Sub $2k 1080p set reviewed by PC Mag

By Kevin C. Tofel

Any long-time readers can probably guess that this is the Westinghouse 37-inch LCD set based on this price. Several folks have commented that they have this set and absolutely love it for the digital picture quality and the value. The LVM-37w1 from Westinghouse
can be had for as little as $1,650 based on a recent advertisement I
saw in my local Sunday paper. So what do you get for under two-grand?

  • Native resolution of 1920 x 1080
  • 1000 : 1 contrast ratio
  • 12 ms response time (could be an issue for gaming)
  • VGA input for computer use
  • 2 DVI inputs and an S-Video input

Sounds great and like I mentioned, we have several readers that love this set. The real question is: what did PC Magazine think? More after the jump.
   

PC Mag tended to agree
with our readers that own this set; except for a few issues, the set got a solid 3.5 out of 5 rating. Some of the issues may not concern you; it all depends on how you plan to use the set.

Like many digital sets, the analog quality was less than stellar. I
don't see this as huge issue personally, as I watch most of my television OTA via a digital signal anyway. My satellite signal is digital also, but gets very fuzzy on a digital set. The other big negative (and this one surprised me) was the quality of DVD playback on this screen. DVDs are 480p resolution, so perhaps this doesn't translate well to the 1080p display. The other possibility is a poor quality DVD player or cabling.

I know there's a few of you out there that own the "Westy" as you affectionately call it. Read the review and let us know if you think PC
Magazine is off-base if you own this set. It's always great to get review feedback from folks that actually use the product on a daily basis!

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