Westinghouse 42" 1080P TV at Costco BM $699

That is what I am counting on. As a newb HDTV buyer and a newb LCD-TV buyer this critter was a big leap for me. The Costco free extended warrenty and the 90 return policy made is what clinched the deal.

Too bad it doesn't have PIP, but none of my other TVs do, either.

evilwon said: pdiggity said: lzpoof said: ebet said: 2000:1 Contrast Ratio...... I'll Pass


well, first off you do't even know if that's native or dynamic. If it were native then it would be a very good number. It's a little confusing there cause some previous westinghouse models had 1000:1 native ratio and the TX series had 1000:1 native/4000:1 dynamic. I'd guess it's dynamic but then why wouldn't westinghouse just artifically boost the dynamic numbers like they (and all the other companies) did on their other models?

To say 'I'll pass' without even clarifying that is really ignorant.

And as far as the number, compared to the budget line TV's you really won't notice much difference. Heck I turn my dynamic either low or off on my samsung A630 and I would if I had a budget one too..... I hate the screen constantly brightening and dimming. So if 2 budget TV's both had 1000:1 native contrast but one had a huge dynamic contrast I'd probably never see the difference anyway nor would a majority of buyers.

ALSO, please show me another 42" 1920X1080 PC monitor for $700 ? I'm sure there's going to be a lot of buyers that want it specifically for computer usage even a 1000:1 native contrast would beat most PC monitors.

I'd agree - It's going to take a while to bring up the native contrast on LCD's , the technology is almost there but not quite affordable yet. Dynamic contrast really does help from what I've seen - I have a 22" LCD with 1000:1 native, but 4000:1 dynamic, and it's an impressive improvement especially in games. For most people lower contrast ratios aren't an issue with a computer monitor, but more so with a TV that used mainly for TV and movies -- 42" on your office's computer desk is a bit ridiculous I think , but maybe for a nice HTPC setup. Good price though.

You're missing the point. You can spend far more than this on a lot smaller "computer" monitor. Give me this for this price or (maybe) a Samsung 26" "computer" monitor for a little less...I'd take this.

One last thing, while you may think it is too big, plenty of others do not. You opinion on what is too big/small is not relevant to the topic. Personally, if I was still in my gaming hayday, I'd love to be playing some TF2 on a 42" monitor mounted on my wall.

Great price...wifey would kill me if I came home with another TV/monitor though...Unless you have your office's computer desk mounted on the wall, you're missing the point!

I have a 47'' and i am so happy with it. I dont need another 1. but for 699 i am thinkingggggggggg......

i was just worried that perhaps it wouldnt support a good enough res in pc computing. can you connect HDMI port to the pc?

might have to go check this out but concerned about hte lack of hdmi connections.

Is $699 the normal price on this tv, or is this a sale price?

its your vga card. that or neuter the id pins on the vga card and manually select the resolution.

when my 8600GT (it was new back then) nvidia released a bad driver that didn't do the right resolutions. a few days later they fixed it but during that time i couldn't do 1920x1080 without pulling the pins out that are used to (basically) pnp the display to the o/s.

rigor said: its your vga card. that or neuter the id pins on the vga card and manually select the resolution.

when my 8600GT (it was new back then) nvidia released a bad driver that didn't do the right resolutions. a few days later they fixed it but during that time i couldn't do 1920x1080 without pulling the pins out that are used to (basically) pnp the display to the o/s.

I have a Radeon 9600, are you saying the drivers are bad or that I need to get a new video card? I tried two different drivers. The original one and the most recent release.

With regard to the computer input, I have my Compaq F730US laptop plugged into the Westy right now. Comes up as 1920 x 1080 and works great. Just watched a Little Brittain episode via Netflix on demand.

jonrule said: evilwon said: pdiggity said: lzpoof said: ebet said: 2000:1 Contrast Ratio...... I'll Pass


well, first off you do't even know if that's native or dynamic. If it were native then it would be a very good number. It's a little confusing there cause some previous westinghouse models had 1000:1 native ratio and the TX series had 1000:1 native/4000:1 dynamic. I'd guess it's dynamic but then why wouldn't westinghouse just artifically boost the dynamic numbers like they (and all the other companies) did on their other models?

To say 'I'll pass' without even clarifying that is really ignorant.

And as far as the number, compared to the budget line TV's you really won't notice much difference. Heck I turn my dynamic either low or off on my samsung A630 and I would if I had a budget one too..... I hate the screen constantly brightening and dimming. So if 2 budget TV's both had 1000:1 native contrast but one had a huge dynamic contrast I'd probably never see the difference anyway nor would a majority of buyers.

ALSO, please show me another 42" 1920X1080 PC monitor for $700 ? I'm sure there's going to be a lot of buyers that want it specifically for computer usage even a 1000:1 native contrast would beat most PC monitors.

I'd agree - It's going to take a while to bring up the native contrast on LCD's , the technology is almost there but not quite affordable yet. Dynamic contrast really does help from what I've seen - I have a 22" LCD with 1000:1 native, but 4000:1 dynamic, and it's an impressive improvement especially in games. For most people lower contrast ratios aren't an issue with a computer monitor, but more so with a TV that used mainly for TV and movies -- 42" on your office's computer desk is a bit ridiculous I think , but maybe for a nice HTPC setup. Good price though.

You're missing the point. You can spend far more than this on a lot smaller "computer" monitor. Give me this for this price or (maybe) a Samsung 26" "computer" monitor for a little less...I'd take this.

One last thing, while you may think it is too big, plenty of others do not. You opinion on what is too big/small is not relevant to the topic. Personally, if I was still in my gaming hayday, I'd love to be playing some TF2 on a 42" monitor mounted on my wall.

Great price...wifey would kill me if I came home with another TV/monitor though...Unless you have your office's computer desk mounted on the wall, you're missing the point!

$699 for this or $699 on a 25-27" monitor. Don't think I'm missing the point...unless there is a huge premium on space, bigger is better and this has more functionality. Ridiculous is what was said...which it is not if it is a similar price point AND it has more functionality to boot. It does not have to be mounted on a wall to enjoy it....it would fit on my desk just fine.

I'm waiting for my local costco to get it in stock. You could easily mount this on a wall as a tv/monitor, hooked up to a computer. With a wireless keyboard and mouse, you could just put a desk across the room.

Hello all, I just signed up to say thanks to the OP for the headsup. This unit came in $1 under my buy trigger for 1080p 42", and while Westinghouse can be an iffy brand, my 24" Westy MVA monitor has performed well, with identical PQ to the 24" Viewsonic next to it that retailed about $200 more. That Costco is the retailer sealed the deal. I'm typing this on my laptop, which is hooked up to the VGA "PC" input.

I couldn't find the Agoura Hills Costco, so I went to the Westlake Village one instead I got there just before closing, and as of right now there are two boxes plus the demo unit (I don't know whether one of those boxes is the empty one for the demo screen).

joh3004 said: But I have been having trouble using it as a monitor. When I connect it via the vga port it only gives me a resolution of 1280 x 1024 which uses only part of the screen (the sides are black). I can force it to change to 1280 x 768 and use the entire screen, but every time I switch back and forth from tv mode to pc mode i have to readjust the settings (the desktop is not centered). When I try to force it to do 1920 x 1080 (1080p) it stays at 1280x1024, but just zooms in on the desktop so the entire desktop is not shown.

I ran into that trying to use the TV as a second screen on my Shuttle box via analog VGA, alongside the main screen on DVI. Instead of showing two screens as I'd expect, the video card insisted on treating both screens as a single monitor, which in this case meant two 1280x1024 units (which is correct for the regular monitor, but not the TV). The video card is an older BFG 6800GT card, and it's been a long time since I updated the drivers, so that might be it. I hope this doesn't happen with my main work machine, which I use for editing video.

I have not yet tested the DVI-HDMI pathway, or any non-PC sources. That comes next.

OK, I just hooked up the Shuttle box with DVI-HDMI, and found a few odd things for those of you thinking of using this as a monitor.

First, SHUT OFF CLEARTYPE. This TV doesn't use the common RGB vertical-bar arrangement of color subpixels. What exactly is going on, I don't know, but Cleartype makes edges look fuzzy and odd-colored on this screen.

As to what sort of pattern this has, I can't say. It uses some kind of system where half of the pixels shut off sooner than the other half as the picture darkens from white. By the midtones, the pixels present a kind of pattern which reminds me of the old tri-dot look of shadow mask CRT's. I've seen that effect in a few other LCD screens, but it's not common.

This means nothing for video -- the standard-def stuff I just ran from this box looked fine. But for computer use, it causes some odd artifacts -- the pure blue and red text on the FW front page looks as though the blue/red is one pixel to the right of the other color data, resulting in some apparent black pixels where I wouldn't expect any. I don't see any such offsetting anywhere else, though.

I can also say that while I haven't found anything about 1:1 pixel mapping in the menus, the "Screen size= standard" setting under "TV" works fine for both VGA and DVI-HDMI.

Color-wise, the unit is on the cool (bluish) side compared to my 24" monitors.

Good link on contrast ratio's.
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/29651

joh3004 said: SpacemanVT said: i was just worried that perhaps it wouldnt support a good enough res in pc computing. can you connect HDMI port to the pc?

might have to go check this out but concerned about the lack of hdmi connections.

I purchased this tv and it has 4 hdmi inputs. It is mislabeled at costco. All vk-42f240s have 4 hdmi inputs.

But I have been having trouble using it as a monitor. When I connect it via the vga port it only gives me a resolution of 1280 x 1024 which uses only part of the screen (the sides are black). I can force it to change to 1280 x 768 and use the entire screen, but every time I switch back and forth from tv mode to pc mode i have to readjust the settings (the desktop is not centered). When I try to force it to do 1920 x 1080 (1080p) it stays at 1280x1024, but just zooms in on the desktop so the entire desktop is not shown.

Oh, and when I use the hdmi input it doesn't read a signal.

I called Westinghouse and they said it could be a defect in my tv. So, I'm going to try to return my tv for a new one, but has anyone else had trouble using full 1080p resolution with their tvs?

I needed an HDMI to DVI cableto be able to display 1920x1080 on my Sony LCD. The VGA only displayed 1280x1024.

None in Harrisburg, PA

sacramento, ca in stock just picked up one

Picked one up in Los Angeles, Los Feliz Store. Had about 8 in stock.

I think its dead, at least on the website at any rate.

naranja said: Spotted these in Southlake Texas C0stco (Dallas DFW area). They had a big stack of boxes but no display model out yet, probably a good thing because I was able to resist. What I really need is something smaller.

The Lewisville, TX location has 3 left (after I just took one home)...you couldn't see the display model because it was behind the stack of the boxed ones they were selling...

I have the Westy 37" LVM37W3 I bought last year from Newegg for $999 shipped...This monitor has been totally awesome. I have been using this as my main pc monitor, so I am gonna swap it with the new 42" and let wife have the 37" (she has a 22" monitor right now)...hope she doesn't mind...

anyone know where to get DVI->HDMI converters at a B&M?