boostedrs

iTrader: (2)

HDTV gurus please give me some insight on these 2 TV’s and let me know what the better purchase is.

Westinghouse TX-42F430S vs Vizio GV42LFHDTV10A

First off I want a 42” 1080P LCD TV with a decent price tag associated with it. I don’t have the $$$ to throw down 2-3k on a Sony or Samsung so I’m going to go with the value brands… especially because I want to have some money to throw at the car this winter.  But the two TV’s I have looked at is a 42” 1080P Westinghouse TX-42F430S which I can get for 989.00 at Best Buy and I have a 12% coupon so that means I will be getting this TV for $870.32 which seems unbelievably good for this price. The other option is to get a Vizio GV42LFHDTV10A which I can get for $1099.00 at Sears with a $150 rebate so that means it will be about $950.00 so both are pretty good deals from what I see. Both have great prices and pretty good options. Online I have seen both to be similar in reviews but I want to see what everyone thinks if the better purchase… thanks for any help!

dragonrage

Westinghouse is generally regarded as being the best cheap LCD TV. IMO you should spend a bit more and get a Samsung DLP, though.

VIP1

LCD TV is much much better than DLP.
Better color.
More even color.
Much wider viewing angle.
No fast moving parts to wear out or make noise.

I myself have a 42" LG LCD TV.
Its costs more than the units you are looking at though.

Just looking at the specs, the Vizio has a better contrast ratio, but since both TVs were not tested in the same environment with the same equipment, you'll have to take that difference with a grain of salt. I couldn't find the brightness listed for the Westinghouse, but the Vizio is bright. Again, you'll have to take that spec with a grain of salt. The best thing you can do is go and look at both of them yourself in person and play with them to see what the picture is like and if you like the controls and inputs/outputs.

dragonrage

No, DLP is definitely better in colors. It's MUCH better in contrast/black levels. Viewing angle is about the same. LCD has dead/stuck pixels to worry about as well as image persistence (like a temporary form of burn-in that can take days or weeks to go away, honestly pretty rare but it did happen on my Dell 2005FPW monitor) - the (rare) LED backlit LCDs are better than DLP, but DLP also has LED backlit models. I haven't seen the LED backlit DLPs personally, though, so I don't know how they compare. I've seen conflicting reports about them.

Anyway, contrast is the ratio of darkest to brightest area. If a screen is really bright and its contrast is average, its black level and shadow detail will be crap compared to a less bright screen with the same contrast ratio.

Either way, you really should look for yourself.

transambandit

iTrader: (6)

I have the 47" LCD westinghouse and i love it, HD-dvd's and 360 look amazing on them, though for some of the regular cable shows dont look great, just average. But other than that its great.

VIP1

Only if you sit in the perfect position.

Not even close. Have you actually looked at them to compare?

Extremely rare.

I have never experience this, nor have I ever heard of this. I think in your case it may have been an isolated incident.

I know all about that.
I used a Spyder to adjust my LCD, but I didn't like the resulting image as much as the default though and stuck with the default setting. It actually wasn't too different but, but I noticed it. I'll agree that a DLP has better contrast, but a LCD is so much better in other aspects that I can't stand looking at a rear projection TV. Even new ones, if you aren't sitting in the perfect position, the brightness and color saturation are completely wrong.

exactly

dragonrage

My mom has like a Philips 37" LCD TV... wouldn't wish that POS on anyone.

QWIK Z of OP

iTrader: (1)

just get a pioneer and be done with it!

j/k, i would have to say that those 2 tv's are really a toss up, i'm sure with which ever one you decide you will be satisfied. i wouldnt get a dlp, b/c from what i understand they have bulbs in them that have to be replaced once they wear out. just another hassle i dont want to deal with later on down the road. good luck with your choice.

Charlie Hustle

iTrader: (8)

I agree with you 100%. All DLP did was make projection tvs a little bit better, and not nearly as deep. (meaning the actual size of the houseing). If you sit off to the side of a dlp projection screen, it looks like crap.

RedRallyeZ

iTrader: (20)

if it HAS to be between those two tv's, then go westinghouse. I HAAAAATTTTE vizio, they are the biggests POS's ever, i am so glad we dont sell them at my store.

to the O.P-why do you need 1080P? do you have a PS3 or Blu-Ray? or so you just want it becuase its the highest rating out? ive got some info on that so i just wanted to know.

honestly the best deal out there is still plasma. I bought the panasonic 42" and its great. Deep blacks, fast motion, great color. I have a 1080P blu-ray player hooked up and its still great. Its $1150ish at BBY right now. then you get the HD advantage on top of that, so the free stuff adds up.....

~Grey

VIP1

Plasma may be cheaper and have better contrast, but LCD is more durable and the screen is anti-glare. You can't burn a LCD. Although its less common now than it used to be, you can still experience burn-in with plasma (I've seen it more than once).

dragonrage

Yeah, plasma looks good, but if you game or watch much 4:3 stuff, I wouldn't recommend it. It has that uneven wear problem that CRTs have. The most durable technology is DLP followed by LCD.

P.S. FRONT projection for the win!

boostedrs

iTrader: (2)

I want the 1080P because I plan to buy a PS3 and have the Blu-Ray player so I figured I might as well get a 1080P because I won’t be buying another TV for awhile. Also I will be using my TV as a computer monitor at times so the higher the res the better. I just have a price range of about 1200 that I want to spend at most on a TV. Trying to get a few other things done and that’s all the budget will do for now. I think I’m going to go with a Westinghouse from Best Buy and pick it up today. I’m going to go check it out in the store… I wish there was a place that had both of these TV’s side by side but I can’t find any right now.

todddchi

iTrader: (3)

Decent Plasma's have 4:3 scaling that will fill the entire screen with very little noticeable distortion, the Panasonics in particular have a very good algorithm for this. I general I think Plasma's are the way to go if you want to use it as purely a TV. SD is far superior and in similar price ranges the blacks are much better.

LCD's are catching up but premium makes are required to match the contrast levels, and SD still looks terrible. Very clearly though, they have an advantage if you want to use them with a computer or gaming system. In this case I have to give LCD the nod. $1,200 is enough of a budget for a 42" Sharp (good) or a 46-47" lower end make (like Westinghouse or Vizio).

DLP's have always been known for big screen size for the money, but with the drops in both LCD and Plasma that advantage isn't nearly as big as it used to be. They are pretty hard to justify these days unless you want 65"+. The still large cabinent size and viewing angle changes put off a lot of people from them. At 60" or under I just don't think the value is there anymore for them.

dragonrage

Are you talking about warp scaling? I haven't seen that on any TVs, though I would be interested if you know of some. If you're not talking about warping, then I'm going to have to disagree, as linear scaling from 4:3 to 16:9 (or the other way around) is completely unwatchable.

VIP1

That is stretching the image. I'll stick with using the correct original aspect ratio.

You can't burn-in a LCD, but you can burn-in a plasma. I've seen it. Most of what I watch on my LCD is SD and the XD Engine that LG has does a great job of upsampling the image.

RedRallyeZ

iTrader: (20)

that XD engine is awesome, i can sell the heck out of those, especially to straight cable people.

honestly burn-in is greatly exaggerated. yeah plasmas are the ones that are most succeptible, but its not anywhere near what it used to be. I havent had any problems on either of my plasmas and i have a PS3 and a little brother that likes to leave stuff on. if you watching it in a normal time frame even video games wont have a problem, just understand that the first hundredish hours are the worst for image retention. after that it takes a good bit to get an image to stick.

todddchi

iTrader: (3)

It's not that simple, many of the better units have nonlinear scaling that does not scale the center 2/3rds or so of the screen. On Panasonics it is the "justified" mode. It is very watchable, no fathead syndrome at all. I agree that straight stretching of 4:3 to 16:9 does not look good. But this is completely different and many people don't even notice, especially in regular movies/TV. Unfortunately there are different algorithms and some of them are executed very well (Panny) while some can be pretty terrible. I have both a Panasonic plasma and a Vizio LCD, and the Vizio's "panoramic" setting is far inferior, looks like a fisheye perspective and is much more obvious than the Panny's mode.

I recommend that every buyer check out the different aspect adjustments sets offer in both HD and SD settings, because this can make a huge difference in day to day viewing. I think it is very important that the TV have a good nonlinear fill mode for both HD and SD. Not all sets do, especially in the budget range. Even some of the Samsungs (which are generally quite good) completely lack this type of aspect mode. Check out the different settings on a set before you buy.

Yes, it is still possible to burn-in a plasma, which is the reason why I recommended an LCD if the fella wants to use it for lots of gaming and PC use, and might have kids or tend to be careless and leave stuff paused.

I also acknowledged that the premium LCD's (which your LG is) do a better job with SD and blacks, but the SD is still inferior on them, at least for now. LCD's are rapidly catching up in both areas, but again, such models will be quite a bit more costly for a time. Your LG is in a different price range than Westinghouse and Vizio.

02Z28LS1

iTrader: (2)

here's the easy answer....just make sure both stores have an easy return policy. get one and test it out, then if you don't like it, return it and try the other one.

just be sure to do a decent calibration using a calibration DVD (like the Digital Video Essentials DVD, or at the VERY least, use the THX optimizer on any of the Lucasfilm DVD's) before you make your decision. picture quality can improve drastically, even with a simple THX optimizer calibration.

VIP1

Or in my case, not make much of a difference and I preferred the default anyway.
BTW, I used a Spyder which is a separate device with sensors that read the actual picture produced.

Although some TVs are a bit off, and a calibration will help.