Westinghouse is not a name i can say i am familiar with. Being originally from England i had never heard of this company. My wife tells me that they make small electronic appliances and light bulbs, so what in the world are they doing making television sets? I went back home and done some research on Westinghouse and learned about the companies history and came across their website for their televisions http://www.westinghousedigital.com they had a lot of information about their tv sets on their. The LCD, Plasma market is becoming saturated with new startup companies looking to jump on the latest consumer bandwagon, companies like Vizio, Maxent and Olevia to name a few. Westinghouse decided to give it a try as well and i am pleased that they did.

I went back down to Best Buy and began to play with many of the televisions. I already knew i preferred LCD over plasma so that narrowed my choices down from the start. In the store the Westinghouse 37" was in between a Sharp Aquos and a Samsung set, both of the same size. I was immediately drawn to the Westinghouse. The picture clarity and colors looked far superior on the Westinghouse compared to the Samsung and Sharp, i could not believe my eyes.

I started to tune the Sharp and Samsung, entering various menus and changing the many settings but i could not recreate the picture quality that the Westinghouse was putting out, i was honestly stunned that this tv made by a company i had never heard of looked far superior to the tv's made by whom i would consider mainstream in the electronics world. Looking dumbfounded i am sure, the Best Buy manager came over to me and i told him i could not believe my eyes, he told me the Westinghouse was one of the best sets they have in stock, but they don't like telling people that because it was also one of the cheapest sets that they have! I took the plunge and bought the 37" Westinghouse for $999.

When i got home i unpacked my new baby and looked at it in all it's splendor! I set it up and started exploring the features that the TV had. This Westinghouse boasts a contrast ratio of 1000:1 (the contrast ratio is what determines the speed of which the tv can change from it's lightest color to it's darkest color), Native resolution of 1366x768 which means that it can display true high definition pictures. It supports 480i / 480p/ 720p / and 1080i. The last two numbers there are the resolutions that HD content is broadcast in. The response time of this particular set is 8m/s which is plentiful unlesss you plan on sitting right on top of the Tv! This Tv also has 2 built in speakers, which might not sound like a big deal, but i remember a few years ago when flat panels started becoming popular, the speakers were sold separately from the actual tv! This set is also HD Ready and has a built in decoder so you can just plug in a hd antenna that you can buy from the store for $15 and receive HD content without the need of a separate set top box.

In terms of connections this tv only has a few and this is what might have separated this set from say the Sharp Or Samsung. HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) is the connection of choice when it comes to HD sets. DVI (Digital Video Interface) used to be the standard but DVI is now becoming obsolete. The Westinghouse only has 1 HDMI port, which is a downside. There are ways around this. You could buy an HDMI selector box that acts as a pass through for multiple HDMI cables or you could use the 2 component connectors on the side of the TV. Both methods of connection will provide you with true HD Television, but i just paid a load for the tv so i want the best out of it. It also boasts a VGA port so you can connect this TV to your PC if you so desire (i did and loved it) also there is a s-video connection and a standard antenna connection.

Hooking all of my components up to the tv was a piece of cake. This is due to the design of the tv. I mounted my tv on the wall, the back of the tv casing is curved so that you can easily reach the connections on the sides of the tv, this makes a huge difference seeing as the tv sits only 2" from the wall when mounted and when you have fat hands like me it makes the world of difference! All of the connections are clearly marked which again makes things much easier! I am all set and am ready to watch some HD content!

The picture on this set is truly something to behold! It is absolutely stunning! The colors are vibrant and rich and the sharpness of the picture is like nothing i have seen before. I have Cox HD service and was honestly blown away by the quality of the picture that this set was putting out!

While watching standard definition(SD) tv, the picture quality is not as good obviously and there was some blocking during certain shows, this happens because standard definition shows were really made for smaller screen. When these shows go onto bigger screen the picture gets stretched to fill the set, which means the sharpness of the picture deteriorates some. It is not so bad that you cannot watch the shows, not by any means but after you have watched a show in HD the difference is very apparent! This is not only native to the Westinghouse but to every LCD or Plasma set.

The speakers on the TV are adequate. They are nothing special. You have to turn them up quite loud to hear noise from them and then the sound is a little disappointing. I have my set hooked up to a home theater system so that is a not a concern for me. The tv's menu system is very easy to navigate around. There are 5 different menus, each menu focusing on different aspects of the TV. One menu is for sound, another menu is for the color and contrast settings, another is for the brightness settings of the bulbs that power the tv. Each menu is incredibly user friendly, which is something that most menu's these days are not. The remote control is also very easy to navigate around as well. All the buttons are in easy reach. The remote is not a universal remote which is a little odd seeing as most remotes that come with electronics these days are but this does not take anything away from the remote itself.

Overall this television is utterly amazing. I give a lot of kudos to Westinghouse, they ventured into new territory in entering the LCD market and they have made a winner in this particular set. This Tv's only major downside is that it only has one HDMI port. With so many electronic devices relying on HDMI connections nowadays one is not enough. You could always buy a HDMI selector though to get around this problem. For the price paid, i absolutely cannot complain one little bit about this set! It brings a huge grin to my face every time i sit down to watch it!

Recommended:
Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 999