Customer Reviews

Syntax Olevia LT32HVE 32-Inch HD-Ready Flat-Panel LCD TV

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

edit: After 2 years, its now a piece of junk. One day, I turned the TV on and every things looked green. The picture adjustment setting numbers are stuck at random numbers and I can only move them 1 or 2 clicks from there. Called customer support in 2008, first time since 2006, and got no help from the front line rep. Got passed to a supervisor, which got my hopes up. But basically, I got the hatchet man. The guy didnt care. He wanted to sell me a BOARD, without knowing what model my TV was. For $ 212 dollars, no guarantees that my TV would be fixed, and NO REFUNDS. I was also told to look for my own technician. I asked "what if that didn't fix my TV"? His answer in brief was that it was my problem. Will never buy an off brand TV ever again. And especially, not OLEVIA. I saw in the newspaper that this company was in the brink of bankruptcy. I guess there is nothing to expect here. It was good while it lasted. Now its just a nightmare.

The TV was great then started to deteriorate i.e. sharpness constantly deteriorates and needs adjustment, brightness flutters and picture flickers.

The so called onsite warranty means thier site, 3000 miles away. If I wanted immediate fixing I would have had to freeze the retail price on a credit card, then an exchange would have taken place. I opted to wait for onsite/inhome and that was 2.5 months ago.

A report to the BBB resulted in a replacement promise because "the needed part(video ship) is still not available.

When working the TV is up there with the top of the line. If not, headache city.

TV arrived in one week. Delivery was prompt and the unit was in great condition. No damaged pixels, no scratches. Picture looks good when connected to an HD cable box even better when using as PC monitor. Unit is very sleek. Only downside is that the speakers are really low. You are going to need to connect this to a home theater system or get additional speakers to really hear whats going on. Picture in picture requires additional device connections to be useful (only one tuner). The unit looks great when mounted on the wall and the picture quality is quite comparable to the other LCD TV's in the market at a fraction of the price.

After about 30 minutes of viewing picture is lost, picture simply turns gray. Changing sources doesn't make a difference. After turning TV off for about an hour or so (perhaps needing to be cooled) the picture will come back, but again only for a limited time. I have followed the TV's recommended ventalation. It's away from wall at 20 inches and from ceiling several feet (it says it needs 10cm clearance from both). The TV is clearly defective. Look into Amazon's return policy and you'll see that TVs over 27 inches can't be returned. They say to inspect carefully when accepting shipment. In my case I wasn't there, but even if I were, there was no visible damage. Lesson learned: Don't buy a TV from Amazon.

I bought this LCD because of Amazon's rebate, which made it a great value. I haven't had a chance to play with it much, but there are few caveats you should know:

1) Amazon's site didn't list the rebate (I found it by Googling the rebate. I'm not sure why this is, but the $300 mail-in rebate was the only reason to buy this, as you can get the Sharp Aquos for the same price without rebate.

2) Delivery from Amazon is expensive. Most places don't charge that much. Amazon for some reason didn't give the delivery company my phone number so they could schedule the delivery. I ended up waiting an extra 5-7 days as Eagle Logistics, the delivery company, ended up sending me a postcard. The tracking information was also not update, so I didn't know that TV had arrived in my city and that they were waiting on me to schedule the delivery. Be wary and make sure you followup with the delivery company.

3) The instruction said unpack and haul away. Be careful here. They unpacked TV and took the box. Thus I had no UPC symbol or serial number for the rebate!!!! This is a mistake. they should either cut these out and leave it or Amazon should not send those instructions. I ended up going back to the delivery place headquarters to get the box.

4) Olevia has a 6 bad pixel return policy. I have 2 bad pixels in the middle of the screen and they would not replace it.

I'm still waiting the rebate and my HD box, so I'll post more/update in a week or so.

I ordered this TV from Amazon and after having it for a week I can say that I am very happy with it. This is my first non-CRT TV and I love it.

Picture Quality - I have played DVDs (progressive Scan) and they look awesome. I have Comcast cable and the cable channels (non-HD) look good. I can't imagine how HD could improve on the picture but maybe it will. I think the difference between the LT32HV and the LT32HVE is substantial in that the picture quality is sharpened. I had heard people complain that "regular TV" did not look good but that must have been the LT32HV, not the LT32HVE.

Looks - Stylish black frame. Very attractive. The base is not the long elegant one that the LT32HV features, but I believe the base on this one is actually more practical as it make the unit less likely to fall forwards or backwards. Pretty slim also. When the TV is turned off this small blue "Olevia" logo appears in blue. I like it but some folks don't. If you don't just plug your TV into a power strip and use that to kill ALL power to unit.

Weight - about 50 lbs. One person can lift this and position it. A similar size CRT TV would be at least twice as heavy.

Connections - every connection you could ever want (DVI, S-Video, Component (2), standard coax, audio in/out).

Remote - no complaints at all. The bad press that Olevia remotes get sometimes must be for another model. Controls for all aspects of video quality (color, contrast, etc.) with no problems and is well laid out.

In all honesty this TV is almost perfect. But there are a few gripes. Olevia remote codes don't seem to exist in any universal remote documentation. I did find 0030 works (channel, volume) but the Mute does not work on my Universal Remote which worked fine with my JVC/Toshiba sets. The other thing is that the volume is much louder (a good thing) if you use the Component Audio In but if connect your cable box via coax the audio is much weaker. Regardless, the best thing to do is to have a seperate amp/speakers for any TV. Also, I had to wait 2 weeks for this TV to get here. Seems like 1 week would have been more reasonable.

Thanks to all previous posters who helped sway my decision (was considering a 32 in Magnavox for a couple hundred more $$$) to Olevia.

You won't be disappointed with this TV.

This product is awesome! I looked at LCD TVs for about 4 months before I made my decision. Be sure to get the HVE model and not the HV model. The picture is so much better on the HVE model. Even regular analog cable looks pretty good. Just as good as my buddies 36'' Sony Tube TV if not a little better. I have had the TV for about a month and am totally happy with it. I looked at Panasonic and Samsung but they didn't have as many hook up options. Also looks amazing when hooked up to a computer. DVDs look great through just the progressive output. Haven't had HDTV hooked up yet but I can only imagine how great it will be. When watching Finding Nemo, it looks like the water is going to come right out of the screen it is so realistic. I figured I would write this review for others who are looking and questioning which TV to get. The only complaint I have is that it doesn't get very loud even at the highest volume setting but I have my cable box and DVD hooked up to my home theater system anyway so it works out okay. I have no regrets on this TV and totally love it.

To give a little background, I have 2, 42" Plasma televisions (1 Panasonic Viera 42" (great tv), 1 42" Zenith (horrible tv with major problems see the 7, 1 star reviews on amazon for the zenith)), as well as, 3 LCD Televisions including this Syntax Olevia (a 26" Sony Bravia HD LCD, 20" Syntax Olevia, and this newly purchased Syntax Olevia LT32HVE 32" LCD HD capable TV).

When J&R recently ran a special on the Syntax Olevia LT32HVE 32" I decided to pick one up after reading on AVS Forum that the LT32HVE 32" was preferred over the LT32HVS 32". When it arrived, I immediately set it up, and out of the box, the picture was terrific on SD and HD TV. I continued to adjust the settings to those optimum settings listed in AVS Forum, as well as, double checked these optimum settings against running the well know, and widely used Avia Set Up disc. The picture only further improved, wow! I was so impressed with the picture I brought my 26" Sony Bravia LCD into the same room and tested them next to each other. Honestly the 26" Bravia's picture had better color saturation, but had terrible distortion, pixelation, and other rather obvious issues (some of which I had already noticed prior to this, others the Syntax brought to light by placing the Bravia next to it). None the less, I decided to call in others for a second opinion and everyone agreed the Syntax Olevia LT32HVE 32" was 1,000 times better than the overpriced Sony Bravia. Without a doubt the Syntax Olevia LT32HVE 32" is a much better TV than the Sony Bravia in terms of picture quality. GREAT JOB SYNTAX OLEVIA!

Overall I love the TV, but I use it in my family room with my Windows Media center PC. So when I watch TV it is using the PC. My real frustration is trying to get the monitor to sync in the correct resolution. The native resolution is 1366X768 but trying to get this to stick is a hit or miss situation. I have to switch between 1280X720 mode and 1366X768 till the monitor finally grabs the right resolution (It usually defaults to 1024X768). This happens any time you turn off the unit, or switch to another input. I called tech support and they said to just play with the setting and see where you get the best luck in getting it to detect the proper "native" resolution. The documentation says it only works in 1024X768 mode, but this is not wide screen, so it would be a waste of money for this unit. It also lacks a Cable Card reader, but appears to have a "blank" knockout for it in the case, they just did not get the innards to make it work.

So if you want a great TV buy it! If you are going to ever use it as a computer monitor, expect to be frustrated using it in the "native" resolution.

This Display takes the best value for money award in my opinion. I'm using it with DirecTV HD reciever. The picture is no different to my Sony 60" Grand Wega monstor display that costs about more than 3 times. Actually, the picture is much brighter. I have lots of direct sunlight in my room from large windows. But, still able to see a very good picture.

From an easthatics perspective, I liked the look of some of the other displays, but the picture quality and price is what made me go with this device. The product has more than exceeded my expectations.

I'm not yet using the built in HD tuner so can not comment on its quality. I did use the Olevia WM20D wall mount plate and it sits very flat against the wall.

The DirecTV remote did not have the Olevia TV as one of its choices. But, any of the Yamaha model remote codes/programs seem to work.