[mvkats900]

I'm looking at getting a westinghouse 37 1080p tv. Heard lots of good things about the price. I am heading out of the country, and I am either looking at buying one now or when I get back. Cheapest price I found on the web is 1000 shipped at techonweb.com. I have also found someone selling one locally that they bought a month ago, but say its too big for their desk. I can probably get it for 800 from them.
My question is: do you think I should go for that deal now or wait until I get back and are if prices have gone down. I don't particularly need the set now, but it seems like a pretty good deal.
What would you do in my position?

Any help is appreciated
Thanks,
Brandon

[starman]

The problem with HDTVs is that the prices are dropping like a stone. I still think that's a good deal. Think about it - that TV would have cost you at least 2x that much a year ago. If you keep waiting you'll never buy anything.

[goMac]

Westinghouse is coming out with it's new TX series in May. They are basically an updated version of the LVM-W3 that you are looking at, except they have 4 HDMI inputs, and a tuner. If you need the additional connectors, wait.

With regard to price, now isn't a bad time. HD TV prices are currently at a low. CES just ended and everyone announced new HDTV's. The current modals are on the way out, so they're going to be on clearance.

I don't think we're going to see a sudden drop in HDTV prices, maybe in retail. But online prices are always pretty low. I doubt we're going to see huge price drops on HDTV's like the Westinghouse.

[EmmEff]

Wait for a 120Hz model... supposedly a much better picture according to those reporting on them at CES in January.

[centerchannel68]

Just get it when you get back dude. If you're going to leave the country it's money you can spend on your trip. Buy one later when you get back, where you don't have to worry about moving or something right away.

[Visnaut]

I agree with Rob, if it's not an urgency, it can always wait for bigger/better to come along, or for that model to go down in price.

But the model you're looking at for $800 is an awesome deal. And the Westinghouse TX series is going to be a lot more expensive than their current lineup of 1080p sets, at least when they launch.

[- - e r i k - -]

Rob is the voice of reason? What's next? Cats and dogs living together?

[UNTeMac]

Wow, a 1080p set for under $1000...nice find.

[PBG4 User]

I briefly owned this monitor at the end of '05. The refresh rate was nowhere near the specs and any image that wasn't static was blurred due to the slow refresh rate. I returned it after one day because the picture quality was that of paint smearing. Also, on light screens the vertical support beams behind the LCD were clearly visible, dividing the picture into 3rds.

Hopefully the model you're looking at (and the even newer models) are of better quality but I wouldn't buy this monitor without seeing it in person. Wherever you buy your HDTV, make sure they have a good return policy in case you don't like it. You're not going to get a true feel for your new display until you've had it in your house and calibrated the display to your room's lighting.

[Mrjinglesusa]

^^^ In other words, there is a reason it is so cheap.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by PBG4 User 

I briefly owned this monitor at the end of '05. The refresh rate was nowhere near the specs and any image that wasn't static was blurred due to the slow refresh rate. I returned it after one day because the picture quality was that of paint smearing. Also, on light screens the vertical support beams behind the LCD were clearly visible, dividing the picture into 3rds.

Hopefully the model you're looking at (and the even newer models) are of better quality but I wouldn't buy this monitor without seeing it in person. Wherever you buy your HDTV, make sure they have a good return policy in case you don't like it. You're not going to get a true feel for your new display until you've had it in your house and calibrated the display to your room's lighting.

Honestly, I haven't seen these issues with the Westinghouses in this series. They do have minor tearing issues from what I've seen, and the black levels aren't great, but they certainly aren't that bad. While it's a budget display, it's not really a broken display. A lot of people own them and are content with them. It's possible you could have bought a bad one, or you could have picked up the earlier one in the series, the LVM-37W1, which imho, is a pretty awful display by todays standards.

[PBG4 User]

Well like I said, I bought mine at the end of '05 (over a year ago). At that time, this monitor went for over $1700 but was still a steal for 1080p. There was only one left at the store I was at so I didn't have another Westinghouse for comparison purposes. Still, the problems I had with my display were also being had by other posters over at avsforums so I wasn't the only one noticing these issues.

This monitor certainly could be of a higher standard today, but I wanted to point out what went wrong with the model I had.

[Gossamer]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

Rob is the voice of reason? What's next? Cats and dogs living together?

[goMac]

Originally Posted by PBG4 User 

Well like I said, I bought mine at the end of '05 (over a year ago). At that time, this monitor went for over $1700 but was still a steal for 1080p. There was only one left at the store I was at so I didn't have another Westinghouse for comparison purposes. Still, the problems I had with my display were also being had by other posters over at avsforums so I wasn't the only one noticing these issues.

This monitor certainly could be of a higher standard today, but I wanted to point out what went wrong with the model I had.

You probably had the w1 then. Light grey case. The w3 specs say it came out in 2006. The w3 has a dark grey case.