook (VGA out, spanned) and have had no problems outputting to the native 1360 x 768 resolution.

Multiple inputs, but no DVI. I went to monoprice and got a DVI to HDMI cable for $6.

I don't have cable at the office and no HD channels over the air make it into the building, but the DiVX and DVD playback is amazing!

I can have a massive Excel document open w/out scrolling all over my 12" iBook screen.

I will be purchasing the 4 year warranty from BB for $100 in a week or so.

 

[Childs]

Originally posted by: usernamemax20charact

Originally posted by: gclg2000
We have the 1080p Westinghouse 42" and it looks great. We've had no problems at tall with it. My parents checked it out and they purchased the same 1080[ 42" and the 32" listed in this thread as well. The 32" had about 100 dead pixels, took it back, the 2nd one had one bright white in the middle, took it back the 3rd 32" was perfect.

I think they are good panels. They may not meet the extreme top end panels, but hey...for $1600 42" 1080p LCD TV w/ 5 HD inputs its not bad..

So far I've read quite a few people having to return and rebuy these units (sometimes up to 3 times) before getting a problem/issue-free unit. That doesn't exactly allow me to put much confidence in their quality..... but still researching.

Man, why'd you have to say that 1 hour after I placed my order.....

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: Childs

Originally posted by: usernamemax20charact

Originally posted by: gclg2000
We have the 1080p Westinghouse 42" and it looks great. We've had no problems at tall with it. My parents checked it out and they purchased the same 1080[ 42" and the 32" listed in this thread as well. The 32" had about 100 dead pixels, took it back, the 2nd one had one bright white in the middle, took it back the 3rd 32" was perfect.

I think they are good panels. They may not meet the extreme top end panels, but hey...for $1600 42" 1080p LCD TV w/ 5 HD inputs its not bad..

So far I've read quite a few people having to return and rebuy these units (sometimes up to 3 times) before getting a problem/issue-free unit. That doesn't exactly allow me to put much confidence in their quality..... but still researching.

Man, why'd you have to say that 1 hour after I placed my order.....

Seriously, I'm still tempted

 

[edro]

I want their 37" that has a built in DVD player... Too bad it is over the 36" limit on the 12% coupon.

 

[gclg2000]

For more info with my experience with Westinghouse.

I've now helped or aided in buying (2) 42" 1080p LCD's and (1) 32" 768p and i just bought (1) for their 19" DVI-D widescreen LCD montiors.

Both 42" screens where perfect out of the box.
The 1st 32" had 100+ dead pixels, the 2nd had one bad stuck pixel and the 3rd (32") was perfect.
The 19" Digital Widescreen looks perfect on my desktop.

My whole thing with the 32" is....hey ****** happens, who knows how bad that screen was handled in the shipping process to best buy or vis versa. But westinghouse does honor replacement screens to resellers. The best buy people said they get a replacement from Westinghouse.

Another postive note....Westinghouse has CHEAP extended coverage warranties. I think the 4 year extension parts/labor plan through bestbuy for the 42" screens was only $100.

They even offered 3 year full coverage on my 19" widescreen for $25 more...i didn't get it though, due to how cheap i purchased it for.

maybe this will help those of you looking for more info.

 

[Childs]

Well, the 12% didnt work, as thats only for regularly priced items. So its the web price of $699 or $899 - 12%, which is obviously not helping the price. Still, pretty good price on the tv. Now to pray that it doesnt have a bunch of defects...passed on the extended warranty.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: Childs
Well, the 12% didnt work, as thats only for regularly priced items. So its the web price of $699 or $899 - 12%, which is obviously not helping the price. Still, pretty good price on the tv. Now to pray that it doesnt have a bunch of defects...passed on the extended warranty.

It sounds like people are successfully using the coupon at some stores with the already-discounted price, try a different best buy?

 

[NucEm]

I just picked one up at the BestBuy in Broomfield, CO and the 12% coupon worked for me after I signed up for the Rewards program. $615.99 plus tax of 8.45% for a total of $668.04

 

[Childs]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: Childs
Well, the 12% didnt work, as thats only for regularly priced items. So its the web price of $699 or $899 - 12%, which is obviously not helping the price. Still, pretty good price on the tv. Now to pray that it doesnt have a bunch of defects...passed on the extended warranty.

It sounds like people are successfully using the coupon at some stores with the already-discounted price, try a different best buy?

hmmm....may have been the one I went to. The checkout guy and then manager were sticklers. Since I already bought it I'll open it up and see if its defect free. If it is I'll just keep it, if not, I'll return it and try another store. Looking at the wording on the coupon, I believe they were correct in their reasoning. Still punks mind you, but they didnt screw me. I think I might have had better luck if I did it a few days ago, especially with all the cheap geeks around here.

 

[DaveBC]

I jumped on it. Just bought one last year and I'm using it as a monitor. I'll use this for TV.

 

[Sideswiped]

Originally posted by: Childs
Looking at the wording on the coupon, I believe they were correct in their reasoning. Still punks mind you, but they didnt screw me. I think I might have had better luck if I did it a few days ago, especially with all the cheap geeks around here.

My local store had it marked as $700, no mention of a sale/discount. They had a stack of these screens(10+). Used the 12% discount without a problem(and tacked on $12 worth of Mc Donalds coupons).

Picked up a UHF antenna with inline amp from RadioShack on the way home. The difference was night and day. I used to be able to get 4 channels analog, but now get 11 digital , albeit there are 3-4 subchannels in that count. Screw cable.

I have my comp hooked up through the VGA cable. The default settings blew. I'm still playing with the settings, but the picture has became a bit easier to view. It's not bad, but the Bravia we have a work is easier to view text on(i.e. sharper). DVDs look pretty good through it. Going to try and calibrate a color profile tonight with my spyder. I'm also going to look into running DVI->HDMI and see if the picture gains any clarity. Anyone had any experiences with such a setup? Any recommendations on picture settings for this tv?

 

[gclg2000]

trying a HDMI to DVI cable is something i need to try with it.

I'll try to get back. The VGA is ok, but is not very crisp as you mentioned.

 

[arswihart]

I'm also going to look into running DVI->HDMI and see if the picture gains any clarity. Anyone had any experiences with such a setup?

I think someone said a non-widescreen resolution works with bars on each side, but not sure. Weird though, I don't know why your video card can't output the correct 1360x768 resolution via DVI, but apparently lots of people have failed trying to do this.

As for going by VGA, mine looks quite good now (maybe not that "perfect" DVI-look). Did you go into the VGA options menu and auto sync to 1360x768 (and of course have this setting in your WinXP Display control panel also)? I have the sharpness set to 6 (out of 7 on mine).

My other settings I think are pretty decent are:
Brightness: 33/50
Contrast: 35/50
Saturation: 40/50
Hue 25/50
Sharpness: 6/7
Backlight: 50/50