Westinghouse LVM-42w2 42-inch 1080p LCD Monitor

[Jeremy Charette]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/avhardware/westinghouse-LVM-42w2p1.php' target='_blank'>http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/avhardware/westinghouse-LVM-42w2p1.php</a><br /><br /></div><i>"I want a 1080p display… I need a 1080p display. After seeing the technology at CES this year that was my mantra… Suddenly, the lesser important things like eating, sleeping and personal hygiene seemed to get pushed aside in my quest for more densely-packed pixels and the ultimate high definition experience. 1080p is what we call an emerging technology – especially since your sources are limited, at present, to a few select upconverting DVD players and WMV HD sources via PC. Most of the new 1080p displays on the market simply upconvert 480i/480p/720p/1080i input signals internally to 1080p (and sometimes even those aren’t truly 1080p). A select few, including the new Westinghouse LVM-42w2, actually take 1080p input via component, HDMI and its dual DVI-D inputs. This is a true 1080p display that is slightly ahead of its time – but definitely ready for the future… at least until some uptight MPAA associate demands a new DRM scheme that renders all hardware obsolete and forces us back to using slide projectors and reel to reel tape."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/clip_image003_032.jpg" /> <br /><br />This is another display I've been considering. I want two things in my next HDTV: a big screen (42", ideally), and 1080p native resolution. This fits both requirements nicely. Despite a few minor imperfections, this panel lookslike one of the best on the market. This one line totally sells me on 1080p: <i>"...there is simply no comparison to other displays once you see true 1080p material."</i>

[BugDude10]

This one line totally sells me on 1080p: "...there is simply no comparison to other displays once you see true 1080p material."

My Toshiba 62HM195 is 1080p as well, and the picture in HD is stunning (and pretty damn impressive in 480p from a DVD, too). However, as I understand it, there is no 1080p source material now, and none expected anytime in the near future...

[Felix Torres]

However, as I understand it, there is no 1080p source material now, and none expected anytime in the near future...

Sorry, but that is pretty much irrelevant.
Most HDTV content is 1080-native at the source and the *only* way to display 1080 content without downscaling is via 1080p displays.
Or to flip it around, 1080-native displays are the *only* way to see HDTV at full native resolution without degrading the incoming video.

For TV use, as long as the display properly deinterlaces the video stream (many don't, both 720- and 1080-native) it doesn't matter if the incoming video is transmitted in interlaced form; it still ends up in a 1080p/60 frame buffer.

The issue is quality of de-interlacer, not transmission format.

[Jeremy Charette]

Actually, there is a way to see 1080(i) content in it's native format, and that's a CRT HDTV. Most of them display only 480p and 1080i natively. Of course, if you want 1080p...

And I agree on the issue of proper de-interlacing. This looks to be one of the 42" Westinghouse's strengths, as it converts all interlaced signals into progressive scan, then scales them to 1080p, including standard def (480i). Read the review, it looks like Westinghouse really covered all the bases.

[Felix Torres]

The caveat on CRTs is that not all of them actually display the full horizontal resolution and it isn't easy to tell which do and which don't because the spec doesn't require them to, either: all the spec requires is that they display alternating fields of 540 lines; the lines could be 2 pixels of data and they'd still qualify. In fact, the alternating lines can evn overlap and it would still meet the spec. Good luck trying to find out which are truely HD and which are spec-HD.
Most manufacturers won't even reveal their dot-pitch...

The phrase "caveat emptor" could've been invented by HDTV vendors...