Westinghouse 37" HDTV is $799 at Costo.com

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isekii

Lifer
Mar 16, 2001
28,578
3
81
Originally posted by: deadseasquirrel
Everybody's room and lighting differ, but I used AVIA to lock in some settings that seem to work for me:

Brightness: 48
Contrast: 40
Saturation: 57
Hue: 0
Color Temp: Neutral
Sharpness: 50
Backlight: 20

That seems to get the best picture and color for my eyes and room. This room goes from bright as the sun for part of the day to completely dark at night, so it's a toughie.

As for pics, I have a few, but, honestly, they don't do this thing justice. Maybe it's my crappy digital cam. Either way, I find myself with a dilemma. Before I received it, I fully planned on having my dad buy it off me for what I paid. I'd rather use that $950 on a full system upgrade in Sept/Oct. But, after hooking it all up to test out for him, my wife and I find ourselves trying to justify keeping it. Heck, I don't *need* it... I have a Mitsu 22" CRT that's working perfect (for the moment).

Are you using it as a monitor or a TV ?
 

deadseasquirrel

Golden Member
Nov 20, 2001
1,736
0
0
My bad, forgot to mention that. I am using it as a computer monitor. The thought of being able to hook it up to a tuner in my computer sounds appealing, so, after I read up on that, I may use it for both. But I've got a plasma in the next room where we do all of our movie/tv watching.
 

mikeg

Golden Member
Oct 10, 1999
1,304
0
76
Got mine yesterday and had to return it to store today. It was damaged during shipping and was missing the remote and manual. Now I have to wait another 10 days to get another one. That sucks.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
Hey guys, I got mine up and running at 1920x1080P v1.0 firmware in settings.

I am running:

Brightness: 47
Contrast: 57
Saturation: 55
Hue: -2
Color Temp: Neutral
Sharpness: 0
Backlight: 40

I use these settings for regular work in excel, word, browsing websites. For movies I adjust it based on each movie (haven't figured out optimal settings though as I do not have any calibration software).

My problem: When watching HD windows media clips, or even DVDs, I get this horizontal "boundary line" about 3/4 from the bottom of the screen like a permanent clipping issue. So I can clearly see the screen having 2 parts to it but the line I am describing isn't an actual line - its just formed based on how the video is playing and it separates the 2 parts of the movie where the top and bottom parts arent displaying exact frames at exact millisecond resulting in a mismatch that my eyes can detect. I tried enabling Vsync in Nvidia control panel and the line has moved to exactly the middle of the screen but it is still there. This is quite annoying and I am not sure how to fix it. Of course this is only a problem that affects video and is not an issue in regular desktop mode as there are no moving images.

I am using DVI-D cables.
 

exdeath

Lifer
Jan 29, 2004
13,679
10
81
Just got mine tonight for $890 including tax and shipping. I already had one, two actually, but had to return them. First one was a perfect panel, but the top half of the screen would flicker when you first turned it on, and I didn't want to chance the back light going out down the road. Second one had a horizontal line of pixels that weren't behaving. This one appears to be flawless; no back light problems, no dead or stuck sub pixels whatsoever, and uniform brightness with no streaking or 'dirtiness' to it. Third times a charm I guess.

The order for this one was placed on 6/14 and it arrived today 6/19.

Might want to jump on this deal if you know you want one, rumor has it the 37" is slated for discontinuation with the LVM line being replaced by a TX line with no 37". 37" really is a sweet spot, its a lot bigger than 30-32", but 42" is overwhelming up close on a desk as a PC monitor.

For those new to the LVM-37W3 here are a few pointers:

1) set the backlight to 40, 20, or 0. It's WAY too bright and kills contrast

2) on LVM-37W3 sets, use the DVI port on the left side of the screen with your PC, there is something screwy about the one next to the HDMI port, something to do with sharing the HDMI channel and the HDCP functions

3) there is a newer model floating around, LVM-37W3se. Only change is that the contrast got a bump to 1200:1 (thought I honestly see no difference) and they took out the problematic DVI port mentioned above. Just one DVI and one HDMI now, on their own independent channels, This fixes a problem with HDMI HDCP handshaking as well from what I hear

4) another quirk with the LVM-37W3se is that it detects as a W4207 for some reason and defaults to 1080i. You'll need to go deep into your video control panel options and mess around with the settings to get the 1080p option to show up. SLI enabled seems to compound the problem and make the settings not stick, but if you play with it enough you'll get it. Use the 'i' on the remote for the info panel to confirm 1080p signal. 1080i looks similar when nothing is moving but any movement will momentarily go chunky like 1/4 resolution or something. I think this is a problem with the nVidia drivers more than anything else.

And if you don't have the cash or think you are better off without this or don't want to impulse buy... stay AWAY from the hardforum thread or you'll be sorry! 250 pages of reasons to get one :)
 

exdeath

Lifer
Jan 29, 2004
13,679
10
81
Originally posted by: RussianSensation
Hey guys, I got mine up and running at 1920x1080P v1.0 firmware in settings.

I am running:

Brightness: 47
Contrast: 57
Saturation: 55
Hue: -2
Color Temp: Neutral
Sharpness: 0
Backlight: 40

I use these settings for regular work in excel, word, browsing websites. For movies I adjust it based on each movie (haven't figured out optimal settings though as I do not have any calibration software).

My problem: When watching HD windows media clips, or even DVDs, I get this horizontal "boundary line" about 3/4 from the bottom of the screen like a permanent clipping issue. So I can clearly see the screen having 2 parts to it but the line I am describing isn't an actual line - its just formed based on how the video is playing and it separates the 2 parts of the movie where the top and bottom parts arent displaying exact frames at exact millisecond resulting in a mismatch that my eyes can detect. I tried enabling Vsync in Nvidia control panel and the line has moved to exactly the middle of the screen but it is still there. This is quite annoying and I am not sure how to fix it. Of course this is only a problem that affects video and is not an issue in regular desktop mode as there are no moving images.

I am using DVI-D cables.

Only with video? Sounds like a overlay problem, mess around with your video drivers and see what you can do. Also try one of your other DVI ports on your video card.
 

nnnyyy

Diamond Member
Nov 9, 2000
3,370
0
76
Originally posted by: exdeath
And if you don't have the cash or think you are better off without this or don't want to impulse buy... stay AWAY from the hardforum thread or you'll be sorry! 250 pages of reasons to get one :)

Totally agree with that! Those 250 pages (with pics) is what made me buy! But I am more than satisfied with it!
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
Originally posted by: RossMAN
What video card are you guys using to connect this to your PC?

6600 non-GT through DVI. Almost all videocards in the last 5 years should be able to do 1920x1080 in DVI.
 

Crucial

Diamond Member
Dec 21, 2000
5,026
0
71
I keep getting closer to buying this damn thing. The wife thinks I am crazy but I have $400 saved so far and will probably end up caving. 37" seems so ridiculously big for a pc monitor though.
 

travisj

Senior member
Aug 17, 2005
353
0
0
Minor correction to exdeath's excellent post a few back with all the details:
- I got a 37w3se, and the 1 dvi (instead of 2) is on the same side as the HDMI (right next to it). Lame they got rid of a DVI port though, would have been nice to run my computer and cable box (with DVI out) through straight to those ports and still have HDMI open for whatever.
 

exdeath

Lifer
Jan 29, 2004
13,679
10
81
Originally posted by: travisj
Minor correction to exdeath's excellent post a few back with all the details:
- I got a 37w3se, and the 1 dvi (instead of 2) is on the same side as the HDMI (right next to it). Lame they got rid of a DVI port though, would have been nice to run my computer and cable box (with DVI out) through straight to those ports and still have HDMI open for whatever.

The physical connector is on the same side next to the HDMI still, but the DVI and HDMI port are on different channels on the SE from what I understand. On the non-SE the DVI by itself is on the second channel and the HDMI and DVI port on the same side share the same hardware channel (even though they are selectable separately). Another way of looking at it is you could say they took the original DVI next to the HDMI out, then just moved the other DVI connector back over to fill the spot. Or something like that.

I guess they were having too many problems with conflicts, HDCP, etc. Don't know if its true or speculation, just summing up what I've read at hardforum and from reading past experiences with DVI/HDMI conflicts in rare and isolated cases.
 

deadseasquirrel

Golden Member
Nov 20, 2001
1,736
0
0
Also note that if you're interested in using the Picture-in-Picture feature, you cannot PiP from HDMI to DVI. I tried it out with my Oppo player and it was a no-go.
 

rpf717rpf

Member
Feb 27, 2007
91
0
0
My problem: When watching HD windows media clips, or even DVDs, I get this horizontal "boundary line" about 3/4 from the bottom of the screen like a permanent clipping issue. So I can clearly see the screen having 2 parts to it but the line I am describing isn't an actual line - its just formed based on how the video is playing and it separates the 2 parts of the movie where the top and bottom parts arent displaying exact frames at exact millisecond resulting in a mismatch that my eyes can detect. I tried enabling Vsync in Nvidia control panel and the line has moved to exactly the middle of the screen but it is still there. This is quite annoying and I am not sure how to fix it. Of course this is only a problem that affects video and is not an issue in regular desktop mode as there are no moving images.

I am using DVI-D cables.

I just set mine up last PM, and noticed the EXACT same thing. I'm running a 8500gt DVI- to HDMI cable with the newest nvidia drivers (may 19). During fast motion I see that horizontal line as well. Its hard to see, but I noticed it fairly quickly. I hope there is a fix?
 

Fraggable

Platinum Member
Jul 20, 2005
2,799
0
0
Check the 240+ page thread on AVSforums.com if you're hving issues. It's unlikely you're the first to see any given issue.
 

cKGunslinger

Lifer
Nov 29, 1999
16,408
57
91
Originally posted by: Crucial
I keep getting closer to buying this damn thing. The wife thinks I am crazy but I have $400 saved so far and will probably end up caving. 37" seems so ridiculously big for a pc monitor though.

I would love it, but I have a built-in desk unit with cabinets above the desk, so I have a height limit of 22". A 32" WS LCD would fit, but they are 2x more expensive than this 37". :(
 

exdeath

Lifer
Jan 29, 2004
13,679
10
81
Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
Originally posted by: Crucial
I keep getting closer to buying this damn thing. The wife thinks I am crazy but I have $400 saved so far and will probably end up caving. 37" seems so ridiculously big for a pc monitor though.

I would love it, but I have a built-in desk unit with cabinets above the desk, so I have a height limit of 22". A 32" WS LCD would fit, but they are 2x more expensive than this 37". :(

I had that problem with a corner desk I had a long time ago that had an enclosed monitor cubby. I thought my then $900 17" 1600x1200 Viewsonic Trinitron was the be all end all of monitors and I'd never need another one.

Then I got a Sony F500R 21" and basically had to sit two feet from the glass because I could only wedge a few inches of the CRT neck into the cubby hole.

My policy since then has been: just give me a large, flat, simple desk. No more cubbies and drawers and cabinets and CD holders or any of that junk, which only accumulates junk anyway.

I'd rather not limit my technology choices, such as a sweet < $1000 display over as trivial a matter as a $100 desk. :(

So... DO EEET! If you want to keep your built in desk, nothing a little drywall and plaster can't fix :evil:
 

imported_BS

Senior member
Mar 8, 2005
375
1
81
Originally posted by: rpf717rpf
My problem: When watching HD windows media clips, or even DVDs, I get this horizontal "boundary line" about 3/4 from the bottom of the screen like a permanent clipping issue. So I can clearly see the screen having 2 parts to it but the line I am describing isn't an actual line - its just formed based on how the video is playing and it separates the 2 parts of the movie where the top and bottom parts arent displaying exact frames at exact millisecond resulting in a mismatch that my eyes can detect. I tried enabling Vsync in Nvidia control panel and the line has moved to exactly the middle of the screen but it is still there. This is quite annoying and I am not sure how to fix it. Of course this is only a problem that affects video and is not an issue in regular desktop mode as there are no moving images.

I am using DVI-D cables.

I just set mine up last PM, and noticed the EXACT same thing. I'm running a 8500gt DVI- to HDMI cable with the newest nvidia drivers (may 19). During fast motion I see that horizontal line as well. Its hard to see, but I noticed it fairly quickly. I hope there is a fix?


I would be more inclined to blame your video card drivers for this. I would see this issue sometimes on my ATI X1800XT. But a reboot would normally fix the issue so I ruled out it being a monitor problem.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
Originally posted by: BS

I would be more inclined to blame your video card drivers for this. I would see this issue sometimes on my ATI X1800XT. But a reboot would normally fix the issue so I ruled out it being a monitor problem.

It is interesting you note that. I watched some video last night and I no longer saw this issue. I'll have to get back if I see this problem as recurring.

 

exdeath

Lifer
Jan 29, 2004
13,679
10
81
Only thing that concerns me on the SE is when using the DVI or HDMI port with a PC it only works in Windows and Windows apps and games.

Stuff like full screen command prompt, POST, BIOS, Windows loading screen, (ie: legacy signals) all look like they are 4:3 images stretched to 16:9, but the sides are clipped so you only see the 4:3 portion. The scaling option on the monitor just takes that 4:3 portion of a an already 4:3->16:9 stretched image and stretches it even further. Basically you can't work in the BIOS or see POST data effectively and if you go to a command prompt full screen all you can see is something like "tings\username>_"

The Windows desktop and games set to VGA resolutions are ok, and WoW, UT2004, BF2, etc. are absolutely gorgeous. It only seems to be legacy modes like text and CGA.

I haven't tried with VGA, I suppose it might be necessary for emergencies and OS installs to see what you are doing. Still, its as annoying as having to keep a floppy drive or PS2 keyboard laying around to have to switch to a VGA cable just for that.

Previously with the non-SE I was able to use the left hand side solo DVI port and all legacy signals were correctly displayed as proportionally scaled and centered 4:3. POST, XP boot screen, all centered 4:3 until it hit the logon screen and went into 1080p.

This problem with scaling text and CGA modes over DVI, coupled with the SE defaulting to 1080i instead of 1080p... I wonder if there is a problem with the firmware appropriately detecting and synching signals over DVI...

 

Crucial

Diamond Member
Dec 21, 2000
5,026
0
71
Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
Originally posted by: Crucial
I keep getting closer to buying this damn thing. The wife thinks I am crazy but I have $400 saved so far and will probably end up caving. 37" seems so ridiculously big for a pc monitor though.

I would love it, but I have a built-in desk unit with cabinets above the desk, so I have a height limit of 22". A 32" WS LCD would fit, but they are 2x more expensive than this 37". :(

I would have to remove the hutch from mine. Not sure where I would go with all the stuff on it. I really want to see one of these in person with a computer output to see what the resulotion looks like.