I picked up the Westinghouse TX-47F430S 47″ 1080p LCD HDTVat Best Buy the day they got it.  If it were not for the avsforum thread that contained the SKU # they wouldn’t have even known it was in their store.  I wedged it into my Pathfinder and escorted it home.

For those that don’t already know this is a 47 inch 1080p resolution LCD TV.  It features 4 HDMI inputs (more on that later), 2 component video inputs, a VGA input, and a few caveman technology inputs that high-def man doesn’t care about.  This TV can do 1080p via the VGA, HDMI, or even component inputs.

The image quality on this TV is great on high definition sources.  You’ll certainly need to break out your Digital Video Essentials HD DVD to set it up.  The backlight default setting is like having headlights shining in your face, which is great at the store, but lousy when it comes to blowing out your black level.  My set doesn’t have any dead or stuck pixels, and I have never noticed any motion blur or ghosting.  This TV also has a built in HD tuner but I have not used it and therefor cannot comment on how well it functions.

This is where the fun part ends.  I picked up a Toshiba HD-A20 a few days after the Westinghouse and found that the HDMI between the TV and HD-DVD won’t sync.  After multiple firmware updates for the dvd player it still doesn’t work.  Westinghouse support blames Toshiba, and of course Toshiba blames Westinghouse.  The player works great with my other output devices, and all of my other HDMI devices work fine with this TV.  This forces you to use component video which is restricted to a max resolution of 1080i.  As far as I can tell nobody has had any luck at all getting Westinghouse to send anybody out to update the firmware in the TV.  The firmware revision in my set is the original release, and as of right now there have been at least 2 other firmware releases since then.  The TV has a port on it for updating the firmware but Westinghouse refuses to release the files to the public.  Westinghouse support is supposedly contracted out through another company so they really don’t have a whole lot of clue if you call them for help.  The last time I called about getting a firmware update they said someone from the company would be reviewing my case and calling me back but it never happened.  Others have told me that all they got when they asked for a firmware update is the runaround.

I eventually got an HDMI switching receiver (Onkyo TX-SR805). Connecting the HD-A20 through it made the HDMI magically work. Of course that is a pretty expensive “solution” to the real issue.

Unfortunately the issues with this TV do not end there.  About once a week the set will “lock up” and OSD elements will get stuck on the screen.  When this happens it completely stops responding to remote control commands.  Even the buttons on the side of the set no longer work.  The video will still work fine, but you can’t change inputs until you pull the power plug.  There is another issue I experienced shortly after purchase where the HDMI ports just stopped working until I unplugged it.  Westinghouse support blamed these problems on “power surges”, but I’ve seen many other reports of others with the exact same issues.

This experience has taught me a few things. The first is that being the first person to own a new piece of hardware is not wise. Had I been aware of the problems with this TV I certainly would have chosen something else. The response from Westinghouse support has made me realize that I most likely will never buy one of their TVs again. I certainly wouldn’t do it without an extended warrantee where I could drop it off at the service desk and demand something else if it had issues similar to this TV.

Switching between HDMI ports requires cycling between them.  It appears that the TV was designed with an HDMI switch connected to what is most likely 1 real HDMI input on the tv’s circuit board.  It is still very nice to have 4 HDMI ports.  Yet another downside to this television is that the video settings are shared among ports.  These two limitations make this LCD a poor choice for picky videophiles using it as their only display device.

That being said I still think it would be hard to beat this set for the price.  It is considerably less expensive now than when I bought mine, which makes it even harder to resist.  If I had to pick up a different 1080p LCD I really don’t know what I would choose.  Most of the other LCDs available are too small for high def man.

If you’re looking for a low-priced “small” TV for your living room to supplement your theater this is a great choice.

Now if I could just get Westinghouse to call me back…

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