LeMieux wrote:Seriously, who that could afford this TV would not have cable or DirectTV?

(raises hand) Me.

Not everyone who CAN afford to pay $50+/ month for TV, WANTS to.

All that happens when I get to a place with cable is it takes me a lot longer to flip through all the channels and realize there's nothing worth watching. For zero value, I want to pay zero dollars.

Still, I DID get a Tivo HD for the few shows that I do want to see: Heroes, Lost, The Unit.

So I'm thinking about this deal, really thinking. I almost paid this much for a 32" open box unit a little while ago.

I'm in the market for a HDTV, but not a Westinghouse! Reviews on Westinghouse in general are so terrible. It's pretty much 50% of consumers have decent things to say, while the other 50% say they've had terrible experiences, and AWFUL customer service, especially if your warranty is up. A 1080p 37" LCD for $575 is definitely a good deal, but I'd rather a Samsung, Phillips, Sharp, etc. I'd rather a name brand 40-42" 720p LCD than a 1080p Westinghouse piece of junk. And I know if you shop around there are some amazing deals out there. I wouldn't recommend this TV to anyone...I don't like hearing about people having bad experiences, and then they blame woot, and I like woot.

Clearly, I'm gonna pass on this TV. Bring on the name brands!

I've no clue why SOOO many people are complaining about the lack of a built-in tuner. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that at least a majority of people these days are now using a digital cable box or directv or some other satellite source. Soo, the lack of a built-in tuner does nothing, except shave a little cost off the tv.

Interesting, yes, but a killer deal? No. Our local Costco has a 42" 1080p LCD HDTV from Westinghouse for $699, which strikes me as a much better deal.

Alfred Poor
HDTV Almanac

[quote postid="2634878" user="zain"]Who cares that there's no tuner? I already have HD programming with Dish Network and I'm totally fine paying five bucks a month more to get my local channels in HD. It's a lot better than the flaky reception you get from bunny ears.

Think twice about this, and talk to people who happen to be serviced via LIN Corp for local channels. For instance Buffalo, NY no longer has CBS local stations due to the fact that LIN and Time-Warner can't agree on a contact. Without a tuner you can't use rabbit ears and pick-up over the air channels. Don't buy it for a TV with or without cable/sat.

bayareaevo, check the model number, if you have a digital or satellite box you can still hook it up to cable. Just use the red white yellow connects from cable box to monitor.
We have a 22 inch Westinghouse been very happy with it's performance.
I also have a 32 inch Toshiba that does not have coaxial cable but it works just fine with the cable box.
If i had to make the decision again i would spend more for that connection.
The only time the tv did not work was after power was lost due to Ike and when cable was out. But i could also hook the Toshiba to the vcr and use the vcr for over the air viewing and could hook up an antenna to the vcr.

Too wide a box for a 37" to fit in my Entertainemnt center. Besides, my old 600x800 Gateway Destination 36" CRT is doing just fine with my new Woot -off HP S3320F!

I have owned this TV/Monitor for two years now.

The fact that it doesnt have an internal tuner is not worrisome for me, because our cable company sticks you with a digital box anyway, as do most. The picture quality is excellent and is truly a steal at this price. I bought mine for just under a grand 2 years ago.

susiel wrote:bayareaevo,
If i had to make the decision again i would spend more for that connection.
The only time the tv did not work was after power was lost due to Ike and when cable was out. But i could also hook the Toshiba to the vcr and use the vcr for over the air viewing and could hook up an antenna to the vcr.

But this will only work until early next year. You will then need the converter box to the VCR to get a signal that can be seen.

Hexydes wrote:Oooohhhh...didn't catch that. Total deal-breaker. Over-the-air HD is just too nice to not have a tuner on the TV for. What a stupid decision, what do tuners cost, like $7 (for the manufacturer to put in the TV)? This will kill the deal for a lot of people. This is basically a computer monitor at this point (and if used as such, still not a bad deal), and most people don't need a 37" monitor for their computers (I have a 32" for editing HD video and it is perfect). I guess this could be good for a HTPC but...I mean, if you're going to have a TV, it should at least get OTA signals.

People still get OTA signals? I thought this was 2008 and everyone had cable or satellite by now?

dysfunction26 wrote:People still get OTA signals? I thought this was 2008 and everyone had cable or satellite by now?

That may be changing, what with the financial problems taking place. I bet a lot of people will drop their cable/sat. Besides OTA is still mainstream if even by a small margin.

dysfunction26 wrote:People still get OTA signals? I thought this was 2008 and everyone had cable or satellite by now?

It's 2008 and DIsh still broadcasts locals in SD in my area.

I can connect my rabbit ears through my sat receiver, but I get a stronger, more reliable signal if I connect the antenna directly to my TV.

It's a deal breaker for some of us.

bradw76 wrote:(raises hand) Me.

Not everyone who CAN afford to pay $50+/ month for TV, WANTS to.

All that happens when I get to a place with cable is it takes me a lot longer to flip through all the channels and realize there's nothing worth watching. For zero value, I want to pay zero dollars.

Agreed! to me its like throwing money in the garbage disposal

thech33se wrote:If I wanted to get standard TV to work on this thing could I just use an old VCR recorder (with s-video out) and plug the S-Video output into this TV, right?

Also, same question again, except this time with a DVD recorder with a NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuner and using the HDMI output in to this TV?

Just a thought, If you have a 1080p TV and are using S-Video out,... you don't need 1080p.

I bought the 46inch Westinghouse 720P for $880 last month from buy.com/slick deals. It was brand new. Honestly, i cant really complain since it is so cheap (and 1080p/720p you can hardly tell the difference)... but it is really not the best quality. Sports games are decent, regular programs and movies are perfect, but fine graphics... like the VP debate with Sarah Palin's hair.... it was bugging out and the picture looked horrible on the HD format. We had to switch it to the regular channel (non-HD) and it was fine. Just wanted to give my input on Westinghouses. I think you get what you pay for. My friend's samsung and LG screens are much better in comparison.

Hi All,

Just a casual Wooter, here.

Lots of info on this monitor here at [H]ardforum (a little TOO much at 311 pages)

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1088497

They started discussion with the original version but many (myself included) have the newer "se" version.

It should be emphasized that this is really a monitor and not a TV per se as many have noted that there is no tuner. Lots of inputs, though.

Pros:
FANTASTIC computer monitor! Great for games. Set your video card for 1920x1080 which is a not-so-demanding resolution setting for modern cards and it gives a GARGANTUAN beautiful picture for gaming or whatnot (HalfLife 2 was gorgeous). Lots of real estate to work with, also. I can look at 2 pdf pages at a time side by side and read them perfectly. Any other computer monitor of this size will have a native resolution that is just too high for a video card to deal with when it comes to gaming. Plus they would cost you an arm and a leg.

Cons:
Questionable quality control. Some have reported DOA units.
Westinghouse is supposedly horrible when it comes to customer service regarding any defects.
Some units (including my own) are slightly brighter on the right half of the screen but I can live with that.

Much of the problems came from the EDID compatibility issues that are resolved in this batch of monitors according to the Woot comment. I think there was a compatibility issue with PS3 early on but I believe this has been resolved but I am not sure.

Can't comment on watching TV or HDTV as i never did this on this monitor. I use it purely as a computer monitor. I have watched DVD (standard) movies through my computer and they looked just fine. I have read that HD content is visually great but standard def TV is just fair. It probably just has to do with the quality of the source.

I got lucky with my unit (from Costco online) which had no major problems including no dead pixels. But UPS really did not take much care with delivery. Parts of the box had lots of holes and it looks like it had been dropped several times. Luckily, the monitor itself was unscathed.

If I had a larger home (I live in an apartment right now) I would jump at buying another. These really make great monitors. Just don't have the room for another right now.

Good luck!

Have any of you used 'Square Trade' warranty? How do you like it?

In for one. I had been looking at this on newegg for the past couple of weeks, and it's 699 there. Perfect timing woot! I'll be hooking it up to my Mythbuntu box. HDTV here i come!

In for one. I had two westinghouses before I lost both in my divorce, and I was happy with them for 2 years. That's 4 months longer than my harpy of a wife.

my girlfriend is a student so her dorm only has a coaxial cable connection.
the no hd tuner doesn't seem like a problem because a lot of people have cable set top boxes. she doesn't even care about the hd channels anyways. the 1080p will be great for later down the road when she moves out and needs to order cable services...

but for her to watch regular channels, this tv will not work right?

woochangclan wrote:my girlfriend is a student so her dorm only has a coaxial cable connection.
the no hd tuner doesn't seem like a problem because a lot of people have cable set top boxes. she doesn't even care about the hd channels anyways. the 1080p will be great for later down the road when she moves out and needs to order cable services...

but for her to watch regular channels, this tv will not work right?

Understand, this is not a TV! It's a monitor that can except digital and HD input if, IF a broadcast signal can be fed into it from a scource such as converter box and antenna, cable or sat signal.

C.o st .co.com has the 42 inch one for 130 more, comes with double warranty through them , and the TV doesn't have to suffer shipping slam n bam treatment. If it was 450 i'd bite.

Any of you experts know which Converter box is best to get with my Govt. Coupons. Right now, I'll be using them in the Kids room and Kitchen where I don't have Satellite. I would like to use them to drive a monitor like this Westinghouse as well. Do all of them output HD signals as well or are they strictly converters?

I have two Westnghouses and one of them is this very monitor. I was skeptical at first about buying Westinghouse because of the price.

I use it as a tv in my bedroom and I have no complaints. The price is great, the HD picture is very good and I've not had any problems with it. I bought it two years ago. It was a great buy then and a great buy now.

I recently wooted the 65 " Olevia and had it mounted on my wall this weekend. I am blown away by that tv, especially for the price. I think the picture quality is amazing. The Westinghouse is not quite as good, but don't get me wrong, it's a great picture and the HD is good quality. I think, for the price, this is a great bargain and you won't regret it.

Love this TV. Quality is great for HD and Standard Def Content. No tuner, no problem if you have cable directv or tivo. I use a dvdr with built in HD tuner and it works great. Hands down the best bang for the buck. This is the best of the "cheep" lcd tvs. I researched about 20 different tvs with same specs but this was the one that got me up at 2AM for the day after Thanksgiving sale. I had to shove somone into a popcorn display but I got the only one the store had and now it's all mine! P.S. 2 years ago I paid $800 for it on a BLACK FRIDAY deal at Shopko. Under $600 is a steal.

you really cant get much cheaper than this, for a full size flat panel tv.

does this product offer a picture in picture feature option?

YES, it has PIP

Please people, this is NOT A TV!!!!

It can be used as a TV with additional items and expense be it converter box/ant and/or cable-sat.

Those that are uninformed or confused will buy this with expectations and be disappointed.

is it only me or does that person holding the flowers have manly arms

This new one only has one DVI port. That's all I notice ATM

YourMomWooTs wrote:is it only me or does that person holding the flowers have manly arms

I only see two. But of course I'm off my meds!

HyperX wrote:Have any of you used 'Square Trade' warranty? How do you like it?

we have square trade on a 22" 1080p samsung- $39 for 3 yrs, seems like a good deal.
if you go with them be ready for a lot of mail- they want to warrant everything from your freezer to your d/w. they have nice refrigerator magnets though. -ken

Using this monitor (well, the non SE model) right now. It's awesome as a computer/games monitor, but no, it doesn't have a tuner for cable / ota. I never plan on using either, so this is fine

Great price on the TV, and I have heard nothing but good things on these tv's, but 1,000:1 contrast ratio is not very good, but I do not know what standards Westinghouse uses to measure their ratios. Also, they have always gotten very good reviews in the Consumer Review.

1080p for 574.99. WOOT I got one. Who needs a tuner anyway. This is going to work great for my bluray movies played on my ps3 and my media center computer.

Test437 wrote:Great price on the TV, and I have heard nothing but good things on these tv's, but 1,000:1 contrast ratio is not very good, but I do not know what standards Westinghouse uses to measure their ratios. Also, they have always gotten very good reviews in the Consumer Review.

Westinghouse 37” 1080p HDTV Ready LCD MONITOR not TV

Dutchhater wrote:Buy a $5 DVI to HDMI adaptor and you'll have two HDMI ports. Use the component inputs for HD too, HDMI isnt your only option.

Use the claw hammer to smash your 360 then plug in the PS3 and everything will work fine. Or get you a hdmi multi switch with 4 ports and you will have room to add 2 more hdmi devices.

This is a sweet hdmi input. Automatically identifies input. So plug your PS3 in to HDMI and you get sound and 1080p video. Of course your if you want good sound you have to plug the optical cable into your surround system.

For those of you that are complaining about the lack of a tuner!

Forget about the tuner... If you still live the 50's and need a TV with a tuner then this is probably not the TV for you anyway. If you really need a 480i tuner then go to the goodwill and get a vcr for 5 bucks and plug your rabit ears into that, then output from the vcr to the tv.

protozoider wrote:Looks like we need some tech input here. First off, this is not a good computer monitor and definitely a really bad computer gaming monitor. It has very low contrast ratios and 8ms response time. That means ghosting and lag.

If you compare this HDTV to, say, a $900 samsung you will be horribly disappointed. The picture quality difference is bigger than most people realize. Remember you pay for what you get and Westinghouse is a much lower end product. If this is all you can afford then this is a great HDTV solution. However if you can afford to wait a little longer and buy a good samsung, do it. A typical samsung display has 30,000-50,000:1 contrast ratios and 4-5ms response. Compare that to 8ms and 1,000:1. The colors won't be as bright and vivid, the picture won't be as clear or sharp, and you won't see as much of the screen or as true of color as you would a new name brand LCD.

I'm sure people are happy with this HDTV, but if you are thinking twice I suggest going with something better if you can.

I wouldn't trust a manufacturer that claimed 50,000:1 contrast ratio. That's gaming the numbers and very much NOT what would be experienced in real life. Under normal conditions you likely wouldn't notice a difference between 500:1 or anything higher. A very informative article on contrast ratio can be found at Practical-Home-Theater-Guide.com.

I'm seriously considering this TV.

fericko7 wrote:Can anybody tell me if i can use it for xbox 360? and if i can just hook it up to my comcast cable and enjoy tv?

Some of these have problems with 360s and PS3s. Do a google search for the model number and 360 or read the reviews at newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16889234025