do they sell new westinghouse or is it all refurb crapola

Westinghouse comes out of the factory as a refurb #1.

My brother has had a 42" 1080p Westinghouse for several years now as his main TV and it's been flawless. And he's super picky about dead pixels, etc.

They probably sold a bunch of these things. For the specs it seems tempting but with such a short warranty it does seem too risky.

heck no

Their service sucks, they still have mine from the referb warranty from August. I bought it from reviews saying they used to be good, but that's changed in my own experience.