HDMI over tv rant, disposable hdtv's

fastcuda

Senior member
Sep 1, 2000
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Ok, I have been going through display hell here, wondering if anyone else could have the luck I do or if this is the new face of no quality on products.

I started with a 37 inch westinghouse and was happy, 37w3? or something like that, nearing 2 years it developed blue green splots on certain colors, very noticeable when gaming, so I convinced costco to take it back since it was a monitor anf not a tv technically so didn't get the 90 day return restriction like the tv's do.

Well those were gone so I tried a similar price westinghouse 40 inch since the old west had a great pic. First one dead on the hdmi inputs completely, returned, 2nd one the contrast was so bad could not read icons in wow, differentiate text colors, etc. So, I returned this one also, was just under the 90 day limit, I live 2 hrs from costco so its quite an adventure for me.

ok, so they had a 37 inch visio on sale, so I bought that online, this set has a beautiful pic, but has handshake problems with hdmi. I turn on set, then turn on computer, at first this was ok, but then it starts to blackscreen after the windows load bar, so have to hard boot windows, tell it to start normally and then it works.

So the visio pic was sweet so I buy a 47 inch for the bedroom about 2 months later, the picture is fantastic. The remote on this set is almost always very hard to get to work no matter how hard you try to locate sensor and aim it, and then after 1 month it gets bright green vertical lines thru the picture and I have to return it, and since I am driving 2 hours, the annoying 2 boot to get to work 37 goes back also.

While I am returning these the lady says I have a red flag on MY account because I return defective tv's. I tell her the tv's should have red flags, not me.

I buy another 37 inch visio, and get it home, and it has the same HDMI handshake problem as the old one did.

Well now I have red flags on my costco account , 1 defective IMO tv, and nothing to watch in the bedroom, but thinking of trying anothert visio 47 since the pic was so nice for the price.

Anyone else have the hdmi handshake problems and have experiences like mine. I am very frustrated and don't want to lose my costco account over this. Should I pay the extra for a sony or samsung? I read reviews where people have problems with those also.

I like the costco 3 yr warranty with the american express card ext. but geez, I'm not even making past the 90 day return part and not thrilled about them replacing with a refurb which is what I know they will do if I make it to the actual warranties.

Oh, and one computer has a 4870 and other an x800xt, in case this matters.
 
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DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
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My Samsung 1080p DLP (July 2006) doesn't have these HDMI issues. I did need to get a "sagging light tunnel" repaired last year though.
 

Jesusthewererabbit

Senior member
Mar 20, 2008
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I think you have had extremely bad luck. I've been running a 32 incher over HDMI with my 3850 for over two years, and have never had any sort of issue with it.
 

postmortemIA

Diamond Member
Jul 11, 2006
7,721
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Well in my case, LG 42" picture is great! got native 1080P & 1:1 pixel matching... but sound trails picture on some channels.

Firmware is often poor on TVs. That's truth. There are all kinds of bugs and limitations that shouldn't be there.
 

mmnno

Senior member
Jan 24, 2008
381
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Or you could use a DVI detective. Or like you said, stop buying cut rate brands like Vizio and Westinghouse.
 

fastcuda

Senior member
Sep 1, 2000
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I have a vga adapter here that came with a video card, the tv's all have vga for some reason, I could try that, what will I lose if anything?
 

PCTC2

Diamond Member
Feb 18, 2007
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I have a vga adapter here that came with a video card, the tv's all have vga for some reason, I could try that, what will I lose if anything?

Sometimes VGA just doesn't look as clear as a digital interface at the same resolution for obvious reasons.

Or you could use a DVI detective. Or like you said, stop buying cut rate brands like Vizio and Westinghouse.

I agree with mmnno. Just stop buying cut-rate brands like Vizio and Westinghouse and get a name-brand that you can trust (just not any name brands).

Samsungs have always been my choice. Great picture quality and I've never had any problems with any of the inputs (4x HDMI (1 classified as DVI over HDMI), 1x VGA, 2x Component 2x Composite). I have an HTPC over DVI/HDMI and is fine with HDCP content, my laptop over DVI, a few other things over HDMI and my laptop over VGA and they all are fine. Never have any detection problems. Just set it to the right settings to get the HDMI to align properly (I never got 24Hz 1080p to align properly with my 8800GT. I use 60Hz 1920x1080 now).

I picked up my LN40B550 for $800 and now they have the 120Hz and 240Hz models (6 and 7 series) and the LED models (6000 and 7000 models). If you don't want to spend that much, look into getting a LNXXB550 or even a 6-series on sale. Go into a local store and check them out.
 

exar333

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2004
8,518
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Or you could use a DVI detective. Or like you said, stop buying cut rate brands like Vizio and Westinghouse.

This. Add Insiginia to this list and avoid all three like the plague.

You get what you pay for.
 

jiffylube1024

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2002
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As others have said, avoid Vizio, Westinghouse, Insignia and Viewsonic LCD's.

Stick to Samsung, Sony and even Toshiba over those brands. LG's much better than Vizio, Westinghouse, etc. too.
 

mmnno

Senior member
Jan 24, 2008
381
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This. Add Insiginia to this list and avoid all three like the plague.

You get what you pay for.

Also Magnavox, the worst of them all.

I'll second (third? fifth?) the Samsung love here. Don't like anything else they sell, but their TVs are good and usually priced nicely.
 

davidrees

Senior member
Mar 28, 2002
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The one common denominator seems to be your PC. Was this the same HDMI card/port on all those TVs?
 

postmortemIA

Diamond Member
Jul 11, 2006
7,721
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I have a vga adapter here that came with a video card, the tv's all have vga for some reason, I could try that, what will I lose if anything?

VGA will work just fine. If anything, msot TVs don't scale VGA picture, so it will look well 1:1.

Yes, VGA is analog and not so sharp on higher resolutions, but you don't sit 3 feet from your TV.
 

allthatisman

Senior member
Dec 21, 2008
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I had both a 37" and 32" Insignia... only for about 2 weeks, but as a computer monitor the 37" really hurt my eyes so I returned it and got a 32". Both monitors were VERY bright, so much so that I found myself rubbing my eyes often. I came from the monitor in my sig, which to date has been flawless. In games however, both Insignias were awesome. If I didn't need a computer for Word and Internet Explorer I would have kept the 32". For some reason I could never get the contrast and brightness adjusted properly, reds always looked "fuzzy"... as far as HDMI issues, they mated perfectly to my 4870x2.
 

fastcuda

Senior member
Sep 1, 2000
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The one common denominator seems to be your PC. Was this the same HDMI card/port on all those TVs?

No, it was 2 computers and 2 cards, and my regular dell 24 works fine on both.

I did look closer at the HDMI ports and instructions and HDMI 2 is designated for DVI-HDMI disc players (I thought it was strange they didn't say computer or disc player, maybe they are aware of this). I hooked to it and it comes on only if I turn on tv to HDMI 2 and then boot the computer, if I use the remote and view tv channels and try to go back it says no source detected. The picture is beautiful though on these visios and for 499 for a 1080 37" w/50,000 contrast (not like the westinghouse picture) I think I can live with this as long as I dont have to boot twice each time.

On the bedroom, I am thinking of this samsung 46, but its only 60 hz, the visio 47 was 120 and 100 dollars less.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...S&Sp=C&topnav=

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...S&Sp=C&topnav=