Customer Reviews

Syntax Olevia LT37HVS 37-Inch HD-Ready Flat-Panel LCD TV

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

I researched alot of LCD TV's before making my choice. This Olevia TV is a great deal. It is bright, has great connection features and the picture when hooked up to a hdtv source (be it DirecTV or DVD) looks fantastic. When you put it side by side to any Sony or Sharp for that size, it is very hard to justify paying an extra $1000 to get those. This TV is pretty awesome. The response time is perfect at 8 ms, so while watching football or hockey there are no motion artifacts. The only slight drawback is its remote is rather clunky, but not bad and not enough that it would lower my score. We use our satellite remote anyway and it is hooked up to a suround sound system even though the speakers that come with it sound great as well. Good job Syntax! I recommend this LCD TV. Perfect size as well.

This is the first LCD tv that I've owned but based on what I've seen of others in the big box stores, this one stands up against units that cost more than double what this does. I've had it running now for over a week and it works as advertised - and that's what i'm looking for in any product. I haven't found any feature or function that is not what they claim it to be. Yes some of the common brand names have a more slick case and nicer remote but none of them had anything compelling enough for me to spend upwards of $3000.00. Overall this Olevia tv is a quantum leap for me personally as I was using a 9 year old RCA 36 inch monster that had seen it's better days. The big guys better watch out - if Syntax keeps delivering better product at half the price of the competition, they could really grab some market share. Bottom line - if you want to get into a high def LCD tv thats of a reasonable size but can't drop 3 grand - give this one a try.

Since my original review, I have revised my opinion of this set. I now give it four stars out of five, but it's the support that gets only two stars out of five.

I'm a pretty fair guy, and I always try to post something positive about things when I can. I never appreciate when others have nothing good to say about something, and can only harp about how bad something is.

Out of the box, the TV's screen flickered on and off, with a buzzing sound that was annoying.

The specs sounded good, the reviews said "good value, great TV", but I didn't realize I would be spinning the roulette wheel on this. But in spite of spending the extra cash for the extended warranty, it took forever to get a replacement. It is advertised as "in-home repair", but what that means is you have to first find a way to actually reach their support teams, which is pretty much impossible, unless they FEEL like calling you back.

They offer a telephone number to call, but when you do, you have to navigate through their seemingly easy voicemail system, only to be number whatever in line, and do you wish to hold ... if so press "1" ... no answer ... still wish to hold press "1" ... no answer ... sorry nobody is answering, so you'll have to go back to the main menu, lose your place in line (seriously ... I'm not kidding here), and start all over. It's THE WORST SUPPORT LINE EVER! I spent an hour trying to get through sometimes getting to be next in line, holding, holding, holding, only to get kicked out to the main menu DESPITE ASKING TO HOLD, where I had to start all over, only to find myself SEVENTH IN LINE.

I can't say enough about how bad the support communication is. They suggested sending email, which I sent REPEATEDLY, but without getting anything more than "we have your information and we'll get back to you". It took over a week to get a response. They took my credit card info, but after that I didn't hear anything from them, despite multiple voicemails left and emails sent.

If you want something that you KNOW will work, but want top-notch support, I suggest you consider Sony. They aren't cheap, but they KNOW how to support their customers.

That said, I FINALLY got a response to a sharply worded email to Syntax, letting me know that the TV had already been shipped. This email came though not from my Customer Support rep, who was in charge of my case, but rather from a different TECHNICAL support rep who I had previous contact with. They were very responsive after that, and apparently Syntax recognizes it has a problem and is looking for solutions, as they met that day about my issue and have promised to make changes to improve their communications with the consumers.

I'm sure I'm not the only person to complain to them, so hopefully things will improve. I will give them another star for "intent to improve" as well as the efforts of one particular technical support rep (initials C.T.) who went out of his way to do what he could to make me happy.

As for my replacement TV, it arrived within a couple of days via UPS and it works flawlessly after they responded to my sharp email with the shipping info.

So, now for my review of the TV itself, which worked fine this time.

I mounted it on the wall. I STRONGLY recommend doing this, as I have seen a LOT of LCD televisions for sale on eBay with broken screens, which are more expensive to fix than they are to buy new. This particular TV weights 75 lbs., so you will need a good strong mount. I chose the Ulti-Mount, which allows the TV to tilt, swivel, and rotate, giving it you a lot of positioning options.

As has been mentioned before, the remote doesn't have a very high quality feel, but I like the larger buttons, as I have larger fingers and the remotes with little tiny buttons can be difficult for me to use.

The picture on the TV is great. Excellent color, excellent contrast, good black level, nice sharp image.

The menu system is relatively intuitive, although it took me a little while to get used to having to go back to the menu button to leave screens/menus that were opened with other buttons. One of the neat features of the set is the Electronic Program Guide (EPG). For the DTV (broadcast HD) channels, it can display the program listing for the currently selected channel, as well as descriptions of the program, as long as the broadcasting station supports those features.

The menu button that allows you to select the source brings up a list of inputs to choose from. It would be nice if the system would allow you to name these sources yourself, so that rather than choosing the "YpBpr1" source, I could choose a source named "Satellite" instead. Also, the "display" button, which I always mistake for the source button, shows program information, and I think should be relabeled "Info".

One of the aesthetically cool things about the set, is the brand name "Olevia" at the bottom, which lights up in blue. Unfortunately, it lights up when the TV is OFF, instead of when it's ON, which can be annoying when the set is in a bedroom where you might prefer darkness without annoying lights in the dark. It also is more intuitive to know when the set is turn on, to see a light on, and when the set is off, the light is off.

My only other criticism is that it would be nice if all the menus and displays had the same "look and feel". Instead, there are four different styles and sizes of menus and screens. Making this consistent would be more aesthetically pleasing.

Another "nice to have" would be to have the ability for the TV to either automatically switch to the broadcast resolution for the channel being watched, or be able for it to remember the last resolution selected for each channel. I find switching from a 1080i broadcast to those with lesser resolutions to be annoying, and am constantly having to readjust the resolution to get the best possible display.

So, to sum up this review, Syntax's 37" TV gets four out of five stars, and their support gets two out of five stars (despite the number of stars shown at the top, which apparently I can't change).

Good luck!

I have owned this TV for 2 weeks. Overall I like it.

1. It is a HDTV. Amazon says HD-Ready which is not accurate. It has a build-in ASTC which works fine with a HD atenna I loaned from someone.

2. I still subscribed from Comcast a HDTV box. Using its component outputs, 11 HD channels look awesome. The bad thing is once you get used to these 11 channels, those old analog ones become horrible to view. Comcast NTSC tunner seems worse than this TV's own NTSC tunner. When I hook the cabel directly to the TV's atenna-in, the pictures indeed look better than those from the camcast box. However, Camcast encrypted all HD channels to force you use their box.

3. I then bought a Philips 5900/37 DVIX/DVD player with HDMI output. The player is capable to do 720p and 1080i up-conversion. Suprisingly, the upconversion looks great. I can see no blocks. I threw in two HD-DVIX movies. They play back on the TV with fantastic pictures. I love HDMI. Once cable for both crystal clear video and audio.

4. The only drawback is its VGA input. I do think it is bit too fuzzy for a computer monitor. And it doesn't sync very well with 1280x1024@60. I tried a computer game "Call of Duty". It looks good but not great. They should've provided both DVI and HDMI.

Overall, I think the TV serves the mission really well. I highly recommend it.

I bought it directly from Target. $1415 including Tax. and shipping. No complains for the price.

I had been watching on this TV for a while before i made a decision two weeks ago. The picture quality of this TV is so great that I cannot see any difference between this TV and other brands such as Panasonic and Samsung. However, my TV has a buzz problem with the left speaker. When no sound presents in the TV, this buzz can be heard even 2 yards away. I called their technical support, they told me it is normal. I cannot agree with them on this point. Their technical support is too weak or not as helpful as expected. This issue looks like some leakage problem with certain electricity capacities. Hopefully, it is an individual case. Other than this, this TV is great.

I picked this up about 2 weeks ago for $1049. This TV has exceeded my expectations. I only have basic cable. The picture is decent in SD and there are lots of tweaks for the picture and audio. The PIP and split screen are pretty cool too. The real surprise came when I purchased an HD antenna at Radio Shack for under $50. I live about 35 miles south of Los Angeles. After going to Antennaweb.org to dial in my antenna placement I was all set up. I can pick up over 50 DIGITAL channels with the antenna, about 18 of those are in either 720P or 1080i. I can get more HD channels with the antenna than the cable company offers for $$$...and no cable box required. The clarity in HD is unbelievable. Sports and PBS nature shows are awesome to watch. It looks like you are looking through a window rather than a TV screen. The HD picture is crisp and clear and the colors are bright and very vivid, the sound is very good also. My only complaint is that there is only 1 HDMI interface. Would need 2 if I wanted to have a HD cable or sat box and upconvert DVD player. The remote is pretty dorky looking also, but who cares. Some reviewers have complained of a hissing sound coming from the speakers, I have not noticed it in mine. I also emailed Olevia support with a stupid question just to see if they would reply, the did within 24 hours. I would definately check out this LCD TV if you are considering buying and want to save some cash. A+

I want to start by saying that I am very picky about my electronics. I have a 61" DLP and a 46" DLP that I love. I decided to go with an LCD this time, and I am extremely pleased. The picture on this screen is superior to both previous TV's. The color and brightness are superb. I feel as though I am watching HDTV for the first time again. The looks of the TV are great, as is the sound. Do yourself a favor and check this TV out. I took a look at it at COMPUSA and loved the way it looked. I got it here at AMAZON for $1100 with free shipping and no tax. It is by far the best deal. I also found no dead pixels on the screen. XBOX looks amazing as do DVD's. Standard definition TV looks very good as well. I am so pleased with this set, we are looking to get a 32" for the bedroom.

I have had the Olevia for 3 months now, and I am thrilled. The picture is great... As good as any I've seen anywhere. Better than many of the higher priced brands. I've used it with Computer, Xbox 360, DTV, etc... and it has more than enough hookups, inputs, etc.

A few things:

The remote is not very good. However, I don't use it much.

Native VGA res is 1024x768... 4:3 on a 16:9 screen, so computer images are stretched if using Standard XP. Nero Home did the conversion for me so that DIVX movies have the proper aspect, and Media Center edition will do the same.

Do yourself a favor and go through one of the "Setup" menus on a THX DVD. I used "The Incredibles". You can set your brightness and tint to THX spec, test and set up your audio, etc... Guarantees you get the best picture the way it was intended.

Other than that, this is a great TV at an awesome price.

Similar to other reviews of syntax TV's I agree that they have a nice picture, good features, good value but HORRIBLE customer service. I purchased mine after Thanksgiving on Black Friday at Microcenter with a great (ca $1000) after rebate price. Worked well until Jan 11 when it suddenly went stone cold dead. After wading through the endless customer service phone trees and non-responsive e-mails, I finally was able to talk with someone who said based on the symptoms, a new TV rather than onsite service was in order. But first I either had to give them my credit card number and they would put a $2000 hold on it or I had to ship the TV back to them and when they got it they would send a replacement. I chose the latter. UPS picked it up (reluctantly, at first they claimed it was too big) and two weeks later Syntax shipped another. UPS lost it. After dealing with both UPS and Syntax neither of which were very responsive, Syntax shipped another replacement which arrived dead on arrival last week--9 weeks after the first one failed. Now I am still waiting endlessly to get to talk to someone at Syntax to send me another one. If you ever get to talk to a live body at Syntax, don't let them go or you could be on hold for another hour when you have to call back. I have yet to have anyone respond to voice messages and only once or twice to e-mails after several days. It will be 10 weeks tomorrow that my first TV went dead and I still don't have one that works and it looks like it could be another month before I have one.., Horrible customer service. and by the way, it's almost 4 months since I sent in the rebate form to Syntax and I still haven't received it, although their web site now says it has been approved and the check is "pending." Up until about 2 weeks ago the web site didn't even acknowledge that I had a rebate pending. Bottom line is that the TV seems to be a good value but if you ever need service you are taking a real gamble.

I don't think you can get better TV in this price range and it beats some TVs in higher price range as well. Very good , sharp and clear picture. Excellent when used with MCE PC as well - will accept DVI or VGA connection. Great satellite and DVD picture. Have had the TV for over a year now and works great.
The only downsides are the speakers and remote (remote is like some bad 80s TV's remote). However I don't use them anyway - I use external speakers and Logitech Harmony remote, so it's really not an issue.