Westinghouse LVM-42w2

Summary: As a novice of HD technology, I found this monitor to be the best for the money. After doing over a year of research before I decided to fork over any large sum of cash for a new television/monitor, the Westinghouse LVM-42w2 was exactly what I was looking for. Don't be fooled...this is NOT a TV, for it has no built in TV tuner, but as I was in the market for a "monitor only" HD set, this was perfect! All glorious 42" of this bad boy are sure to make all your friends drool....especially after you tell them how little you paid for it. Best Buy just started to carry this baby for the cool price of $2499.00. That was about $300 less than what the few online retailers are carrying it for. I actually purchased the set from them for about $2100 after discounts that I received at the time of purchase (no rebates).

It has a great picture, compared to a lot (and I do mean a LOT) of other LCD and plasma HD monitors that I looked at. I also shopped around for larger DLP television sets but was still unsatisfied with the overall picture quality and the sheer size of the darn things. Were it not for the dimensions of this set, I could easily handle carrying it anywhere in my house by myself without throwing out my back, as it only weighs around 50-60 lbs.

As for the quality of the picture, at 1920 x 1080p max resolution, you can bet that you are gonna get the sharpest picture out there you can get. The fact that it is also moderately sized (compared to 50-60" sets) the pixels dont seem to jump out and scare you like they do on a lot of the larger sets. One thing I also was VERY pleased about was the fact that there is NO SWEET SPOT! You can view this baby at any angle in the room or from another room and suffer no loss of light in the image! When you see this for yourself you will definitely agree.

As for it not having a tuner for TV built in, this was something that I didn't want to begin with. These days with multiple video inputs, most people really don't use the built in tuner of their TV's anyway. But you do need to at least have a cable box that has component, DVI, or HDMI outputs as this monitor does not have a input for coaxial cable. I am currently using the component output on my cable and get a great picture eventhough my HD cable box has HDMI out on it. I am just not willing to spend the outrageous price for HDMI cables yet.

Playing video games on this set is also a dream for any of the same reasons listed above and for those of you with and Xbox 360, you are doubly in luck because this is one of the few HD sets on the market right now with the built in HDMI input. I have my PS2, Xbox and Gamecube hooked up to it and they all look great (using component cables of course).

One other thing for those of you out there contemplating plasma vs. LCD......screw plasma! Those things are hot hot hot to the touch and consume much more energy than their LCD counterparts. And if you are worried about it not being as bright as a plasma....don't. This set is as bright as it needs to be without burning your retinas and you suffer no loss in picture quality. Quite frankly, I honestly see no difference in the brightness between this particular set and a plasma of the same size.


So overall, after over a year of research I am very happy with my decision to purchase this set over the many other "name" brands out there that cost thousand(s) more. You will be happy too.