Which 32"-37" LCD: Olevia, Vizio, or Westinghouse? (1 Viewer)

[Barrett]

Hello all,

I'm in the market for a larger (32" or 37") LCD. This won't be my primary theater display -- I've got a great 53" CRT RPTV. The LCD will be for the playroom/guest room. We'll use it to view some TV (Dish), play video games, and watch some HD football on weekends when my wife has dibs on the "big" system. Thus, I'm looking at these less expensive brands. All three have built-in HDTV tuners (important), and all have 720p (or 768p) resolution; specs-, features- and price-wise, they're pretty equivalent.

So, let me ask the experts: which brand produces the best picture quality? And, which brand produces the most reliable products? It's hard to do a serious evaluation of these sets, since they're sold at Sam's Club, CompUSA, and Best Buy, so I'd especially appreciate any first-hand experience. Thanks in advance for your advice!

Barrett

 

[Gregg Loewen]

consider Sony Panasonic Samsung

 

[johnADA]

Sony's are way overpriced and even the Sharps at slightly lower prices are better LCD's.

Westinghouse had a butt load of problems when they first came out that are now supposedly fixed. Could be one choice, but for a little more the Samsung has a better record and decent looking picture.

Vizio, no! There using 3rd party everything to cobble TV's together.

Price wise to picture, Olevia. I have one Kolin which is a joint venture with Syntax before to complete USA takeover and one 26 inch Olevia. Both the picture is very close to the Samsung which the Samsung is better than the lower version Sony's. I've had both over 6 months, no problem, had one minor issue that was my fault and customer support cleared that up. I'd personally recommend one and if you didnt Samsung or Westinghouse. Sharp and Sony both have to many models out and rely on the NAME to sell there lower end stuff off at prices still higher than the rest!!

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Sharp Toshiba JVC. I wouldn't personally touch any of Olevia, Vizio, or Westinghouse.

 

[Will-Layfield]

I recommend you go to AVS forum(If you already haven't).......Kevin have you ever seen a toshiba LCD? Many people who actually own the brands you are looking for can offer opinions or pros/cons to each set over there. I really like the new westinghouse 32 LCD at bestbuy it has a great picture and for a "budget" LCD its not too expensive either. But thats just from my search for an inexpensive LCD TV these past few months. Also as mentioned Syntax's are good also but I prefer the Westy's. HHgregg has the 32 inch Syntax Olevio LCD on sale for $799 every now and then. They also carry Westinghouse, Sony, Toshiba, and JVC so you can compare all four of those there. I don't think they carry sharp or sammy's. Just go out and take a look at the sets in store even though it isn't "ideal".

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Will- I have seen Toshiba, Sony, JVC, and Syntax Olivia LCDs. Vizio is known for poor quality control and reliability. (An entire thread on that at AVS.) Westinghouse has had problems with 100% compliance with the HDMI standards. Maybe that is addressed now, but when I was looking, there was some problem with the resolutions they would support or not support. Syntax Olevia "blacks" were not black. They were purple.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I have the 27" and 32" Westinghouse models without tuners and without HDMI. The 32" is still in the box, awaiting deployment in my home office (where it will also be my computer monitor.) The 27" is my bedroom TV. With the component inputs, calibrated with DVE and watching SD and HD cable TV via my HD-DVR or SD DVDs the 27" looks great for the price. No, strike that. It looks great for an LCD flat-panel. It looks unbelieveable for the price. Got a great deal at Best Buy for the 27", and an even better deal compared to the regular price on the 32" which I bought the same day I bought my 56" JVC D-ILA for the living room. Since I could go down the street and get another store to price match the JVC, the guy running the TV department that day was willing to knock a few bucks off some other items to close the deal. (Always try to shop during the holidays when a regional manager is covering for one of his people. )

All I can say is I've been happy.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Frank@N]

I wouldn't have considered a Westinghouse till I recently saw one connected to an HD-DVD player.

I guess BB thought it was good enough to demo on, so I'm keeping them in mind as well.