Westinghouse UW40T2BW

Not long ago, if $500 was all you had in your HDTV spending budget, you likely ended up with a 27- or 32-inch set that maxed out at 720p resolution and looked like, well, a cheap TV?and it probably performed like one. These days, that same $500 gets you into a 40- or 42-inch model that offers full 1080p HD, LED backlighting, and in some cases, 120Hz refresh technology. Westinghouse's UW40T2BW{ offers LED-backlit LCD HDTVs that deliver a good picture and can handle fast-moving video. The 40-inch screen is avalable for $499.99 (list), and while it comes with some color and tinting issues, it has a powerful set of speakers for under half a grand.

Design
The UW40T2BW?offers a simple, yet attractive, cabinet design. It has very thin (0.75-inch) matte black, lightly textured top and side bezels, and a wider (1.5-inch) bottom bezel adorned with a Westinghouse logo. The cabinet measures 2.3 inches at its thickest point and weighs 27 pounds. In addition to the 40-inch panel, it houses two down-firing 10-watt speakers that are loud and powerful. The TV comes with a rectangular, no-swivel stand and has the requisite four VESA mounting holes for placement on a wall.

Touch-sensitive Menu, Input, Volume, Channel, and Power buttons sit on the right side of the lower bezel. The on-screen menu system is well-organized and includes Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Sharpness, Color Temperature, and Hue adjustments. There are five preset picture modes (Showroom, Movie, Game, Sports, and Custom), and a handful of audio options. In addition to Bass, Treble, and Balance settings there are five audio presets (Rock, Pop, Classical, Flat, and Custom) and a Surround 3D setting. The surround effect doesn't come close to the output of a true multi-channel speaker setup, but it does give the TV a fuller-than-typical sound.

As with the 42-inch RCA LED42C45RQ, the UW40T2BW only has two HDMI ports. The same-size Insignia NS-42E480A13, on the other hand, gives you three. Both of the Westinghouse's HDMI ports are at the rear of the cabinet and face downward, making them difficult to access without tilting the TV all the way forward. They are joined by a USB port and an SPDIF audio jack. Right-facing ports include composite A/V, VGA and PC audio (analog) inputs, stereo audio outputs, and an antenna/cable coaxial jack.

The included remote is 7 inches long and contains 38 smallish buttons and a four-way arrow array. None of the buttons are backlit and there's no dedicated Picture Mode button, but it does have a button that toggles between Bright Room, Medium Room, and Dark Room backlighting settings.

Performance
In testing, the UW40T2BW's fast motion prowess was impressive; the 120Hz panel provided a smooth, stutter-free picture while watching 2012 on Blu-ray, a slight improvement in motion over the Editors' Choice (but 60Hz) RCA LED42C45RQ. Its contrast ratio, as measured with a Klein K10-A Colorimeter, was the lowest of the sub-$500 HDTVs we've recently tested, coming in at just 1,514:1. Image quality was aided some by a respectable 0.07 cd/m² black level, which helped give the overall picture a bit of much-needed pop. The RCA's black level was an inferior 0.18 cd/m², but its much brighter panel produced a contrast ratio of 1,796:1.

Color accuracy isn't good, as seen in the CIE color comparison chart below (the circles represent the measured readings, and the squares represent the ideal measurements). Red, green, and blue levels were all oversaturated, but the heavy greens had the most impact, causing tinting in skin tones and highlights. For example, in the movie Piranha, Elisabeth Shue's blond hair showed a noticeable green tinge around the edges.

The set offers relatively wide viewing angles for an LCD set. Colors remained mostly intact when viewed from the sides and the picture didn't lose luminance like it did with the Insignia NS-42E480A13. Reds appeared slightly lighter when viewed from an extreme side angle though.

The UW40T2BW used 53 watts of power during testing, which is average for a 40-inch LED backlit HDTV. The 42-inch RCA LED42C45RQ and Insignia NS42E480A13 consumed 67 watts and 64 watts, respectively.

Conclusion
If you're looking for a sub-$500 40-inch HDTV that has a 120Hz panel and is capable of displaying 1080p video, the Westinghouse UW40T2BW fits the bill. ?It could use some tweaking to correct its color accuracy issues, but still delivers a reasonably good picture, good motion handling, and respectable viewing angle performance. Still, our Editors' Choice for budget HDTVs, the RCA LED42C45RQ is a better deal, offering a 42-inch screen and a better all-around picture for $50 less.

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