Official Westinghouse LVM-W4207 Thread - Page 3

I went by BB last night and talked to customer service, a few dorks on the floor and a floor manager. They all said that they won't be accepting returns on Friday morning, so there is no way to buy it now, then return it for the price match on Friday. I was also told they would be handing out tickets for various items of limited quantity to people in line prior to opening. No ticket, no item, no exceptions. Looks like I'll be heading to BB at 3:30 and sleeping in the doorway as I have a laptop to buy for a friend and a new Vid Cam for myself as well.

I'll just pick it up Friday AM and play with it over the weekend. Testing on SD via S-Vid cabling to get an idea on how most of my TV viewing will do and run some DVDs through my current Progressive Scan (Denon model?) and via my Laptop. Then I'll test some Quake4 lovin and see if it lives up to that spec as well. Once I get a feel for it, I'll head back with the same comparison DVD and laptop to hook up to the W2 to see if 1080P is worth the $ difference.

(BTW: The specs have been on Westy's site for more than a week)

[quote=22benjamin22]I went by BB last night and talked to customer service, a few dorks on the floor and a floor manager. They all said that they won't be accepting returns on Friday morning, so there is no way to buy it now, then return it for the price match on Friday. I was also told they would be handing out tickets for various items of limited quantity to people in line prior to opening. No ticket, no item, no exceptions. Looks like I'll be heading to BB at 3:30 and sleeping in the doorway as I have a laptop to buy for a friend and a new Vid Cam for myself as well.

what do you mean by 3:30 ..morning or afternoon of the day before ???i trying to decide about what time i should go to BB and stay in line

AM... looking to get a few deals and a few are low on quantities. I can sleep standing up, so I should be OK. If I show up at 3:30 and there are 50 people in line, I'll just pass on the whole deal.

Okay, I just called Westinghouse and talked to a guy. Dont know how knowledgable he really is but this is what he told me.

Westinghouse is aware that BB is currently out of stock on the 1080p version, but is NOT aware if they are going to stop carrying it. According to him, it sounds like BB will keep carrying it when/if they get more...

He also said there are no plans of making another 42" in 1080p, this current version is not discontinued.

Im really wanting one of the 1080p versions, but dont know where to get one. My BB will sell floor sample but im hesitant to do that

you better be ther before 3am buddy...i heard that they are going to start handing tickets out an hour before BB opens ...man i am going to try to sleep right after i eat turkey lol then i will leave at 11 pm ...

Hello, I'm new to the whole HDTV thing and saw this on the BB website but was unsure what it meant:

"Note: HD-ready TV monitor only; external tuner required for HD and conventional TV viewing"

Does this mean that this monitor can not pick up standard definition TV signals when connected to a basic cable connection? Or can it? If it does require a tuner where can I find those and how much do they cost?

yep you will to have it connected to a HD source like an HD box for cable..or you you buy your own external HD tuner starting one hundred fifty or more

Went to Best Buy at 3:00am this morning, and promptly drove home after seeing at least 300 people in line. Probably 10 or so tents set up since the afternoon before. Simply wasn't worth it. I Never thought that Anderson, SC would have so many die-hard deal-crazed shoppers!

So, I went home, went back to sleep, woke up around 8:00am, and decided to stop by Best buy again "just for fun". The place was really packed with long, LONG lines. I went up to a BB guy working in the TV department and asked him if there happened to be any more of the W4207's left. He said they had about 5 left!!! He pointed me to shop at the back of the store $where they install car audio stuff, and he said to check out there. There was one person in front of me in line, and I got the W4207 for $999! Oh, and South Carolina declared today and tomorrow as "tax-free" days, so it was really $999 out-the-door.

Now, to tweak and play to get things looking good. Currently, I'm using a VGA connection. I may try a DVI connection in the future. I'll report back here as to the quality.

Similar to Jim only with a different ending... I went by CompUSA at around 9:30 last night and decided to swing by Best Buy... Line was bigger than the PS3 line, around the building and down 1/2 a block. Yup, went home and went to sleep.

Went back around 7am to check out a few other things... all the 4207s were spoken for (3 hadn't been picked up yet, but tickets to claim them were). Oh well.

I'll keep looking.

how do you take the stand off?

I unscrewed the four screws but it wont come off.

Any word on banding on this set? I'm returning my 3rd 42w2 because of vertical banding. If the w7 doesn't have the same issues and is cheaper, I might drive around the local BBs and see if I can find one. I'd love to have a true 1080 line display, but I'll take a uniform 768 line panel if I can get one.

I just bought the W4207. Can someone please post their display settings? I plan to use this for movies and xbox360. Thanks!

I just bought one today too. Awesome TV.

What do I have to buy to get over-the-air channels on it being that its just a monitor?

Thank you

Let me continue the string of 1st time posters, and say I just picked this up as well.

Haven't even hooked it up yet. But I was going to comment on the non-tuner aspect of this monitor. From what I can see, here are some the options for a tuner if you have cable. I just have coaxial cable coming from the wall, but no way to plug it into the Westinghouse. So:

1) Use a VCR as the tuner.
2) Use a DVD Recorder as the tuner.
3) Buy a Cable/NTSC tuner card for your PC or laptop.
4) Get a cable box from your cable provider.

I'm sure there are more. I don't know anything about DirecTV, for example.

I bought a tuner card for my Media Center laptop, and will try that route first.

I'll let you know what I think...

Hi all,
I just bought the Westinghouse LCD 42inch in question going to use it as primary TV in house. I am noticing that the pictures are cut off in HD and in regular tv, seems like the picture is zoomed in.
For example watching Conan O'Brian cannot see the Coffee cup on his desk, yet in regular you can see it there. I am using a cablevision HD DVR box for my tuner and I don't understand much about this. Any help that can be provided will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for any help that you can provide.

Hello all...

I just picked up the W4207 and Im happy to find this thread.

I was in the market for a 32+ lcd and had looked over most the BF ads I could find.
After awhile of reading reviews and making comparisons I decided to just wait and not attempt waiting in line for 5 hours.

On the way home from work (about 6 pm) I decided to stop by a best buy and see what was left. Most all the doorbusters were cleaned out and the employees looked dead. (the cashier was on her second shift for the day) I found two W4207's left and the [EDIT] sign sitting on top of em. Someone else took one, so I loaded the other onto a cart while I made up my mind to get it.

Its home now (currently acting as my monitor) and it looks great. I'm happy with everything about it except for the lack of options on aspect ratio settings.

When watching a widescreen format DVD over s-video you have two options. 'Standard' - giving you black bars on four sides (dropping the used image to about 34") or 'Full' - giving you black bars on top and bottom with the stretched, fat headed, obese midget people in the middle. Now, how some people don't seem to even notice the skewed image and that the death star is now more the death egg is beyond me. It is hands down my biggest pet peeve.

I can't understand why someone hasn't developed an system that detects consistent black bars of a signal and automatic selects the correct setting to maximize screen use without tampering with ratios. If a manufacturer sold that as a feature it would sell much better than marketing color and brightness and gimmicky ambient lighting. Bah!


So anyway... I am just using this setup for DVDs and with the PC, so It looks like I will need to get a new DVD player. Anyone have recommendations for one with lots of options with correcting aspect ratio?

Thanks
~SS

Well I am extremely happy with the visual quality so far. Granted, I am new to the flat panel realm, moving up for the first time from a regular 4:3 CRT (so maybe I'm more easily impressed). But I was concerned from not liking the very "digital" look of many (most even) showroom LCD displays running whatever random content they do, and after reading much talk about how bad SD content can look on an HDTV. Well my concerns are put to rest. I've only hooked up an old Toshiba standard DVD player via S-Video only, and even that has me thrilled. To my eyes it looks like watching a film in a theater. I'm not seeing pixelation, compression, artifacting, etc. I love it so far.

I think standard DVD will do me fine for a bit. But I also can't wait to see what a better progresssive/upscaling/component DVD player will do, let alone possibly one of the HD disc formats.

SilverSliver: Just a note on what you said about the aspect ratio options. Are you thinking the FILL option will always distort the ratio in some way? Because when I'm playing Riddick, for example, it looks "correct" on the FILL option, "skinny" on the STANDARD option. I don't understand how the set decides on the sizing of the STANDARD option, i.e. why the particular amount of black space surrounding the picture (when there is still clearly room to expand that picture while keeping the same exact ratio).

Does anyone know how to access the service menu? Also, any recommendations of some user calibration settings? Thanks!

Sorry Woodrow... I didn't realize I couldn't list prices. (that was probably in that agreement I skipped over eh?)

Let just say I got it for the early morning price.

Rota: Yes, as far as I can tell the Fill option will always distort the signal and stretch it to the dimensions of the screen.

On a widescreen 16:9 format DVD the signal being sent to the TV is a standard 4:3. Black bars have been added top and bottom to the 16:9 to give it the 4:3 shape. If you turn up the brightness (not the backlight) while in "Standard" mode you can see the black bars on top and bottom are different from those left and right.

The ideal solution to this would be a "Zoom" setting in addition to "Standard" and "Full" This would enlarge the picture (keeping the aspect ratio of course) to the sides of the screen and have the extra black bars being sent as part of the signal (top and bottom) end up off the screen.

I also have an old Toshiba DVD hooked up via S-vid so I don't know why when you watch Riddick, your experience would differ from mine. Is it the widesreen edition? Do you not have any black bars when watching in full?

From checking on Amazon it looks like Riddick is in 2.40:1 aspect ratio, and the two I have tested (Matrix and Borne Supremacy) are in 2.35:1. When I get home I will see what I have in other aspect ratios and try them.

Silver: I have the directors's cut widescreen (2.40:1) of Riddick. There are indeed black bars on top and bottom in FILL mode. What I meant by looking "correct" in FILL mode was based on looking at the shape of the characters faces etc. They don't look squashed in FILL, but seem to look squashed (skinny) in STANDARD. That could just be my perception though.

Using Riddick as an example, this is why the ratio issue is confusing:

1) The screen itself is 16:9. (AKA 1.77:1)

2) Riddick is 2.4:1.

3) Riddick in STANDARD displays 2 inches (estimate for aguments sake) of black bars on top and bottom, as well as 2 inches on the left and right. The spacing is pretty proportional and there simply seems to be no way that this outpout could equate to 2.40:1 since the screen itself is phsyically 1.77:1.

4) However Riddick in FILL displays the same exact estimated 2 inches of black bars on top and bottom, but NOT the black bars on the left and right. Therefore, the aspect ratio would be at least somewhat wider than the STANDARD mode, and closer to the 2.4:1 real ratio of the film.

Long story short, basically it doesn't seem feasible that the way Riddick is displaying in STANDARD could possibly be 2.4:1 based on an eyeball comparion with the physical aspect ratio of the screen (1.77:1).

Sorry for the rambling. I'm agreeing with you that the aspect ratio options should be more extensive (and clearer). What I would like to undestand is exactly what the options that are there now are doing mathematically/logically.

Oh, and yes the "Zoom" option that you describe would be great. I think I'll be trying my laptop as a player which should provide the flexibility needed, with the right player (I downloaded the very flexible "Zoom Player" (ironically named) a while back).

** EDIT: Okay, here's something that seems quite important. I have an adjustment within my Toshiba DVD player OSD setup options named "TV Shape" with options for 4:3 or 16:9 widescreen. I did set it to "16:9 widescreen" previous to running anything on the Westinghouse. So that may explain the differences you and I could be seeing. When I set the Toshiba screen shape to 4:3 as a test, the FILL mode clearly does distort the image by strectching it far too much. Since you have a Toshiba as well, maybe you have the same settings option.

Anyone have any setting adjustment recommendations? So far mine is on the factory default levels.

Brightness: 45

Contrast: 64

Saturation: 42

Hue: 1

Color Temp: Warm

Sharpness: 0

Aspect ratio: Standard

Backlight: 0

dcarson5 - If you mean the brightness, contrast, backlight, etc. settings. Then, here's what I have:

Backlight: 0
Brightness: 50
Contrast: 64
Saturation: 57
Hue: -3
Color Temp: Warm
Sharpnes: 30
Aspect Ratio: FILL

--------------------

I recently changed a setting on my DVD player called Enhanced Black Level to OFF, which greatly affected some of the settings above. And I'm just experimenting. I don't know how useful others settings can be, because of variables such as that.

Unless I'm missing something and there are more detailed calibration settings somewhere to adjust?

Thanks Dargo.

One quick question to everyone, does this TV support 1080i? I'm sure it will be upconverting if I try to run the xbox in 1080i, but how does it compare to 720p?

the tv is capable of down converting 1080i and 1080p to 720p.

anyone having problems with the TV freezing?
Do u guys see some flicker on the top of the screen when watching SD in Standard mode ?

Rota: Ok I feel like a dumbass for not thinking to check the DVD player for its settings.
I have the same option for tv shape and I how have it set for 16:9.

Now on Bourne Supremacy, animorphic widescreen 2.35:1, I have as you describe on the full setting, an unstretched image with just minimal black bars top and bottom measuring 1 3/4". It seems identical with The Royal Tenenbaums, 2.40:1 animorphic.

On Grosse Point Blank, 1.85:1, (non animorphic) the image stays the same despite the setting for 4:3 or 16:9 on the DVD player. The image is as I described before, distortedly stretched on Full, and black bars all around on Standard.

On Saving Private Ryan, animorphic 1.85:1, the image is full screen no black bars and no visible distortion or loss of image.

So, while a zoom feature would apparently be good for non-animorphic DVDs, it seems the inconsistencies are with the lack of any real standard.

I know for some people, any black bar annoys them. Personally I just want the image to make as much use of the screen without distorting the image.

Silver: Cool. Thanks for the heads up about the anamorphic vs. non-anamorphic. I probably would've been scratching my head for awhile wondering why some looked different.

Bought the 4207 yesterday at BB. I was pleased with it until the sound all of a sudden became static. I rerouted the sound through my receiver to see if it was the cable box or tv, and the sound was fine through the receiver. All I get for sound through the tv is static now. Has anybody else had this problem?????? I plan on calling tech support at Westinghouse tomorrow. I may have purchased a lemon.

hey fellas. I bought one @ Best Buy on Friday - didn't have any in stock, but they are shipping me one this Friday, PM'd to the BF price. Question - Has anyone found/looked for a good articulating mount for this? I went through Westinghouse's website, and they recommended the MT80 ARM20, but there are no sites that have them in stock.

There are plenty of other sites that have articulating wall mounts for 42" LCD's, but I get confused with the different VESA 200 and 400 lingo talk - I just want to make sure I get one that fits this set.

Any recommendations would be very helpful.

Thanks,
Matt