We watched the Westinghouse monitor with a myriad of sources and resolutions. 1080p or 1080i sources will look the best and result in the least amount of artifacts, though it did a fair job of scaling 720p material to its native resolution. For the most part we sent it 1080p upconverted material or sources from our Denon DVD-3930CI reference player at 1080p resolution.

DVD: Star Wars - Clone Wars: Volume One
Using the DVI-D inputs of the display we wanted to get a good idea of the color capabilities and Clone Wars: Volume One seemed to be a good choice (OK, it’s also such a great DVD to watch). Jumping from chapter to chapter I selected a nice grouping of photos that I thought represented some excellent aspects of the Westinghouse display.

Notice the color and black levels. I overexposed some of the shots to bring out the black level detail (digital cameras are difficult at best to use when photographing displays). You can really get a sense that the Westinghouse is capable of showing off a great mount of detail and saturated color.

DVD: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Want to test black levels? Pop in a Harry Potter movie after dialing up your settings and watch the screen. If you don’t have decent black levels for these movies you’re liable to see a lot of black sections on the screen without any detail. Fortunately for Westinghouse owners, this won’t be the case. This display doesn’t sport the tragic “s-curve” gamma pattern that makes many entry-level displays produce banding and lose all manner of detail in darker movie scenes.

DVD: Spiderman 2
Now let’s combine the dark scenes of Harry Potter with the colorful costuming of Spiderman 2. The results are stunning with some very excellent source footage to challenge any entry-level display.

CG and well-filmed close-ups almost always looks good in HD resolution and this was no exception. Spiderman’s costume was superb as was the facial detail shown on the main characters throughout the film. Colors popped (even the difficult reds presented in this film) and darker scenes like those inside the warehouse where Dr. Octopus assembles and activates his device are very visible. If anything, these scenes show some of the limitations of the display in that – while detail is present – it may not be quite as dark as a reference plasma display or later generation LCD panel.

Is This an Upgrade Over the LVM-42w2 42-inch Display?

One thing I noted with the LVM-47w1 display was that it had none of the power bugs persistent with its 42-inch brother. Other than that the sets look almost identical. Some specs, such as refresh rate seem to differ, but I was unable to notice any of this in practical, even critical, use. Both sets are an amazing value (there is a firmware fix for owners of the LVM-42w2, so we still recommend that model) and it’s really just a question of budget and size. The one thing we really want to see from Westinghouse on future models is the ability to calibrate RGB Gain/Cut settings. This is simply too handy not to have and would result in the ability to perfect the display without having to worry about Service Level menus. With products available like the SpyderTV Pro from datacolor, more and more consumers are getting savvy at calibration and we look to manufacturers to make these features available.

Both displays have a singularly disruptive problem in that they quickly lose contrast and black levels when viewing from an angle. Unlike more expensive LCD displays we’ve seen, the Westinghouse displays act more like a computer monitor than a TV, a condition we’d love to see remedied with a higher-end product. If you’re trying to make sure that everyone in a wider room can enjoy the TV equally without losing black levels or decreasing contrast you will want to take this into consideration before purchasing. If you are like me, however, and the main viewing angle is narrow, then the LVM series is a bargain product.

Conclusion

The Westinghouse LVM-47w1 LCD monitor is fluent in over 8 languages – all of them video. With that many inputs, it’s no surprise that this is a popular display for anyone looking to have a lot of sources – or at least a healthy choice of which to use. All in all this is another home run for Westinghouse and there is very little competition at this price point for 1080p LCD displays (add another $1000 and you might be able to grab a 45” unit from Sharp).