Westinghouse

• Westinghouse LD-3255AR Review

  Date: 2011.02.04 | Category: Westinghouse | Response: 0

  Westinghouse LD 3255 is not quite small enough to be regarded as a compact dorm-room HDTV format, nor is it large enough to serve as a full-blown home theater centerpiece. Priced at $ 499, this 32-inch model offers an affordable second or third flat panel TV for the bedroom or study, and it is a power miser who next-to-nothing to control costs. At this price, but there are sacrifices to be made: The panel does not support Full HD 1080p resolution and it suffers from a few performance flaws, including matte colors and narrow viewing angles.

  

  The TV glossy black bezel around the 32-inch screen, measures 1.25 inches wide around the top and sides, while the bottom ring is bent more than twice as thick at 2.75 inches. The black gives way to a clear finish around the edges with a thin red accent between. The LD-3255, including 1.5 inches at its thickest point, thanks to the use of side-lit LED’s, is supported by a teardrop-shaped stand with a narrow arm assembly, making the closet a bit wobbly at 14.6 pounds. Still, it’s an improvement over the standard Westinghouse SK26H640G last year, which not only stable, but threw the screen in a downward angle. The 5-watt speakers built into the cabinet to deliver audio and moderately loud sounds best when the SRS surround sound is on, but if you’re looking for deep bass, you will not find here.

  There are six buttons on the right of the TV for tweaking images, audio and parental control settings, and changing channels, selecting an input source and adjust the volume. As was the case with SK26H640G, the LD-3255 has only three preset levels of backlight (Bright, Medium and Dark). The bright setting produced the best overall image, while the other two were too dark. Of the five available picture settings (Movie, Custom, Showroom, Game and Sport) the Movie preset provides the best all-round picture quality for watching HD programming. You will not find advanced settings such as gamma, white balance, and the individual color adjustments, but you can choose one of three color temperatures, and tweak sharpness and saturation levels.

  
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  The 6.9-inch external cram 44 smallish buttons on the compact face, none of them are lit, and you will no player controls. Besides a number pad, a four-way rocker, the Channel and Volume buttons, and an input selector, there is an aspect ratio test, an EPG (Electronic Program Guide)-key, a Menu key, and a closed captioning button. Several of the additional tools included here are not supported on this model, and they occupy valuable space.

  A / V ports are scarce: You only get two HDMI ports on this model, but they are conveniently located to the left of the box just below a SPDIF optical audio output. You will also find a USB connection, but it is reserved as a service port, so you can not appear in a USB stick with pictures, audio or video files and play them back on TV. Rear access ports are a coaxial TV connection, a set of composite A / V ports, a PC audio input, one VGA input, and stereo audio outputs. There are no component jacks, but you can use the supplied VGA dongle to connect devices with component outputs. Missing is an Ethernet port, which means no interactive Web applications such as found on most mainstream HDTV on the market today.

  

  The 32-inch screen has a maximum resolution of 1366 x 768, which means you can not watch video in Full HD. That said, the LD-3255 a sharp 720p image with a respectable contrast ratio of 2696:1 delivers, as measured Konica CS -200 chroma meter after a basic calibration darkroom. Test patterns from DisplayMate diagnostic suite showed a good accuracy, but the colors were not as vivid as they are more expensive sets like 50-inch Panasonic TC-P50G25 plasma or 47-inch LG 47LE5500.

  While watching this set, you want as close to dead as you can. Angle less than stellar performance, during testing, I experienced major shifts in color with skin color take sides on a greenish hue. Scenes from The Green Zone on Blu-ray disc, detailed and largely noise-free, but remember, this is not a 1080p panel. And with a 60 Hz response was there any evidence of the edges in standard definition material, but they were small and not affect the overall image quality.

  
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  The LD-3255 drew an average of 38 watts of power during playback of a Blu-ray movie in the movie picture preset in my tests. That is about half the force needed for the Westinghouse SK26H640G, a 26-inch CCFL backlight model to run. Based on the 2009 national average cost of 11.55 cents per kWh, then the LD-3255 only costs 67 cents per month in utility fees, or about $ 8.00 per year. Excellent energy efficiency and the use of recycled materials and soy inks on the packaging of the TVs deserve our LD-3255 GreenTech seal of approval.

  As with most budget HDTVs, you get what you pay for, and the Westinghouse LD-3255 is no exception. For $ 499 you get a thin HDTVs that are very energy efficient and produces a sharp 720p image, but that’s about it. You do not get state-of-the-art TV technology or no extra features. For $ 50 more, you can transfer to the same size 1080p Westinghouse LD 3285. Another small window option: The ViewSonic VT2730 offers excellent energy efficiency, but also a better all-round image on a 27-inch display.

  
  BUY WESTINGHOUSE LD-3255 HDTV NOW AT A REDUCED PRICE!