Bottomline 32'' LCD: Polaroid vs Maxent vs Westinghouse

[absolutic]

My office workers think I need therapy for my obsession with flat screens and dvd players, hdtv etc...but I got a new idea to move my 27 inch lcd from my bedroom to my office and use it as a monitor for my desktop. Thus I can get a new lcd for my bedroom. My 27 inch lcd had speakers on the side which made it 37 inch wide which was too much. Now it looks like mfrs figured out ways to put speakers on the bottom in some sets, and I can squeeze 32 inch where 27 inch used to be. Here is what I was looking at. Comments are welcome:

At this point price is exactly the same for these 3 sets:

CIRCUIT CITY -

Polaroid 32" LCD HDTV (FLM-3232) -

Plus: Width is only 31.2 inches, I've had good experience with Circuit City in terms of returns or customer service.

Minus: Model is older than the other two, looks like only ATSC (no QAM tuner)

COSTCO -

Maxent 32" LCD HDTV, ML-32HLT21

Plus: New set just couple months in production, Width only 31 inch. ATSC and QAM Tuner. 2 HDMI inputs. Costco's incredible return and customer service.

Minus: Never been impressed with black levels on Maxent tvs (but I've not seen this one yet)

BEST BUY -

Westinghouse LTV-32w6

Plus: Also a newer set couple months in production, I have a 12% off Reward Zone coupon which will bring the price significantly lower than the other two. I also generally like Westinghouse lcds look and quality (for lower price lcds)

Minus: 37-2/5" wide, wider than other sets in my comparison. Says ATSC Tuner - not clear if QAM Tuner is included. Hate Best Buys return policy- the 2 time I tried to return something (legitimately so) they gave me really hard time.


-----
I have not viewed either set yet, it obviously may change my opinion when I see them. I also seem to remember that Polaroid used to include Faroudja chip in their lcds, I don't know about this particular set.

Anything else I should add to my mix here?

[elwood58]

I have the Polaroid FLM-3232 in my office as one of three monitors. I used it for about three (3) weeks as my living room TV while waiting for my Plasma to be replaced under warranty. We really enjoyed it as a TV. We even hooked up our Upconverting DVD via HDMI. Although I was happy to get the 42" Plasma back in the living room, the Polaroid did a great job. I did not have much of a chance to do any gaming on it. I did hook up my xbox, and did software updates etc.

[JimSD]

That must be a misprint on the BB site for the width of the Westinghouse. The Westinghouse site has it listed as 31.4", which looks right compared to other models with bottom speakers. The Westinghouse site also says that it has a Clear QAM tuner which means you'd get the unencrypted digital channels (most likely those are the local HD channels) on your cable system.

http://www.westinghousedigital.com/pc-52-2-32-lcd-hdtv.aspx

[Vikinguy]

i can vouch for the polaroid. the hd pq is pretty great.

[absolutic]

[QUOTE=JimSD]That must be a misprint on the BB site for the width of the Westinghouse. The Westinghouse site has it listed as 31.4", which looks right compared to other models with bottom speakers. The Westinghouse site also says that it has a Clear QAM tuner which means you'd get the unencrypted digital channels (most likely those are the local HD channels) on your cable system.

http://www.westinghousedigital.com/pc-52-2-32-lcd-hdtv.aspx[/QUOTE]

Thanks for pointing it out - I was wondering about the width.

I like Clear QAM tuner option, because, although I am a Dish Subscriber, I do have this cheapy 10$-a-month cable service which, through a QAM tuner, can provide me with a backup for basic hd channels.

[absolutic]

Went with Westy 32, [EDIT]

First when I got it home and started adjusting it, I could not get the right colors and tones. I was surprsed to see no R B G adjustments or Color Temperature. Finally, after 10 minutes of fighting with it, I went the old but proven way. I turned on my properly adjusted plasma and adjusted the Westy to look as close as possible to my plasma. That did the trick, it is now much better picture to look at. I find the picture acceptable for a LCD. Cannot compare it with plasma that produces betteer flashtones and details of course, but for LCD I like it.

[scrappy]

Do any of the Costco's have the 32" Maxent yet?
I visited 3 different warehouses in my area last week and for 32" sets, they only had the Visio and the Sony Bravia. The Visio did not impress me, we couldn't get the tint right...either very green or slightly red (i.e., blues were almost purple).

[absolutic]

Yes, prior to buying the Westy, I went to Costco looking for MAXENT and it was not there. It is probably one of the Costco online-only items. Which makes it difficult to buy a tv without looking, right? I saw Visio there I just could not stand the black levels. The one lcd in 32 range that impressed me somewhat was Panasonic Viera LCD they had, but it was about 400$ above my 'budget' price range.

[khcv63]

I've had the Polaroid 32" for 4 months. Love it and no problems. Paired it with a Polaroid HDD DVR.

Magic

[scrappy]

Went to yet another Costco today and still no 32" Maxent. They had a bunch of the Panasonics, a few Bravia S2000's and Visio's. Their Visio looked pretty good, even in the standard "vivid 1" setting. So after agonizing over it for a little bit, I took home a Visio, thinking that if I don't like it, I can return if for the Panny or Sony.

I have Comcast digital with a Motorola DCT2224 STB and a progressive scan (but not upscaling) DVD player. Connected the TV to the STB with coax and did the the DVD with RCA-3 component cables that came with the TV.

Playing through the STB, things look OK but not great. Wonder if a newer digital STB from Comcast would help things?

Played a Terminator 2 DVD which looked and sounded very good, even through the internal speakers. Tomorrow, I'll get some RCA-5 cables to see if the improved connection helps.

Finally, I disconnected the STB cable and connected the cable input straight to the Visio's DTV coax input. A quick DTV channel scan yielded a bunch of digital channels and I'm watching Saturday Night Live in HD right now. Looks fantastic with the HD 720 and 1080 channels. The 480 SD channels look crappy, as expected.

Settings are:
Backlight = 50
Brightness = 52
Contrast = 60
Color = 50
Tint = 50
Sharpness = 50

Tomorrow, I'll also get a splitter for the coax so I can connect the TV to both the STB and straight DTV cable while I decide whether to upgrade to HD service from the cable company.

For the few hours that I've had the Visio 32" in action, I'm quite pleased with its performance and happy to have saved a few hundered $ that can go towards a 42" to 50" display in the living room.

[absolutic]

Scrappy I am glad you are happy with the Visio. I am also happy with my Westy very much. I already used every input on it (!). I've noticed that my Dish HD811 looked better in 720P setting than in 1080i setting with it. To my eye. So I connected my Dish through components at 720p. I connected my Comcast cable to it to to see how QAM tuner would perform (I used to have LG LST3510 QAM tuner). QAM tuner works as advertsed, found all the channels that my previous LG LST3510 was able to find. The only thing I am having hard time with figuring out how to delete channels and subchannels, I click on delete channel but nothing seems to work.

I also connected my LG 418 dvd-player though HDMI and it seems to give me the sharpest picture at 1080i setting. And I even used up the composite inputs to plug in my digital camera. I tried picture in picture feature and it works too. So everything works well and for under 800 I am very happy.

[dthomassr]

[QUOTE=scrappy]Went to yet another Costco today and still no 32" Maxent. They had a bunch of the Panasonics, a few Bravia S2000's and Visio's. Their Visio looked pretty good, even in the standard "vivid 1" setting. So after agonizing over it for a little bit, I took home a Visio, thinking that if I don't like it, I can return if for the Panny or Sony.

I have Comcast digital with a Motorola DCT2224 STB and a progressive scan (but not upscaling) DVD player. Connected the TV to the STB with coax and did the the DVD with RCA-3 component cables that came with the TV.

Playing through the STB, things look OK but not great. Wonder if a newer digital STB from Comcast would help things?

Played a Terminator 2 DVD which looked and sounded very good, even through the internal speakers. Tomorrow, I'll get some RCA-5 cables to see if the improved connection helps.

Finally, I disconnected the STB cable and connected the cable input straight to the Visio's DTV coax input. A quick DTV channel scan yielded a bunch of digital channels and I'm watching Saturday Night Live in HD right now. Looks fantastic with the HD 720 and 1080 channels. The 480 SD channels look crappy, as expected.

Settings are:
Backlight = 50
Brightness = 52
Contrast = 60
Color = 50
Tint = 50
Sharpness = 50

Tomorrow, I'll also get a splitter for the coax so I can connect the TV to both the STB and straight DTV cable while I decide whether to upgrade to HD service from the cable company.

For the few hours that I've had the Visio 32" in action, I'm quite pleased with its performance and happy to have saved a few hundered $ that can go towards a 42" to 50" display in the living room.[/QUOTE]


Also you may want to try turning the sharpness down to 0 this will make the picture have a bit more of a 3D effect.

[ccbrew]

[QUOTE=scrappy]Went to yet another Costco today and still no 32" Maxent. They had a bunch of the Panasonics, a few Bravia S2000's and Visio's. Their Visio looked pretty good, even in the standard "vivid 1" setting.

For the few hours that I've had the Visio 32" in action, I'm quite pleased with its performance and happy to have saved a few hundered $ that can go towards a 42" to 50" display in the living room.[/QUOTE]

Guys, I hate to be a nitpicker, but the brand at Costco is a VIZIO, with a Z.
It's a fine line, but if you do searches, you want to get all of the results.

You should have seen the thread that discussed the PROTON TVs or the PROTRON Tvs. It can get very confusing.

VIZIO TVs (http://viziotv.com)

[absolutic]

I am trying to find some universal codes for various remotes for my Westy tv. But Westinghouse is usually not a brand listed. It used to be owned by GE but GE/RCA codes do not work. What generic code is there for Westinghouse tv?

[absolutic]

Got an answer to my own question on Westinghouse FAQ:

# Q: Can I use a universal remote to operate my LCD TV?
A: No. However, we are currently in the process of developing remote codes. In the meantime, we recommend that you use a learning remote to operate your LCD TV.

[Mabelrode]

I seen some people post that Sony remote codes work on Westinghouse.

[ajricaud]

The Sony codes do work with Directivo HR 10-250 remotes, except for selecting input.

[Todd76]

I have the 27-inch Westinghouse and use a Sony code to operate the TV with my TiVo remote (power, volume, and mute).

[Wendek]

[QUOTE=Todd76]I have the 27-inch Westinghouse and use a Sony code to operate the TV with my TiVo remote (power, volume, and mute).[/QUOTE]

Todd76,
which model of Westinghouse do you have? i was "told by the guys at the B&M" that a couple of models, 27w3 & 32w6 are actually old sony's in disguise. Not sure if that's 'true" or not, but the Westy remote did work on the sony displayed below.

how you you like your westinghouse? i wanted it last year but it never showed so i picked up a philips from costco and very happy with it, but think i "need" a tv for the kitchen and thought the nicely priced 27" would be perfect.

wendek

[absolutic]

[QUOTE=Wendek]Todd76,
which model of Westinghouse do you have? i was "told by the guys at the B&M" that a couple of models, 27w3 & 32w6 are actually old sony's in disguise. Not sure if that's 'true" or not, but the Westy remote did work on the sony displayed below.

how you you like your westinghouse? i wanted it last year but it never showed so i picked up a philips from costco and very happy with it, but think i "need" a tv for the kitchen and thought the nicely priced 27" would be perfect.

wendek[/QUOTE]

no way Westinghouse is Sony in disguise. The picture on Westy looks nothing like picture on any Sony LCD I've seen. C'mon people, I like my Westinghouse, but it ain't Sony by any stretch of imagination.

[Wendek]

[QUOTE=absolutic]no way Westinghouse is Sony in disguise. The picture on Westy looks nothing like picture on any Sony LCD I've seen. C'mon people, I like my Westinghouse, but it ain't Sony by any stretch of imagination.[/QUOTE]

What was your model again?

I dunno... picture was pretty sweet sitting next to the Sony. hard to tell any big diff for my eyes. "they (at the B&M)" said that Westhinghouse had bought an old Sony warehouse and "said" that these TV's were Sony's model from a couple years back. Not sure where to find the truth to this urban legend... and can't remember what Sony looked like a few years ago.

Also, can't seem to find much info on the 32w3 or 27w6 specifically, the curvy styled models... People all seem to be talking and posting on the 32w6 and the 27w3... the square models.

wendek.