Westinghouse Electric TX-47F430S 47" LCD TV

I had decided to purchase a new LCD television to replace my three year old Toshiba 46" rear projection HDTV because the old Tosh was just too big and I was becomming more and more enticed by the newer, slimmer LCD televisions. To be fair I was also fed up with the Tosh's convergence problems and horrible glare. Technology had come a long way in three years. So techrep, why this television? I'm glad you asked.

There were four main criteria I was using for my new purchase:

1) I wanted an LCD set,

2) I wanted at least three HDMI inputs,

3) I didn't want to spend more than $2000, and

4) I preferred 46" or larger, but would accept 42".

The Westinghouse offered all of these and more. I paid about $1500 at Best Buy for this 47" set which had four--count them, four--HDMI inputs! Other televisions with similar features were much more. Now let me discuss my experience with the device and tell you a little more about it.

I was apprehensive about buying the Westinghouse brand because I'd never heard of them. I preferred the mainstream brands like Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, and snubbed anything else. Let's face it, if you're going to fork over $1,500 for a TV, you want something you think(marketing) will last and provide a great picture. I was also skeptical how Westinghouse could offer all these features for so much less than the other companies? I actually did a little research on the company and learned that Westinghouse had been around for a while and generally received good reviews on their products. That gave me the confidence to go ahead with my purchase. Heck, I could always bring it back right away if I didn't like it.

The first thing I noticed was how slim and light the box was. This was afterall my first LCD television. I immediately thought of how easy it would be to carry it around should I move again. My old Tosh was one of those items my friends dreaded helping me carry up and down flights of stairs, and who can blame them?

Once out of the box I noticed the lack of any glare on the screen. My old Tosh reflected everything and made it difficult to watch during the day. I had to turn all the lights out and draw the curtains just to watch the thing. Not so with the Westinghouse. The screen seems comparable to a monitor in that it's not shiney. I can have as many lights on as I want and if I'm not sitting way off to the side I can enjoy a great picture. If you're completely off to one side and there's a lot of ambient light the screen may be washed out, but if you're even close to in front of the screen the extra light doesn't seem to be a problem.

My wife actually liked the ergonomics of the device. It's got a matte black frame around the screen which she feels looks nicer with the decor. I didn't notice that at first but it does. The frame also isn't cluttered with buttons or speakers (they're on the side), which really makes the set look nice. This is in stark contrast to my old Tosh's silver frame, which looks cheap in retrospect.

I'm not a tech guru and I can't remember every little feature this set has, but I figure most people reading epinions are people like me; they just want to get someone's opinion about something because they're considering purchasing it. My favorite feature is that this Westinghouse has four HDMI inputs! I hooked up my HD receiver (cable box), PS3 and HD DVD player and I still have one more HDMI input. There is also two component inputs and a single S-Video and composite video input. Said inputs are all on the side of the back of the television so you can get to them if you choose to mount the set on the wall. I didn't wall mount it and I can't see the wires, so if you don't mount it you don't have to worry about those unsightly cables strewn all about.

While this set does not boast the newer 120Hz engine of the expensive Sony sets, the picture quality seems very good. It's much better than my previous Tosh. I am picky when it comes to video quality and I was pleasantly surprised. The set doesn't display the most vivid or striking picture I've ever seen, but it's very good. HD looks amazing. Standard television looks ok. There are some jagged edges when things move, but it's not horrible. Only a picky person or someone who was looking for it would probably even notice. I'm picky, so I noticed. This only happens for standard broadcast television. DVD and HD content are not marred by this.

The television seems to have all the standard menus to adjust the picture (I use digital video essentials to dial in the adjustable features such as brightness and contrast and tint). You can also assign labels to the video inputs from a precomposed list, which includes an option for Bluray but not HD DVD (only DVD1 and DVD2). There's about 15 or so options though.

The picture from Bluray, DVD, and HD content is everything I could ask for. The colors are great and there doesn't seem to be any jagged edges or other motion artifacts; at least that I could really notice. One complaint is that I haven't found a way to select different picture sizes. 4:3 content is displayed in that format and widescreen content is displayed in that format. My old Tosh let me choose which format in which I wanted to view the content. I've also noticed a sliver of white light at the top of the screen while watching some television stations. It seems random and only happens while watching TV. Sometimes it's distracting, and I've read other reviews which mentioned it as well.

--Update 1/11/08--

I don't think this TV can handle having multiple components hooked into each of its inputs. I hooked up a Bluray player, HD DVD, and DVR to three of the TV's HDMI inputs and an optical cable into the TV's output. Things were going well when I was running the DVR and Bluray player to the TV, but when I added the HD DVD player to the mix it started acting up. At first, the video on the HD DVD player started going blank for a few seconds, randomly every few minutes. Then the same thing started happening to my Bluray and DVR pictures.

I switched to component video on the HD DVD player and the problem went away for that device, but the Bluray and DVR using HDMI were still doing it.

I also could not get the TV to recognize both Component video inputs. What I mean is if I had devices eached hooked into one of the TV's component video inputs, one of the devices wouldn't display a picture (and I know how to select the right input source).

As a result I purchased a new receiver with 4 HDMI inputs and video switching and therefore I only have to use a single input on the TV; one HDMI input. Everything seems to be fine at this point.

My conclusion is that the input circuit boards on the TV must be of poor quality and the TV cannot handle it. I knew 4 HDMI inputs at this price point was too good to be true. Unfortunately, an LCD this size will cost you twice as much if you want a more "common" brand like Sony or Samsung.

Because of this I am changing my recommendation for this TV. I'd really have to say you're probably better off with another brand. The picture quality is outstanding, but the quality of the guts has been drawn into question.

After further research I'm learning this brand has great picture quality but less than stellar reliability and service. I think I convinced myself to buy this set because it was so cheap and the picture looked so good. Oh well. If it lasts 2 years I'll be happy.