This Acer screen has been described in reviews as great for gamers, but not good for people who need a color correctable image for video editing or graphics work.

If you are doing your Vegas preview on a separate monitor, this is of course of no concern.

Note also that since it has no HDCP, you can't watch HD-DVD or Blu-Ray movies on it. The players (or video cards) will simply refuse to communicate with it.

The Westinghouse monitor is specifically designed for watching video, which makes a big difference (I have tried many different monitors for viewing video over the years, and found a huge difference with those designed for it).

This Westinghouse monitor is more interesting that the Acer one, because of all the TV-related ports it has. It makes it perfect for both PC usage (via HDMI) and TV testing of your videos (either via component, s-video or HDMI-switcher) in full 1080p mode. It's good to test gamma values. This is two-in-one, because traditionally, professionals had to have both a PC monitor and a TV to test with. This one can do both properly as long as your graphics card has either component-out or two DVI ports or one DVI and one VGA.

Two weeks ago I bought a 22" widescreen (16:10) LCD display from Fry's for $199. I had been holding out for a 24" monitor, but figured this would be good enough for a while, and my old 20" Sony Trinitron-based CRT monitor was starting to go.

I've since seen a dozen or so ads for very similar 22" monitors, all for around $200. I am pleasantly surprised by the quality of the image. Native resolution is 1680 x 1050, which is just about right for my eyes.

Maybe my next step with be either an identical 22" monitor and a dual-head display card, or this gorgeous new 27" LCD display for about $1,100.

22" 1680x1050 definitely offers the most bang for the buck for general PC use today.

If you want to monitor HD though, a 24" 1920x1200 is needed.

I had to go to Best Buy today, happened to see that they had both the Acer and the Westinghouse LCDs up on display side-by-side. Both fed analog computer signals through the VGA connector... Still, there was a very visible difference.

And the prices were $100-$150 higher there.

Coursedesign - Do you have an initial impressions to share?

Sorry, I've been so busy this weekend I've been near crawling out of my skin. The screen is sitting here waiting to be hooked up and calibrated.

I should be able to do it tomorrow morning, and promise to report here right away.

The HDMI jack is recessed, so my HDMI-DVI adapter won't plug in.

I have to get an HDMI cable to be able to hook it up.

Got a new DVI-HDMI adapter at Circuit City that fit.

I first tested the 1920x1200 resolution via DVI with my MacBook Pro.

Looked very very good out of the box. Even the smallest text was easy to read.

The computer picture was just a tiny bit less crisp than a $899 23" Apple CinemaDisplay, but comparable to a $569 Gateway 24" or a Dell 24".

Next I checked OTA SDTV through an S-video cable. Amazingly pleasant rendition (this is not always the case with HD screens, some are outright nasty).

Next OTA ATSC SD&HDTV through HDMI. Looked excellent, with great non-exaggerated color saturation, and a feeling of depth. Need more time to say more than that.

I like that black levels and white levels can be set separately (this means the brightness of the video signal and the level of the backlighting can be adjusted separately).

Not a bad pixel in sight either, no question that this is a great value.

Well now I am getting a little long in the tooth so I need two 32" montors in the 1080P range.
JJK

Can you guys post some pictures of your Vegas UI being displayed on some of these >20" monitors?

I'm using 19" monitors @ 1600 x 1200 and I still have a hard time fitting Vegas onto these monitors. Everything seems to be BIG but PremierePro seems to fit right in there. My Mac(s) are also running on the same size & resolution monitors. Same thing there... it all seems to fit. (Avid & FCP)

The comparison that was shared with me was Vegas is like the Over-Sized Crayons you get as a Kid... while the other NLE's are like a Sharpened Pencils.

I took a look at the UI's... and I have to totally agree.

I'm just wondering if I am using too small of monitors?

Here you go.

Screen shot from a 22" widescreen (16:10) Emprex LCD monitor, 1680x1050 pixels.

By the way, the preview window shows Omaha Beach on the northwest coast of France, where thousands of soldiers died on D-Day coming ashore. The choir I toured with this summer sang there on the 4th of July.

For that price on the Westy at Newegg, it's also a good idea to get their service plan for only $80. Westinghouse isn't known for high-quality, so it makes sense to cover your butt.

Here's Newegg's Service Net text:

"If your product fails, Service Net will replace it. - Guaranteed.

Guaranteed Replacement Coverage - Receive a new product if yours fails. Coverage on all major brands (As long as it's on our covered product list, we'll cover it.) 24/7 Customer Service (You can always count on someone being here to help) Fully Transferable (Giving it away? Selling it? It's still covered.) This plan is perfect for digital cameras, printers, monitors, scanners, copiers, office equipment, PDAs, and more! Replacement plans are available on most items under $500. Once your product is replaced, the contract is considered fulfilled.

My own setup, one 22" 1680x1050 and a vertical rotated 21" 1200x1600 one (mostly used for web browsing that's why I have it rotated vertically):
http://osnews.com/img/vegas/vegas.jpg

For that price on the Westy at Newegg, it's also a good idea to get their service plan for only $80. Westinghouse isn't known for high-quality, so it makes sense to cover your butt.

I agree it's a good idea to spend $79 on a service plan. I got the 3 year warranty extension instead of the 2 year replacement plan (for the same price) though. If you truly don't trust Westinghouse's quality, that's a better deal, as the replacement plan only replaces once.

Actually, from what I can find, most Westinghouse LCD monitors have had exceptionally good word of mouth over the last two years.

The fact that no recent reviewers got bad pixels is a good sign, as is my own impression from the build quality and design. Looks absolutely very good.

I agree that the word-of-mouth is superb. In fact, I never would've considered them had I not heard all the accolades on various forums.

I remember the White-Westinghouse TV's and VCR's at K-Mart from years back. They were rather second-rate (and only K-Mart seemed to sell them). But right now, at least with their monitors, they have quite a following. I think as time goes by, their track record will only get better.