Review - Syntax Olevia LT42HVi LCD HDTV

Syntax Ölevia LT42HVi 42" LCD HDTV
Dick De Jong, March 10, 2006
HDTV Solutions

Syntax's entry into the increasingly crowded 42" LCD market, the Ölevia LT42Hvi, is a sleek, stylishly designed, 1366 x 768 Maximum Resolution.' class=gloss>native resolution HDTV with all of the features that you would expect with an MSRP of $2699. Mounted on a wall with its black glass front (and only a blue light indicating it's powered up), the monitor would make a bold impression, filling any high tech home with pride.

Out of the Box
I read a study today that said half of the returns of supposedly malfunctioning electronic devices are not broken. The consumer just couldn't figure out how to use them. Apparently, the average American will try for 20 minutes and then give up. Setting up modern audiovisual products with their ever expanding list of features often can make a greenhorn geek catatonic in half that time.

If you are spending over $2000 for a HDTV, you probably can pay somebody to install it for you. But I still believe that these technological marvels should be easy to operate, and one of the first indications of their user friendliness is what I call their "plop-ability." You know the situation: you're hosting a March Madness party or an Academy Awards fête. Your new 42" TV just arrived. How quickly can you plop it on the console, produce a picture to be proud of, and plop your satisfied self on the couch?

Syntax Ölevia LT42HVi 42" LCD HDTV

Even though the Ölevia LT42Hvi, (with its stand), weighs almost 125 pounds, it plop-ability quotient is quite high. Early on in the setup process, I began to appreciate that the designers were concerned with more than just the looks of the product. For example, the audio and video connections are mounted vertically on the back of the set for easy access. (The manual also touted a convenient built-in little light over the connectors, though alas, that feature never made it into the shipping product.)

Adding to the ease of setup was a User's Manual that was clear and informative. (It even included a glossary.) For a change, it was written in plain English. Also, the remote control is well laid out with good-sized buttons, (which is important since it is not backlit), and comfortable in your hand. And, you can slide the cover of the bottom half of the remote to reveal even more (not so large) buttons for functions that you would otherwise have to find in the On Screen menus, like Zoom and Freeze. The cover-up prevents those incomprehensible phenomena caused by plopping yourself on the remote. For those times, when the remote is completely buried in the sofa, the Power, Volume, and Channel buttons are discreetly located on the bottom of the front of the monitor, also allowing a second access to the On Screen menus.

Back to the original plop-ability, the Ölevia comes with a pair of 25-watt speakers mounted below the monitor that can be detached and placed vertically on each side of the screen, which can then be lowered in the adjustable stand. Though a typical home theater installation will probably include a separate sound system, the On Screen audio settings do provide audio EQ effects, like Concert or Arena, that produce a good, if not great, sound.

With all that design acumen at work, one big obstacle to plop-ability exists. This multi-thousand dollar product does not include any cables in the package - not even a stereo RCA audio cable. I realize that everyone's installation requirements may be different, but even the $199 Oppo DVD player includes It can also carry an analog signal and comes as DVI-I (integrated - analog and digital), DVI-D (digital only) and DVI-A (analog only). Dual link DVI connections add additional resolution capabilities. Digital cable lengths should not exceed 15 feet. Specifications on DVI are available at www.ddwg.org. Click for more details on DVI." class=gloss>DVI and

HDMI supports standard, enhanced, or high-definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio, and interactive controls on a single cable. It transmits all ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committe) HDTV standards and supports 8-channel digital audio. First product releases using HDMI occurred in 2003." class=gloss>HDMI cables.

Video/Audio
With the assistance of the aforementioned Oppo OPDV971H player (attached to one of the two HDMI connectors on the Ölevia ) and the Digital Video Essentials DVD, I calibrated the monitor for black level, white level, gray scale purity, color bias, and linearity. Overall, the default settings were a bit too bright, but controls were responsive and the final adjusted image for the most part was excellent. (More on that later.)

With the On Screen menu, you can make and save separate adjustments for all inputs available [TV1, AV 1 & 2, S Video 1 & 2, YPbPr (Component) 1 & 2, HDMI 1 & 2, VGA, and DTV]. Interestingly, in the HDMI adjustment menu, the Saturation, Hue, and Sharpness controls and the Advanced Picture Adjust panel were deactivated. A call to Syntax's Tech Support revealed that the logic behind this decision was that with an HDMI/DVI signal, you didn't need to make these adjustments, though they were considering activating them for their soon-to-be released (around June) Signature series of TVs. In their defense, I could achieve a perfectly fine HDMI image without them. Of course, if you love to tweak...

I must confess, I dread tweaking - especially with the mish-mash of signals fed into monitors these days. I feel like a dog chasing its tail. You go round and round and when you do finally nail it, you're too exhausted to enjoy your success. Or you change to another channel, (with its own signal peculiarities), and the picture looks too red or green or bright or whatever and you're back to tweaking.

And sometimes, no matter what you do, your adjustments are just not good enough. That was my experience trying to setup the Component signal of the Digital Video Essentials test patterns. Black level was never really satisfactory. Looking at the HDMI and Component signals side by side, you realize why the manual strongly recommends using the HDMI connection. With the Ölevia, the HDMI image was simply truer and cleaner.

If you are a tweakaholic, the Advanced Picture Adjust panel includes a DNR (Dynamic Noise Reduction) adjustment and four additional on/off functions: Black Level Extender, White Peak Limitator, Flesh Tone, and Adaptive Luma Control. Again, this panel is not active in the HDMI menu.

DTV
These days, more and more television stations are broadcasting digital (though not always high def) signals OTA, over the air. (Read Chris Iannicello's article for the details.) With a built-in ATSC digital tuner, the Ölevia LT42Hvi can receive digital terrestrial broadcasts. Luckily, I can see the broadcast antennae from my driveway, so I can receive eleven OTA digital channels with inexpensive indoor rabbit ears. (To check what is available from your house, go to http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx.)

Once the antenna was plugged into the DTV connector, scanning for the channels was straightforward, and then a handy electronic program guide was generated. Of course, by surfing through the channels, the range of aspect ratios, resolutions and picture quality can be disconcerting. I don't relish the prospect of such an unstandardized broadcast future.

Performance
I like to be close to the screen; I tend to sit in the third or fourth row of a big movie theater. But after crowding the Ölevia monitor to perform the initial adjustments, I realized that I would never be satisfied - especially judging low def, NTSC signals - unless I moved back eight or ten feet and watched television like normal people. The old GI/GO (garbage in/garbage out) axiom was disturbingly apparent with a high definition monitor. Now you can really see the noise and artifacts and color shifts. I sympathize with the folks who have plunked down a chunk of change for one of these high definition wonders only to discover the ugly warts of the NTSC television signals, (which were masked by their old 26" sets), magnified to 42" splendor.

Indeed, as I sat watching 480i broadcasts, (at an appropriate distance), I was pondering the value of this TV. Even the DVD of the beautifully photographed Story of a Weeping Camel upconverted to 720p did not transport me over the moon. I think it was one of those DiscoveryHD programs with close-ups of gila monsters that finally turned the tide. And then the epiphany came while watching the Academy Awards in HD from the DVI signal on my Dish Network 811 receiver. (Considering how lifeless most of the program was, I had plenty of time to cogitate on all things HDTV.)

It's not profound, but it's worth repeating, HDTVs are made to display programs designed for and shot in high definition. And the Ölevia LT42Hvi does a beautiful job of performing that task. With the Academy Awards broadcast, the viewing experience proved absorbing and worth the cost of admission. The good news is that everyday more and more truly HD content is becoming available with the advent of additional HD channels and the soon-to-be released dueling high definition DVD players.

With that said, I have three - perhaps minor - but nagging problems with this TV. First, especially in dark scenes, a purplish tinge is apparent around the edges of the screen. Initially, I thought it had something to do with the Backlight, which can be adjusted. But running through the Bright, Middle and Dark options made no difference. Tech Support said that those upcoming Signature series TVs will have a new anti-reflection coating that supposedly will ameliorate this situation.

Secondly, the viewing angle is listed at 178 degrees. I noticed a fairly sharp qualitative drop-off long before those numbers. I would suggest that you don't place your La-Z-Boys too far off center. Finally, in HDMI, the image was slightly overscanned. In Component, the test pattern was cropped even more and shifted left a bit. I could not locate any controls in the menu to adjust this.

I did not test the monitor with a computer signal so I have no indication if it does 1:1 pixel mapping. Syntax lists the Gray to Gray response time at 8 ms. Since we're talking numbers, the manual also states a Full On/Off contrast measures the ratio of the light output of an all white image (full on) and the light output of an all black (full off) image. 2) ANSI contrast is measured with a pattern of 16 alternating black and white rectangles. The average light output from the white rectangles is divided by the average light output of the black rectangles to determine the ANSI contrast ratio. When comparing the contrast ratio of video devices make sure you are comparing the same type of contrast. Full On/Off contrast will always be a larger number than ANSI contrast for the same video device." class=gloss>Contrast ratio of 1200:1, achieved by a dynamic iris system that adaptively enhances the contrast in real time.

Conclusion
The Ölevia LT42Hvi is a well designed, great looking, easy to use, feature rich HDTV that can accentuate a modern living room wall or (with its minimalist silver stand) fit comfortably in a family room. Especially with a DVI/HDMI source, the monitor produces compelling high definition images that can flatter the Final Four or a femme fatale. If you are only viewing standard definition TV and DVDs, you probably could save your money and stick to an old fashioned NTSC TV. But if you are eager to catch the fast approaching HDTV wave, the Ölevia LT42Hvi is definitely worth your consideration.

View the original article here

READ MORE - Review - Syntax Olevia LT42HVi LCD HDTV

Olevia 747i 47" LCD Review

Olevia 747i 47" LCD HDTV Review
Dick De Jong
February 13, 2007
HDTV Solutions

The Olevia 747i 47" LCD represents the largest 1080p LCD that parent company Syntax-Brillian has produced in its Olevia line of HDTVs. Gaining a reputation as a brash up-start company, Syntax-Brillian has begun to garner market share from the big boys by aggressively pricing their TVs.

Don't be fooled though into thinking that this Olevia is a stripped down HDTV. On the contrary, built around a high-end SiliconOptix Realta Hollywood Quality Video processor, this feature-laden 747i produces a lush, rich-looking 1080p image.

Out of the Box
These sleek flat panels definitely have a sex appeal, but when they start to expand to 47", their slimness can be deceiving. Though only six inches deep (without the stand), the Olevia 747i tips the scales at 132 pounds. Even if you can bench press over 300 pounds, we would suggest that you recruit a workout buddy to assist in lifting this HDTV onto a table – or two if you are wall mounting it.

Of course, another consideration with a TV of this size is where to place it in your room. 32" HDTVs can still hide away in a lot of old entertainment centers. At 42", you need to become creative with placement. A 47" TV definitely can dominate any room smaller than Tutankhamun's tomb. (We have discussed some solutions in the ABCedia of Design and will write more about this topic in upcoming articles.)

With its wide black bezel, this Olevia does not break any new ground in visual appeal. It actually looks boxier than many HDTVs when its bigger than usual speakers are attached below the display. But the speakers are removable or can be reconfigured on the sides of the TV, giving it a more elongated look. Of note, the front glass, which is usually encased in the bezel, floats in front of the 747i, providing the slightest of minimalist visual flair.

The TV is fixed on the stand (14" deep), which means there is no swivel. Considering the limited viewing angle of this LCD, a swivel would make seating a little less critical. As usual, the TV can be removed from the stand and mounted on a wall.

The control buttons reside on the bottom right of the front facing down. Their names are stenciled in light gray on the front bezel. The only other adornment is a rather large "Olevia" and a blue LED power light. Other than that, think "black box with a thin light gray piping on the side." Diagram of the 747i Side Panel

As for functional design, I feel like Renee Zellweger, speaking to Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire, "Shut up. You had me at side-mounted connection panel."

For the everyday consumer, the inconvenience of downward facing connectors cowering on the back in the shadows may not be a major deal.

But for the poor reviewer, who is constantly plugging and unplugging cables to check out all of the different combinations and permutations, when we find an easy to see, easy to reach, side-mounted panel, we tend to gush.

And this panel is packed with a variety of connectors including two

HDMI supports standard, enhanced, or high-definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio, and interactive controls on a single cable. It transmits all ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committe) HDTV standards and supports 8-channel digital audio. First product releases using HDMI occurred in 2003." class=gloss>HDMI, (each with stereo audio Ins if needed for It can also carry an analog signal and comes as DVI-I (integrated - analog and digital), DVI-D (digital only) and DVI-A (analog only). Dual link DVI connections add additional resolution capabilities. Digital cable lengths should not exceed 15 feet. Specifications on DVI are available at www.ddwg.org. Click for more details on DVI." class=gloss>DVI enabled sources), a VGA (15 pin D-Sub with stereo audio Ins), an RS-232 port (for accessing the Service Menu), a USB port (for firmware upgrades), two Component, two Composite, and two S-Video.

Perhaps just to make us grateful for the side panel, the designers did place some connectors on the back of the TV facing down. The rear panel contains a full set of audio outputs, including coaxial and optical digital Outs, one for a Subwoofer and another for earphones.

The two RF plugs on the panel are wired a little bit differently than you often see on HDTVs. The RF plugs are used to input signals from your antenna or cable TV system. Commonly, one plug goes to the NTSC tuner (for analog channels), and the other to the ATSC tuner (for digital channels).

But the Olevia has dual NTSC/ATSC integrated tuners, which are Clear QAM compatible. So on the 747i, one RF input goes to one integrated tuner, the other RF sends the signal to the companion tuner. This setup gives you a number of possibilities of program sources available for the PIP (picture in picture) and the cool Channel Surfing feature.

Diagram of the 747i Rear Panel

The no nonsense, white backlit, big black remote is a utilitarian delight with its ample buttons, (for the important functions), and its sensible layout.

Of the smaller buttons below the Volume and Channel controls, our favorite is the Display button that indicates your current input source, the time, and most importantly, the resolution of that input's signal.

One problem, (which seems to be common with a lot of remotes), is the procedure for changing from one input source to another. With the Olevia remote, you keep clicking the Source button until you cycle to where you want to go.

Considering that there are ten different Input selections and that you can only cycle in one direction, the process is cumbersome. Of course, if you only watch one source all the time or you have Lance Armstrong thumbs, then no problem.

Setup
Since we fiddled with the picture settings when we took the TV out of the box, we reset everything back to the Defaults before starting our normal calibration process. (On the 747i, you can reset Defaults for individual inputs, or, if you really mucked things up globally, you can do a reset for all the sources at once.)

We have the new Oppo DV981HD DVD player in our facility for review so we used it to calibrate the monitor. We attached the Oppo's HDMI out to the HDMI input on the Olevia and used the Digital Video Essentials DVD, (the SD version), test patterns to adjust black level, white level, and color bias. The DV981HD can upconvert a standard definition DVD to 1080p. In our tests, that is what we fed the 747i.

The Picture Menu on the TV provides the basic controls: Brightness, Contrast, Tint, Color, Sharpness, and Color Temperature, though Color Temperature offers a wider range of settings then you often find. In the sub-menu, you can choose 6500K, (on the warm end), Native, (not adequately explained in the manual, though cooler), and 9300K, (cooler then the previous two).

For those who desire to fine tune their color correction, the menu also offers 6500K User and 9300K User sub-sub-menus. With six sliders for Red, Green, and Blue Offset and Gain, you can either achieve that perfect skin tone or really screw up your picture. Luckily, you can always reset to the Defaults if your faces start looking as if they were splashed with day-glo paint and illuminated with a black light. Groovy.

We found that we didn't have to stray too far from the Default settings. We usually provide our numerical settings, but the designers of the Picture menu obviously didn't think that they needed any stinkin' numbers. Basically each setting is a color bar that you either shrink or extend, but there are no number references on the interface.

For example, the Sharpness bar defaulted to mid-high (about 3/4 of its possible length). As always, we have a tendency to roll it back as far as we can without a noticeable softening of the image – in this case, back to about a quarter of its length. Other than that, the adjustments to Brightness, Contrast, Color and Tint were minimal.

If we didn't make it clear in the opening, the 747i is a full featured TV with menus brimming with tweaks and twitches. Many of them are actually useful like Noise Reduction, which helped clean up the playback of the SD DVD of the Matrix. Of course not all is tea and crumpets.

Syntax-Brillan has opted for a menu interface that best can be described as a carousel of icons that spin round and round and round. We know that we are thumb challenged, not being suckled on a game controller, but we constantly were spinning these menus in the wrong direction.

And perhaps because we were so dizzy from the not so merry-go-round, we often were perplexed by the meaning of the icon. It would help if the manual wasn't so cryptic about some of the functions. More often than we would hope, we were left to decipher the hieroglyphs through trial and error.

But to reiterate, the 747i is a highly ploppable TV. You can pull it out of the box, plop it down, turn it on, and view an extremely acceptable image without futzing with menus. When you're ready to explore, allot a few extra minutes to become familiar with the menus. Life will be much more mellow yellow.

Before we leave our test patterns behind for the real world of King Kong and ESPN, let's talk about Aspect Ratios and color purity. The 747i's Aspect Ratio menu settings are Full Screen, 1-1, Zoom 1, Zoom 2, and Panoramic. When set to Full Screen, the TV overscanned the grid test patterns a very slight amount, less than 1% on most edges. This is great except that some standard definition TV programs would reveal what we call head switch noise at the top of the screen. This little annoying artifact could be hidden by turning on the Cropping setting, which only cut off a few lines around the outside while expanding the image slightly.

When we tested color purity with solid color images, we noticed two thin dark areas on the right side of the screen. We could only see these when we were displaying a white or bright gray screen. They were never noticeable when watching normal content

Performance
Since the 747i is 1080p native, we have been throwing all sorts of signals and programs at it. In a word, it has been performing admirably. As one would hope from all the hype, the King Kong HD-DVD, (output in 1080p from the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player through the VGA cable), looked sharp as Jack Black's two-day stubble. The SD version of the March of the Penguins, (upconverted by the Oppo to 1080p), could not match the detail of an HD-DVD. Still, watching two penguins nestle and beak was sublime.

Robots on HBO HD delighted with its colorful, specular, metallic Rube Goldberg transit system. And the most luscious imagery emanated from the StarzHD broadcast of Casanova. Seeing Venice in high definition only intensifies the yearn to return to the Serenissima. And the nimbleness that the Olevia displayed the opulent fabrics in the costumes constantly provoked the amazed "look at that" response.

Perhaps the acid test for any LCD is a darkly shot movie like Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. (We watched the HD-DVD.) Maybe we were hoping for too much, but we were disappointed by the 747i's ability to show detail in the shadows. To be fair, we weren't sure that there were details in some of the darker corners of the frame, but occasionally the 1600 to 1 dynamic Full On/Off contrast measures the ratio of the light output of an all white image (full on) and the light output of an all black (full off) image. 2) ANSI contrast is measured with a pattern of 16 alternating black and white rectangles. The average light output from the white rectangles is divided by the average light output of the black rectangles to determine the ANSI contrast ratio. When comparing the contrast ratio of video devices make sure you are comparing the same type of contrast. Full On/Off contrast will always be a larger number than ANSI contrast for the same video device." class=gloss>contrast ratio didn't seem to be up to the task. With that said, one shot of the rich detail of Oliver Platt's chartreuse vest in Casanova, and all is forgiven.

Now, about viewing angle – the picture on the 747i, (like many LCDs), starts to wash out badly if you sit too far off perpendicular to the screen. As gorgeous as this HDTV can be, if you move over 30 degrees off that line, you won't be pleased.

For those gamers out there who want to experience the thrill of Gears of War in full 1080p glory and four feet across, then the 747i fills the bill. It even has a Game Mode setting, which disables PIP and Noise Reduction and speeds up the response time of the display.

We felt a bit sheepish about connecting our laptop to a 47" monitor, but in the spirit of thoroughness, we attached the two VGA ports with a 15 pin D-Sub cable. The 1080p signal that we fed the Olevia was a tad bright especially when looking at white www pages. With a minor adjustment, the eyes were more comfortable and ready to surf the Internet from across the room. Images in Photoshop were resplendent and acquired more stature when seen at this scale.

And we must give a shout out to the audio system of the 747i. Many HDTVs are undermanned when it comes to audio, often sporting 10W speakers. And even though the thought of a pair of 25W speakers may not arouse the hair in the inner ear of an audiophile, this Olevia can rumble a room. We're not suggesting that you discard your studio monitor speakers, but we were pleasantly surprised by how robust the Lord of the Rings sounded.

Finally, we arrive at the most distasteful part of the reviewing experience – watching standard def programs on an HDTV. We'll admit that the highly touted SiliconOptix processor performs a yeoman's job of making SD palatable, but even it can only spin so much silk from a sow's ear. This HDTV deserves better than SD content.

Conclusion
The more we watched the Olevia 747i with a variety of content, the more we marveled at the quality of its picture. Would we prefer plasma-like contrast, blacks and viewing angle? Of course. Did we almost forget those shortcomings when enjoying its rich, detailed 1080p picture? Indubitably.

Star Ratings
First, realize, that ratings are relative to when the review was written. The obvious example is Value, what you could purchase for $2000 two years ago or even two months ago would seem like a bad value for that price now.

Second, we have given only one 5 Star rating, which we reserve for truly outstanding accomplishment.

Performance: 4.5
The quality of the 747i's picture can be eye popping. With slightly better contrast and blacks and a much-improved viewing angle, it would reach the summit of 5.

Features: 4.5
With a menu full of features, a panel stocked with connectors, and PIP and Channel Surfing too, we could only piggishly wish for a USB interface to display our still images.

Ease of Use: 4.0
With all the features, easy understandable menu navigation becomes more important. The spinning icons and lack of adequate documentation made the features less accessible. Luckily, the default settings were good enough out of the box that you may never need to delve into the depths of the menu.

Value: 4
I'm a tough grader on Value, so 4 is a high mark. Vincent F. Sollitto Jr., the Chairman of Syntax-Brillan, has slashed prices on occasion. It wouldn't take too much of a reduction to make this a 4.5. And if he really went Crazy Eddie, who knows, this could be a fiver.

View the original article here

READ MORE - Olevia 747i 47" LCD Review