Westinghouse TX-47F450S LCD HDTV
For the bargain hunter, this TV has a good price and average features which will appeal to some.
Our test revealed the Westinghouse TX-47F450S as average with marks being based on picture quality. In fact most of its marks are within the Good and Very Good categories. but there are a few Fair ratings as well. These are due to the picture quality not being that great. One judge remarked that David Letterman looked washed out, the skin color of a Caucasian acquired a pinkish color and we thought that the TV didn't do much justice to the Return of the King DVD.
The image quality may suffer, but at least this set makes up lost ground on its audio. When the volume is set to a comfortable level, somewhere a third the way up, sounds from the TV are good and were clear and distinct. Pushing the volume up gives some seriously loud sound on this TV.
Usually, to add depth to sound and beef up the bass, a subwoofer is needed. But that's not the case with the TX-47F450S as it takes audio to a whole new level. In fact of the nine HDTVs sets that we took a look at, all of which are 46-to 47 inch sets, the scores for this TV are commendable, and even better for a TV coming from its class.
Menus on this TV are almost flawless, save for some minor problems. Every option on the video menu is grayed out. The remedy is to exit out of the program settings and change the set-up to User mode. That way the options that you need will be available to you. Minor blips like that undercut some of its finer details like the user-friendly menu that's easy on the eyes and recognizable icons.
Easy to access regular inputs are seen at the side of the TV, but there are no short-cuts for inputs for temporary hardware add-ons. If you pay attention to the overall design of this HDTV you'll notice that it's almost identical to Westinghouse's previous HDTV release.
Though the manual and the remote leave much to be desired, other aspects help make the TX-47450S a great choice. With the remote alone, you will find that it is not comfortable to hold in your hand as you watch hours of television. The closely posiitoned buttons mean lots of errors when you are channel surfing or trying to go to a specific station. The design of the remote is also cluttered and it will be a while before you have accurately memorized where the important buttons are located.
The manual is almost unnecessary and you will find yourself online anyway looking for a printable copy that is better than the book they included. The instructions were not very clear and some of the wording was too light to read at times. You could spend hours fumbling with the sheets as you attempt to understand the instructions.
The Autosource option automatically changes the setting when you connect a device. This is a great feature for you since this is cost-efficient. Although the Westinghouse TX-47F250S doesn't coem close to the best flat screen tvs, its average features and great sound makes it a decent buy. Perfect if you don't have a surround stereo sound system.
