Home Theatre Advice and Planning

[Thorn]

I hear apple is making a TV asher, its GOING TO GET YOU!!!

[pchang]

I just bought a small one

27". No room, really for anything bigger the way my place is laid out. Plus, I had to save money for a new car. You'd think a household income in the top 5 percentile would stretch further, but alas, not in the San Francisco Bay Area........

[Ecthy]

Originally posted by Asher
Which one do you have?

6 October

[Sikander]

Rear Projection

I bet she likes it in the a$$.

[Ecthy]

What

[Fve Crathva]

You don't hear about Westinghouse until you're looking at high-end displays. They're a good, cutting-edge, expensive brand.

SP

[Asher]

I'm not sure that's true anymore, the Westinghouse displays are a lot cheaper than the other LCD displays.

[Fve Crathva]

http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/07/westinghouses-56-inch-4x-1080p-lcd/

SP

[Asher]

What's cool to the geek of me are the hidden USB ports on the Westinghouse 37/42/47" 1080p displays. You can upgrade the firmware using a USB key and an internet download.

[Dinner]

Re: Home Theatre Advice and Planning

Originally posted by Asher
My first concern is, who the hell is Westinghouse? They're certainly not a name brand player in LCD TVs, this is apparently one of their first products...

My dad works as an electrical engineer for Westinghouse. That said, that TV is not made by Westinghouse. Westinghouse is a large American engineering and design firm which used to be big into consumer electronics until they got their asses handed to them (along with 90% of the other American consumer electronics companies) by the Japanese in the 70's and 80's. The company westinghouse still survives mostly as a civil engineering and ultilties company (with a small division still making consumer goods like light bulbs) but it no longer makes consumer electronics. A Chinese company has leased the right to sell electronics using the Westinghouse brand name because they thought it would be easier to use an old brand name instead of trying to create their own new brand identity.

Lastly, many of the majors don't make their brand name electronics any more especially on lower end items. So it is possible the name brand and the off brand sets are made in the same factory.

[Dinner]

Look at Costco.com for some really good deals and I would skip the LCD screen and instead go straight to the Plasma with the built in HDTV tuner. You will likely own this TV for many years so it is worth paying a bit extra.

[Asher]

A Chinese company has leased the right to sell electronics using the Westinghouse brand name because they thought it would be easier to use an old brand name instead of trying to create their own new brand identity.

It's my understanding it's a small American startup that leased the use of the name.

The panel maker is Chi Mei, which is a Chinese panel manufacturer but very well respected in the industry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westinghouse_Digital_Electronics

http://www.westinghousedigital.com/

[Asher]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Look at Costco.com for some really good deals and I would skip the LCD screen and instead go straight to the Plasma with the built in HDTV tuner. You will likely own this TV for many years so it is worth paying a bit extra.

That would be retarded for two reasons:
1) I have no need for an HDTV tuner in a TV. All HDTV signals I get are from external boxes: Digital Cable DVR (dual HDTV tuners), DVDs (future HD-DVD), Xbox 360.
2) I'm not a big fan of plasma, which doesn't look nearly as good when used as a computer monitor; which suffers from burn-in issues when used for video games; which suffers from long-term dimming issues
3[bonus]) I can't seem to find any 1080p plasma displays in Canada

Plasma, for me, is a short-term replacement for LCDs in the 47"+ space as LCDs above 47" are not very economical yet.

Sony just killed its Plasma division, too.

[Asher]

For only $500 more than the 42" 1080p Westinghouse, I can get this $3000CDN Hitachi 42" plasma...

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926HDS0010074712&catid=23249

It's billed as 1080p, but the fine print: it's really 1024 x 1080 (not 1920x1080), and it doesnt receive 1080p signals as inputs -- it upscales 1080i to 1080p.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Asher

That would be retarded for two reasons:
1) I have no need for an HDTV tuner in a TV. All HDTV signals I get are from external boxes: Digital Cable DVR (dual HDTV tuners), DVDs (future HD-DVD), Xbox 360.
2) I'm not a big fan of plasma, which doesn't look nearly as good when used as a computer monitor; which suffers from burn-in issues when used for video games; which suffers from long-term dimming issues
3[bonus]) I can't seem to find any 1080p plasma displays in Canada

Plasma, for me, is a short-term replacement for LCDs in the 47"+ space as LCDs above 47" are not very economical yet.

Sony just killed its Plasma division, too.

Plasma tvs are thinner, lighter, and the screen is brighter with more contrast then an LCD screen. Most of the major dimming issues of the early models have now been ironed out so long term reliability should be excellent. Lastly, the reason you want an HDTV with a built in tuner is because there will HDTV broadcasts in just a few years. If you have cable or satallite then you won't need it but if you ever want to watch local stations then it would be nice to not have to buy a separate tuning box.