Westinghouse TX-47H430S 47" Full HDTV review

Performance
We liked a few important items about the picture quality of the Westinghouse TX-47F430S, including its commendably accurate color and solid video processing. These good points were countered by the set's inability to produce a very deep black, even compared to another budget LCD, and we also had complaints about its less-than-even uniformity and softer standard-definition picture.

As usual during our setup process, we dimmed the display for comfortable viewing in our darkened room, but in this case, we kept the backlight control at 40 percent to achieve a bright-enough picture (40ftl). Unfortunately this also brought up the level of black considerably, but that's the nature of the display. We tweaked the user menu's color temperature controls and were extremely pleased with the results, achieving excellent consistency up and down the grayscale, with only the upper end veering slightly into red. We really appreciated the fine color temperature controls because the default Warm mode, while somewhat close to the 6,500K standard, de-accentuated green significantly, making skin tones appear too ruddy. For our full user-menu settings, click here or check out the Tips & Tricks section above.

For our viewing tests, we compared the Westinghouse side-by-side with the Vizio GV42LF, a competing budget 42-inch LCD, and the Pioneer PRO-FHD1, our reference plasma TV. We chose to watch the Flags of Our Fathers HD DVD, played on a Toshiba HD-XA2 at 1080i resolution.

It became obvious quite quickly that the Westinghouse could not produce as deep a level of black as the other two sets. The letterbox bars above and below the image were visibly lighter, and in dark scenes, such as the shot of the train passing in the night, the black and near-black areas appeared more washed out and less realistic. Shadow detail, such as the folds in Ryan Phillipe's formal black uniform, were a bit harder to discern than on the Vizio, and we thought the TX-47F430 became too bright too quickly in areas that called for a gradual rise from black to shadow. We also noticed that near-black areas were tinged a bit redder than they should have been, an exception to the TX-47F430S' otherwise linear grayscale performance. Finally, the set failed to maintain a consistent black level as other areas of the picture became brighter. In general, the Westinghouse didn't do a very good job of realistically reproducing darker scenes.

With brighter blacks, the saturation of colors suffers too, and for that reason the TX-47F430S didn't appear quite as rich and punchy in colorful scenes such as the Times Square celebration, where the red and blue of the American flags and the red of the chorus girls' dresses seemed a bit duller than on the Vizio. Color accuracy, on the other hand, was excellent, especially in skin tones such as the faces of people applauding in the crowd. The pale skin of the redheaded chorus girl on the far right looked realistically alabaster and not too flush. The Westinghouse's primary colors were close to the HD spec, resulting in accurate reds, greens, and blues, and color decoding was right on.

During setup we noticed that on test patterns, the Westinghouse "clipped" detail in very bright areas (technically, there was no brightness difference between 90 and 100 IRE), and this issue came up a couple of times in the film, as well. One of the teacups on the table in front of the boys at the banquet consisted of an indistinct white mass on the TX-47F430S, while the other displays showed the detail of its rounded side and slight shadow against the saucer. The brightest white of the tabletop looked similarly less detailed, and we expect this issue would be even more obvious in snow scenes or hockey games, for example. This clipping might not be a deal-breaker for most viewers, but almost all displays we've tested can resolve the full range from black to white, whereas the Westinghouse cannot.

The screen uniformity of the TX-47F430S was tolerable but not ideal for a 47-inch LCD. We detected brighter areas in the upper-right and lower-left corners that were clearly visible in dark shots and black letterbox bars. In brighter areas, we noticed that the edges of the screen were slightly brighter than the middle, but thankfully, this effect was quite difficult to detect in normal viewing material. The Westinghouse became a bit more washed out then the Vizio, for example, when seen from the sides or above and below. False contouring, on the other hand, was not a problem with this display.

The Westinghouse showed every line of detail from our Sencore HDTV signal generator's 1080i test pattern, and the set also displayed the 1080p/60 and 1080p/24 test patterns with the same aplomb. (Update 08-21-07) Despite handling the Sencore's 1080p/24 signal, when we hooked up the Samsung BD-P1200 Blu-ray player to test its 1080p/24 output with the Westinghouse, we weren't able to activate it. The option was grayed-out in the Samsung's menu. We expect other 1080p/24 sources will have similar difficulty interfacing with the Westinghouse.

We were also impressed that the TX-47F430S was able to pass both 1080i deinterlacing tests from our HQV test suite HD DVD disc; most displays we've tested fail the test for film-based sources. Despite passing the test pattern, however, we still saw hints of moire; in the seats of the stadium on HQV, and in the tell-tale RV grille from the end of Chapter 6 of the Ghost Rider Blu-ray disc, although both looked cleaner than on the Vizio. When we returned our player to 1080p output mode, those difficult areas looked much better, so we still recommend going 1080p when you can.

With standard-definition sources, according to our tests using the HQV disc on DVD, the Westinghouse TX-47F430S turned in a below-average performance. While it did pass every line of resolution from the DVD format, the details in the stone bridge and grass looked significantly softer than we'd like to see; the Vizio was noticeably sharper on this scene. We also would have appreciated some kind of noise-reduction control, as the disc's scenes of sky and sunset appeared rife with moving motes. We did appreciate that the set properly introduced 2:3 pull-down detection, but that's about the only good point in its standard-def performance.

We were duly impressed by the TX-47F430S's performance with PC sources at 1,920x1,080 resolution, as long as they went in via an HDMI input from our PC's DVI output. The set resolved every line according to DisplayMate, text looked good, and there was no overscan. Going in via analog RGB, however, was a bit more difficult. Our late-model GeForce 8600 GTS video card, although it was successful in identifying the Westinghouse, did not allow us to select a full-screen resolution higher than 1,280x1,024, which, as expected, looked pretty soft on the 1080p display. (Update 08-21-07) We tested a couple more cards since this review was first published, and they were successful in detetcting the Westinghouse and sending it a 1920x1080 signal. The set resolved every line of resolution, but we saw some flicker in some backgrounds and interference in the highest-resolution areas, so we still recommend going in digitally if possible.

Juice box

Westinghouse TX-47F430S	Picture settings
	Default	Calibrated	Power Save
Picture on (watts)	278.86	169.92	278.86
Picture on (watts/sq. inch)	0.3	0.18	0.3
Standby (watts)	40.19	0.72	0.72
Cost per year	$109.99	$52.04	$85.12
Score (considering size)	Average
Score (overall)	Poor