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Best Budget TV Manufacturer

Vizio > Olevia > Sceptre > Other > Westinghouse

My dad has a Vizio and the picture is amazing. The HD picture is a little nicer than my Olevia but my Olevia has a better scaler so SD looks better with mine. Avoid Westinghouse. They look like crap.
 
westinghouse PQ looks amazing depending on what signal your feeding it.


i LOVE it connected to my HTPC. analog inputs are pretty shoddy though...
 
I was at Today and they had an Olevia and a Westy side by side. The Westy had the better PQ, although I'm sure the Olevia can be much better if adjusted correctly. Do any B&M stores carry Vizios, because I am leery of spending close to a grand on something I have never seen before.
 
I have no experience with Olevia so I cant say much.

However I have the 47in 1080p Vizio and it has an amazing picture IMO. My dad even commented he thought it was better for HD than his Pioneer Plasma (50in 720P). My friend saw mine and got a 32in 720p model and he loves the thing just as much as me. So I have to say I do like Vizio alot, and the 2 year warranty from costco is a nice bonus.

Westinghouse I have heard good things about, great things about, and bad things about. Their 1080p monitors are nice, but they have histories of issues, from breaking lamps to Green crush and other problems. Overall though I would still recommend the brand, especially the 37in 1080p from costco. I had another friend who got a 32in 720p and loves the thing.

Sceptre - I had the 42in 1080p and it was a POS. Took me forever to get the adjustments to look normal accross multiple channels, and even then I was consistently playing with buttons because it looked a bit off. Also no 1080p over component which my Vizio does (course this isnt a standard spec for component so not their fault) My biggest issue with them is the lack of consistency. They constantly revise their product quietly and customer support doesnt know squat. For example the 42 media box had 1 HDMI, then 2, then 1 again, then 1 and 1 dvi, then 2 HDMI and 1 DVI, and all the different revisions fixed some issues and brought new ones. Their products almost seemed like a consumer beta test. Also the built in digital tuner took ages to work compared to my vizio.

So Overall I would say Vizio > Westinghouse >>>> Sceptre.
 
I've had my Olevia for about six months now with no complaints. Most friends with more expensive TV's whine that they're picture isn't justifying the extra cost (if its better... CALIBRATE!) Just make sure you properly calibrate and feed a good source. Don't skimp at the little things (and no, that doesn't mean buy monster cables)
 
Originally posted by: Shawn
Vizio > Olevia > Sceptre > Other > Westinghouse

My dad has a Vizio and the picture is amazing. The HD picture is a little nicer than my Olevia but my Olevia has a better scaler so SD looks better with mine. Avoid Westinghouse. They look like crap.
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don't listen to him. i have 2 westys (37 and 42) and for the price you cannot get any better. Also have 32" olevia and its pretty good (cheaper than westy)
 
I'm really tempted to order that 37" Westy from Costco, roughly $950 after tax, shipping, and membership.

Edit:

So I didn't realize that you can buy w/o a membership (5% surcharge), so you can get away with a $40 surcharge as opposed to a $50 membership. My total would be $950.73
 
Originally posted by: krotchy
So I have to say I do like Vizio alot, and the 2 year warranty from costco is a nice bonus.
Click to expand...
What's the deal with that? If you buy it through Costco, you get a 2 year warranty with in-store exchange?

What model # Vizio do you have, how long have you had it, and how much did you pay? Thanks! 🙂
 
Originally posted by: ric1287
don't listen to him. i have 2 westys (37 and 42) and for the price you cannot get any better. Also have 32" olevia and its pretty good (cheaper than westy)
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I brought home a Westy 27 cheapie. Just something for the bedroom. I bought in a rush, spur of the moment thing. When I came to my senses, I bought and returned a few of the same size and price range. The Olevia was it's twin after adjusting some settings. However, the side speakers were downright ugly, and the menu was horrible.
The Westy has a clean, minimalist, design. I ended up keeping it. 7 months later, and I still love it.
--edit--My local cc almost banned me. Surprisingly, I was unaware of the 15-20 restocking fee they could have enforced. They didn't try after making it clear they were upset for returning a few tv sets.
 
From what I gather the biggest shortcoming of the Westy is that it has poorer Image Processing than some of the more expensive sets. If you can give the thing a 1080p signal you should be pretty good. The downside is that obviously there aren't may devices that give 1080p output yet but they should become more commonplace in the future.
 
Originally posted by: BlameCanada
From what I gather the biggest shortcoming of the Westy is that it has poorer Image Processing than some of the more expensive sets. If you can give the thing a 1080p signal you should be pretty good. The downside is that obviously there aren't may devices that give 1080p output yet but they should become more commonplace in the future.
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Well, yeah. Can't compare a $700 set vs. a high end Sony or Samsung.
 
I would imagine that it really depends on the particular model rather than the brand. I know some people who swear by their larger Westinghouse LCDs, but my 19" one is barely tolerable.

For what it's worth, I'd pick up a budget LCD with good video output and then bypass the scaler and number of inputs issues with a decent receiver. There are some acceptable choices in the $400 range now, and when combined with a decent HDMI switch (Monoprice has one with an IR receiver, in fact) and remote, you've got an excellent setup.
 
Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Originally posted by: krotchy
So I have to say I do like Vizio alot, and the 2 year warranty from costco is a nice bonus.
Click to expand...
What's the deal with that? If you buy it through Costco, you get a 2 year warranty with in-store exchange?

What model # Vizio do you have, how long have you had it, and how much did you pay? Thanks! 🙂
Click to expand...

I have the GV47LF (47in 1080p model). Got it from costco in January or February after trading in my Sceptre (POS!) I paid 1650+tax for it from the online coupon.

Right now costco has a 2 year replacement warranty and I think a 30 or 60 day unconditional return policy on all TV's. This changed after the massive abuse of the unlimited return policy they used to have on TVs. Still 2 years warranty from costco is nicer than any other place gives with TV's.

Really the only minor issue with the TV is the VGA input defaults to 1366x768 for some reason (I got 1920x1080 over it with some fiddling though). However the HDMI input can take 1920x1080 from a computer by default and I prefer digital inputs anyways.

They are going to be putting out a 1080p 42in Vizio soon for 1199 (Jun 25th I think), currently the 47in 1080p is 1599
 
I think consumer reports or someone did a report recently about reliability of products and Vizio got bad marks for their stuff breaking higher than average. Other than that I don't know.
 
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