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Syntax Olevia LT30HV 30" LCD TV (16:9, 1280x768, 750:1, HDTV - MPN: TVLT30HV)
Description: The Syntax-Olevia features a 30" LCD Active Screen with an Aspect Ratio of 16:9, Brightness 500cd / m2, Contrast 750:1 and a Resolution of 1280(H) x 768(V), leading to a good image quality.It comes with 2 removable speakers each producing a.... Read More Description: The Syntax-Olevia features a 30" LCD Active Screen with an Aspect Ratio of 16:9, Brightness 500cd / m2, Contrast 750:1 and a Resolution of 1280(H) x 768(V), leading to a good image quality.It comes with 2 removable speakers each producing a 10W output. Additionally, it features the following: a TV / Video Switch, Channel Return, MTS, PIP / POP3 / Split Screen / Grid, Aspect Ratio Adjustment; Clock, Alarm, Sleep Timer, Favorite Channel Setting, V-chip, Close Caption. Minimize |
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| Date Reviewed: 02/11/2005 |
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Strengths: Price, price, price! Good quality picture, decent sound from on-board speakers
Weaknesses: Spotty reliability of component input. If you have lots of connections, gets pretty crowded in the back. Remote counter-intuitive.
Summary: Bought this TV arond the holidays for under $1000 - was sold out within 2 or 3 days of the price drop and has since rebounded in price. I had read varied reviews but overall felt comfortable with purchase. I think some negative reviewers were unrealistic - you won't get a $5000 TV for $1000!
Having said this, there are many pluses to the TV. It's pretty thin and light. I could lift myself, but better to have help because of the size. Looks beautiful coming out of a very well-packed box. Easy to set up, but I'd recommend reading the manual - especially as some of the inputs (such as RF input) are unusually located. The inputs will accept: RF (your cable), component (one prograssive, one not), super video, RCA, DVI/HDCP, VGA, subwoofer out. Practically this means that for most people you have enough inputs. However, it does get crowded in the bak, especially with a thicker component cable - I was able to get the back panel on again with some difficulty. For now, I left the attached speakers on and did not hook up to an external sound system.
I have tried regular cable, DVD with component, and with S-Video. I also tried regular RCA and VGA. I have not used the DVI input yet. The picture is very good across the board. I had no burned out pixels. DVD quality is superb, but I had an unusual problem specifically with the Y/Pb/Pr input which is concerning. With certain DVDs, the screen would intermittently flicker to blue or get distorted in the upper area. I contacted Syntax with regard to this - so far they can't figure it out, but the problem has persisted even after I changed DVD players. There maybe a problem with the input itself - though most of the time seems to work just fine. The rest work perfectly. I used the VGA input for my laptop, and it was a piece of cake to do, and the quality was decent. I don't think that would be good enough for gaming, but as I don't use it for that, I haven't tried the DVI input. Regular cable is decent. Here, I have to say the picture is not great, but that's because the quality of the signal is not great - you have to get a high def signal to get a really good picture. For regular cable my CRT is better, but that's because the Olevia really brings out the defects in a low quality signal. Bottom line - you don't buy this if all you want to do is plug in your regular cable.
As I said before, sound is actually pretty good from the supplied speakers.
The remote is pretty dumb, but so far works reliably. I have the new remote (I think they changed remotes at some point). I read lots of reports about the remote being unreliable but hasn't happened to me. It just takes a lot of getting used to because there is no "select" button - a large "menu" button is in the middle. To select a choice you have to push on arrow right....
The tv has nice features like PIP, multipanel picture, split screen etc., but I've never really been interested in all that, so I don't use...
Aesthetically, the TV is actually very nice. It's silver, and while plugged in and off there's a blue light surrounding the power button which actually looks good. Again, I didn't really care about that, but it's a bonus.
It does get pretty warm after use.
One other thing: you may be surprised when your wide-screen tv shows bars at the top and bottom with a wide-screen DVD. This is because these DVDs are too wide for regular "TV widescreen" specifications. More technically, if the aspect ratio on the DVD is> 1.8 approx, you still get bars - it's not the TV's fault.
Bottom line: For the price this TV is hard to beat. It's versatile enough to be a monitor, 2nd TV set, home theater component, etc. It's not the best out there - but it's easily better than anything in the under $2000 category. 30 inches is a very nice size - and not too big for the bedroom.
However, don't expect the world's greatest TV. It seems that some reliability issues may come up - in my case the component input problem, others had trouble with the remote. Despite this, their customer service seems to be pretty good - hopefully I can update when they solve my problem.
Would I recommend it? Yes.
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| Date Reviewed: 12/12/2004 |
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Strengths: Great picture, easy set up, clean look, great value for the price
Weaknesses: The plug in for the components require you to look up and follow the diagram, a switching peripheral is needed when using more than one video device, ie, DVD and cable require an HDTV hookup
Summary: Make sure you order the versa 200 wall mount, be careful of the finish as it will get marked by laying the unit against the wall to attach the wall mount. The lcd panel provides an outstanding picture when looking at digital photographs either through the DVD picture viewer or from the computer. There are a number of different connections so you can end up with a mass of wires behind the panel, ie, my cable box uses composite video, DVD player uses component video, the computer S-video, and the VCR uses the RF connection. The remote is okay, but you end up using the cable remote most of the time. I did a lot of looking and decided the lcd panel had the best picture and once that decision was made the Syntax Olevia is one of the best values. Bigger would be better, but this one works for me for now.
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| Date Reviewed: 11/01/2004 |
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Strengths: Excellent design, performs as described
Weaknesses: Directions on how to connect to a coaxial cable are well hidden
Summary: I hoped to present a 30" LCD HDTV to my long suffering wife; I visited many shops and tried to compare LCD images; I poured over the reviews so nicely provided by PCWorld , albeit at times confusing, and found the best price through their pricegrabber, and made the leap. This set arrived extrememly well-protected, and I am absolutly delighted with its design and its superb HDTV and conventional images. The only trouble I had was learning how to connect the cable to it--it is in an appendix to the directions! The blacks are black. All channels on the cable come in crystal clear--as opposed to the regular TV, which had great clarity difficulties in several major networks. Enjoy!
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| Date Reviewed: 11/27/2004 |
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Strengths: Picure quality, all the different inputs, packing, detatchable speakers
Weaknesses: Not a very complete owners manual. I had trouble figuring out all the options on the TV and the manual was not very detailed.
Summary: Arrived quickly and was packed very well. At first I was not too happy with the clarity of the picture with just my digital cable hookup. Once I got a HD box from my cable company and found they only had 4 channels broadcast in HD, those 4 are great but the digital ones are still a little disapointing. The TV is very clear with great color in HD and pretty darn good with my DVD, (not progressive scan). I do think this is the best LCD 30 inch for the price and I am very pleased with it so far.
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| Date Reviewed: 10/19/2004 |
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Strengths: great clear pictures,
great price,
removable speakers,
80,000 hrs life span
Weaknesses: black contrast could be better but I'd have to go to DLP for that.
Summary: I did a lot of research on LCD screen TV and for the specs.. Syntax was the best for the price. Received it yesterday and loved it. Everything works fine. Only annoyance was that he widescreen DVDs got even skinnier.. widescreen within widescreen. Unless ofcourse there is an option I haven't figured out how to work.. Over all, I think Syntax did a great job producing a top quality product for a great price.. I'm happy.
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| Date Reviewed: 12/13/2004 |
- macmoose
- Member Since:
Dec 2004
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Reviews
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Strengths: Super clear picture, Great colors and brightness (after a few tiny menu settings teaks), Many inputs and Price
Weaknesses: Remote not the best, but just fine and only one Progressive RGB input but there is a workaround.
Summary: I picked up my Olevia 30 about 2 weeks after I heard Microcenter had their $999 deal. I went there and purchased an unopened returned unit and got the deal... super lucky weasle I was. After reading much reviews I will say I am extremely pleased with this unit. Big bang for a good buck, and for some of us lucky ones... a really cheap buck. The design and look is top notch. It came packaged so well. 5 minute setup to get it running. I used my regular non progressive DVD player to play a few good movies, like Spider Man 2, Finding Nemo and Osmosis Jones to start, a good mix of Animation, live action and cartoon/3d mix. The quality was awesome, but I then hooked up another Sony DVD player with progressive RGB outputs and it was awesome. I then hooked a DVI type DVD player, the Denon 1910. It upscales to the 720p/1080i HDTV resolution etc.. any regular DVD and it was freaking amazing. But honestly, we all know Component RGB is better than Svideo, but a DVD based player over Svideo with a really good cable still looks very sweet, but sending a progressive (480p) signal is better. The Samsung DVI model out there is utter crap, pardon my french.
I also hooked up my Comcast HDTV box to the Component RGB progressive input and regular non HD channels look okay, but I have a solution to this for later in my response. HDTV channels are of course awesome. You can hook a PC to the DVI or VGA port, and you have the Svideo and other RGB input for a non progressive signal as well.
For those with Tivo's, first set your Tivo to use the "philip's remote codes... you get volume and mute and power. When you get to the Philips codes, the best one is in the first line of about 4 or 5 lines of codes... use the first that works, I tried them all. Second... I have my Tivo hooked up to the Svideo out on the Comcast Box. It is able to record all shows.. regular digital channels and downsampled HDTV channels. Now if I were to hook up a Tivo with Svideo or Humax with RGB to my TV... the shows would look so half resolution. Here is the trick. For those of us who want to use our upgraded or regular tivos or new humax dvd burning tivo, get a video processor like the DVDO iScan Pro. What it is as best I can word is a line doubler video upscaling device that converts standard definition TV, like Tivo shows, VCR or standard broadcast or cable signals to a 480p signal with quality and resolution close to HDTV, it will not be HDTV sharp, but now your shows will look so so much better on your HDTV ready set, be it plasma or LCD. I did this and WOW. You can get the iScan Pro on ebay for 300 and it lists for 500. And this is the kicker,... I said the TV had only one Progressive Component RGB input. Use that with your HDTV box and switch to it to watch HDTV shows. The iScan pro has a VGA connector. You could normally get a VGA to Component RGB adaptor, but I just went VGA to VGA after confirming the VGA port on the Olevia does accept a 480p progressive signal, that the iScan Pro outputs. Nuff said... older non HD tivos, like my Humax with a 300 gig drive from weaknees.com can now still work great with the HDTV and look very fine. You basically get the regular good quality you used to watch, just on your TV and as technology advances.. you can later get a new tivo if desired. You can get the iScan pro with HDTV pass thru, but that is 200 more at cheapest of 500 I have ever seen, but that is only if you wish to have everything you have, go thru one box into one DVI or Component RGB connector on the Olvia.
In closing, I did so much research and am very happy with my new set. Note,... play with the brightness... backlight and other settings... I fiddled and got darker blacks and still good dark details, like on the Lord of the Rings scene with the big boars head ram that busted into that cliffside city, which is a night battle... looked fabulous. There are DVD hdtv calibrators on ebay for cheap to help you fine tune.
Well,.. nuff said... low price,.. great quality and lots of hookups... plus so much web resources to get stuff like tivos that are not HDTV to work just fine with this set.
I am a happy camper and hope my long post helps share some of my learning experience with others.
MacMoose
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| Date Reviewed: 11/27/2004 |
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Strengths: crystal clear picture, vivid colors, great price, good sound
Weaknesses: one s video hook up
Summary: the one weakness is overcome by going to radio shack and buying the s video expansion box which allows 4 different components to be hooked up to the tv. The picture is so much better through s video than regular cable line.
highly recommend!
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| Date Reviewed: 11/26/2004 |
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Strengths: One of the least expensive in its class. Beatuiful picture. Amazing for watching sports and animation.
Weaknesses: Will spoil you and make watching "regular" TVs a drag!
Summary: This TV is easy to set up and looks great! The picture quality is excellent. I had done a lot of research on HDTVs and after weighing all of the facts, this TV was my choice. Do not buy a plasma screen TV unless you understand that they are not buit to last more than a few years. Overall, this TV is a very good deal.
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| Date Reviewed: 11/16/2004 |
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 Packed very, very well. Quality for regular broadc ... Strengths: price, price, price.. amount of inputs
Weaknesses: Adjustment of screen size and placement
Summary: Packed very, very well. Quality for regular broadcast TV fair when compared to a comparable priced CRT but the unit is packed with verstality considering all its options. Sound was surprisingly good with the standard speakers.
Quality for HDTV cd DVD really good. If you are able to get the unit for approximately 1300 and with the current $200.00 rebate this is a deal until prices come down which will be at least 12 months.
I am very happy with the purchase.
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| Date Reviewed: 01/07/2005 |
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Strengths: Clear, Crisp Picture. No dead pixels. Really EZ to set up! Speakers are removable. Best buy for the buck!!
Weaknesses: Not much mobility for monitor. Could use more inputs. Remote seems kind of cheap. Need better details on the instruction manual.
Summary: I bought this LCD TV on a gamble from this company because I had never heard of them before. But many of the customer reviews were good and I took a chance. I'm glad I did. The TV is great. I just got it, but no problems so far! With a few adjustments on the Picture menu, crystal clear picture! I've yet to hook up some HDTV to it and see what that looks like. For the price, it's worth it!
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| Date Reviewed: 10/15/2004 |
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 I bought this for a bedroom set, so I hooked up my ... Strengths: Great picture
Weaknesses: Non functioning out of the box; Remote signal very weak; Syntax support VERY bad.
Summary: I bought this for a bedroom set, so I hooked up my Comcast HD box and a DVD player. HD was great, but DVDs wouldn't show up. No picture with SVideo. No picture with composite. Tried a second DVD player, with different cables on both SVideo and composite. Still no picture! I even tried my PS2, still no picture!! I could unplug the Comcast HD signal and get a signal from the DVD player that way, but that's all. Frustrated, I called Syntax.
Delwin @ Syntax took all my info, and told me his supervisor would call in about an hour (I called around 2pm Tuesday). No call until the next morning, when I was out. I called back in the afternoon, and spoke with the supervisor. He told me they thought it was the AV input module, and they were sending another via 3 day shipping. Also, I couldn't swap it out myself as that would void the warranty. He told me the repair service would have the tracking number, and they'd call me when it's delivered to fix the problem. FedEx dropped it off last Tuesday, one week after I called Syntax. It's not Syntax' fault, but the driver left it with my apartment manager. I work from home, I'm here, just bring it to me. Again, not Syntax' fault, but on top of everything else? I finally received a call from the tech yesterday, a full week after the part had been "delivered", two weeks after I called Syntax. He asked about my faulty video input on my computer. Computer? I told him it was a TV, and he didn't sound like he ever worked on TVs. This guy will keep my warranty valid, but I'll void it? Wow. Too late, it's already been shipped back for a full refund.
It was a good price. I loved the picture quality. I wish I still had it, and I probably would if I'd had the part when they promised. Even though it's a good price for the market, for this amount of money, there were far too many mistakes made for me to keep this. I probably would have picked up the 37" or 42" for my living room when they come out, but I won't now. I'm a very loyal customer when things are dealt with correctly. When things don't, I live up to my name!
-It didn't work out of the box
-Syntax didn't call when they said they would
-3 day shipping took a week
-"Authorized" tech didn't know it was a TV
If you can live with all those mistakes, risk it. For this amount of money, I refuse to ever look at another Syntax product EVER. I hope they read this and realize they lost a great customer!
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| Date Reviewed: 12/19/2004 |
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Strengths: Outstanding HDTV display with DVI, VGA, component, s-video and composite inputs at an affordable price.
Weaknesses: Humming sound when backlight set to soft or normal. Like many other brand LCD TV, black is not completely black and there is some washed out affect when viewing from an angle. Cheap remote.
Summary: The first Olevia 27" I received was defective out of the box with two stuck pixels and sparks on the screen when connected through DVI port. I quickly exchanged it for a new unit and the problems were gone. After watching various programs including HDTV and DVD on the Olevia 27" for over two weeks, I was convinced that Olevia LCD TV was par with the famous brand name LCD TVs which were priced at up to three times higher. So I decided to upgrade to the Olevia 30" and found out that it was even better than the Olevia 27" in terms of response time with no ghost effect in fast sport action. The specs are supposed to be the same on both, but my Olevia 30" came with the new remote and therefore, might have better updated firmware and electronic parts. The ghosting and smearing effect on basketball players wearing black jersey during fast action game were noticeable on the 27" but not on the 30". I used DVI cable for best picture quality which deactivated the Auto image adjustment button on the remote control. This Auto adjustment feature only worked when analog signals were converted to digital using the internal circuitry of the LCD TV. All of my video signals were piped through an HDTV tuner which upconverted to 720p before delivered them to Olevia's DVI port. Keep in mind that once you have seen HDTV signal and DVD signal upconverted to 720p, there is no going back to the fuzzy over-the-air analog ntsc tuner or regular analog cable. I have not used the dual built-in tuners for that simple reason. I wish that Syntax could make 30" LCD equivalent the higher resolution Apple 30" cinema LCD at an affordable price. For hdtv signals the Olevia LCD TV series are certainly winners.
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| Date Reviewed: 01/22/2005 |
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Strengths: Very good build quality, clever back-cover panels, picture quality outstanding, DVI connector
Weaknesses: Only 1 component video input - although there are 2 sets of ports, only one can accept 480/720p & i signals - bummer if you have HDTV box (w/no DVI output) & only component out from DVD player
Summary: The solution is to (spend more money and) buy a DVI-equipped DVD player (NOT AN HDMI EQUIPPED dvd player - must be DVI) to utilize the Olevia's DVI connection for DVDs, and use the component video for HDTV/cable in.
This TV is truly an incredible value - it outperforms $2k plasma EDTVs by a significant amount. The only sets with nicer pictures were ultra-high end plamsas for $4-6k. For the space I had, this thing is perfect, and performance has been flawless thus far. Just make sure to set the brightness to "bright" room - which is not the factory setting (which will eliminate a "humm" from the unit while powered on.)
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| Date Reviewed: 06/08/2005 |
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Strengths: Price & Quality
Weaknesses: None noted
Summary: The unit that I purchased is the 27" model and is basically the same as the 30" in features, external size, and appearance. I purchase this at a price of $700 with rebate for the main purpose of using it as my computer monitor. I am very pleased with the results. The specs on this unit compared with monitors much higher in price are impressive. I have used it both with the supplied VGA cable and a purchased DVI cable. The DVI connection is, of course, superior. The picture is impressive with no eye strain using the 60 HZ refresh rate at 1024 X 768 resolution. This is a real deal for someone wanting a large computer monitor cheap!
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| Date Reviewed: 12/27/2004 |
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Strengths: Plethora of connections; split screen and other Picture-in-Picture options; decent sound; 4:3/Fullscreen Option even in Hi-Def; crisp color in Hi-Def
Weaknesses: Standard digital channels somewhat fuzzy; can be time-consuming to perfect the color options; no DVI, S-Video or Composite/Component cable included
Summary: Overall, I've been very pleased with the performance of this television. As others have noted elsewhere, the only concerns I've really had relate to fuzziness in standard digital channels (as this TV appears to be native, much like other HD LCD TVs, to Hi-Def). However, those channels are by no means awful. They just lack some of the readibility that my tube Sony Wega television has in standard channels. Also, fast-motion in Hi-Def (i.e., sporting events) can be a little rough at times. I'm awaiting a DVI cable in order to see if that is more a problem with compression than it is with the television itself.
Take a step back, though. Look at the price on this unit. Syntax has really outdone themselves in producing a greater-than-fair product at an absolutely affordable price when compared to tube TVs of comparable size, let alone LCD TVs. If you are not a professional video technophile, then this television, based on its overall simplicity, picture and feature set, is for you.
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