1080P Panel Wars Ep. III: Westinghouse LVM-37w3 37" LCD - Page 2

For the record, for the mods/gods, $1699 is the MSRP of the LTV-37w2.

FWIW, the price on JR.com for the the mythical LVM-37w3 is higher than the LTV-37w2's MSRP.

BTW, I'm not sure what you mean with regards to the price. You can already get a 1920x1080 37" Westy (LVM-37w1) for less than that price at some places, so it's not as if the new price is earth shattering.

P.S. My guess is that if the LVM-37w3 does indeed exist, it will use the same screen as the LVM-37w1.

I was hoping someone could check again with Best Buy USA on Sunday (March 19), but in the meantime I did email Westinghouse. They seem pretty reasonable with their response times, but it did take a few days for them to respond to my last question (about Canadian availability) so I wouldn't expect a response until next week anyway. (I'm not complaining... A few days is great compared to other companies... Just try getting any response from Sony. ) I wonder though if they'll mention anything about future products, for various reasons, including because they seem to contract out their online customer support to a 3rd party.

Confirmed!

Yeah, that's pretty vague, but then again, we have the report that J&R is expecting to get it next week. Furthermore, there was the post that Best Buy USA was expecting to list it March 19.

BTW, I was originally considering the 42", but if this new 37" has all the ports of the 42" with the same aesthetics, and is $1000 less, it will become a strong consideration. I would prefer a 42" for when I move into a bigger place, but 37" actually fits better for my current abode, and 1000 bux is nothing to sneeze at for "just" 5 inches.

However, considering it may still be a cross-purchase purchase (to Canada) I may hold out for the rest of you guys to test its waters first, before I take the plunge, especially part of the reason I'm making a 1080p screen purchase is for a PS3 and a second-generation Intel Mac mini. OTOH, in some ways it will be easier to risk ~$2000 (37" plus shipping) than it is to risk <$3000 (42" plus shipping) for a new TV purchased online.

stucandu also mentioned that Westinghouse is working on a deal with Best Buy Canada to sell Westinghouse TVs again. Here's hopin'...

OK, US$800 less would be OK too. That's CAD$922. Close enough.

The 42" set's MSRP is $2799. I think $1999 might be a good guess for MSRP for the 37" LVM-37w3, since it breaks the magical $2000 barrier, but is still noticeably higher than what most stores are selling the old LVM-37w1 for (even though the LVM-37w1 has a MSRP of $2299). $1999 is also significantly higher than the $1699 MSRP for the LTV-37w2.

EDIT:

Hmmm... There is a Best Buy in Amherst New York. As far as I can tell, that's the closest USA Best Buy to Toronto. There doesn't seem to be one in Niagara Falls, NY. I am guessing the box should fit easily in my Prius, although it for sure will not fit if I stand it up. Whoever is first to buy this monitor, please post the box dimensions.

The LTV-37w2 has never been been announced at 1080p. It has always been 1366x768.

There are three 37" models:

LVM-37w1: Current 1080p model with no tuner. (I presume "VM" means video monitor.)
LTV-37w2: Current 720p model with tuner. (Note the "TV" in the name.)
LVM-37w3: New 1080p model with no tuner, presumably to replace the LVM-37w1. (It also has "VM" in the name.) Hopefully out next week.

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More people are reporting lockups in the 42" thread. Also, insufficient overscan options are proving to be an annoyance. They say it's nice that the TV has a no overscan setting for PC inputs, but for TV you need overscan. The Westy allows it, but may overscan too much if turned on.

Blacks are pretty good, but not great, as expected. I wonder if the Sony/Sharp LCD 1300:1/1200:1 contrast ratios are significantly better. My guess is that they are indeed better since people who have seen the 37" LVM-37w1 next to the Sonys and Sharps say that the Westy is not as good.

Heh. I'm tempted just to throw in the towel and wait for that mythical SED panel from Toshiba/Canon. But that wouldn't work either since rumour has it they may start at 55" and go up from there (even though their demo models were 42").

BTW, I was considering buying the 2405FPW 24" LCD monitor from Dell yesterday since they had a sale on. It supports component, S-video, VGA, DVI, etc. It would be mainly for my computer and to replace the 14" CRT beside it. However I held off... It doesn't support HDCP, and its replacement, the 2407FPW is due out soon. Hopefully it will support HDCP. Not that I need it for the computer, but if it's out soon, why not?

Of interest is that the 2405FPW and LVM-37w1 both claim a 1000:1 contrast ratio, but the former has a measured contrast ratio of 612:1 and the latter Westy is 719:1. Also, the 32" LTV-32w1 is 833:1. Interestingly neither the 32" nor the 37" Westy had great ratings for either white or black uniformity, whatever that means. Is this the uneven backlight issue people are reporting with the 37w1?

One has to wonder how these measurements are done though, since the highly rated Sharp Aquos LC-45GX6U got a measured contrast ratio of 558:1. What it did excel in though compared to the Westys was VESA White and Black Uniformity.

What, Westinghouse's previous confirmation wasn't good enough for you?

I guess the good news is that your response seems to suggest it's sooner rather than later (but we already knew that from JR and Best Buy). My guess is we'll see it on www.westinghousedigital.com next week.