Olevia 537H 37 in. TV

I have owned a 26" Olevia LCD TV for about two years, and it is still working just fine. Before Christmas, I decided it was time to upgrade to a larger screen, so I went looking for 37" models. Anything larger would not fit well in the space I had, and would likely be too heavy for me to move around as I would like. I wasn't thrilled with most of the batch. They had too few connection options, poor video quality, or they had large speakers attached to the sides which made them short but extremely wide. A couple had connections on the back so recessed that no one with normal fingers could reach them, if they could actually see them! In the end, I came back to another Syntax TV, the Syntax-Brillian Ölevia 537H 37" Widescreen LCD HDTV. It was up and running for New Years Day and all of those parades and bowl games in high definition.


User's Manual

The good news is that the manual is 67 pages long, very detailed with excellent images and directions, and is well organized. The bad news is that it comes on a CD in PDF format, so you need access to a computer with a PDF reader (i.e. Adobe Acrobat) to read it. Since the images on-screen can be hard to see, it is best to print the manual, or at least the parts you need for setup of the television. Just to be thorough, I printed the whole thing and put it into a binder. I would have preferred a preprinted manual that would have been immediately available when I unpacked the TV.

Setup

The TV comes out of the box with the speakers and stand already in place. The manual lists the weight as 52.9 pounds. I didn't put it on a scale and weigh it, but it felt lighter than that to me. I had no problem lifting it off the floor and placing it on the stand. With the speakers under the TV rather than on the sides, the TV fits my available space well with plenty "breathing space" around it. It fits in a space roughly 37 in. wide, 29 in. tall, and 6 in. deep. Mine sits on a stand, but if you want to put it into an enclosed space, a bit more room should be allowed so as not to block the vents on the top and back of the TV.

The connections for cords/cables are both well labeled and easy to get to. I had no problem connecting everything in without resorting to the manual. (A good thing, since it took me a while to locate the CD amid the paperwork.) There are lots of connections, with two of almost everything except HDMI. There's a single cable/antenna connector for both HDTV and analog reception, so that's hard to get wrong! Mine is hooked to an antenna, but a cable/cable box should be as easy to hook in. When the TV is set to scan for available channels, it looks for all HDTV and analog stations in range.

The on-screen setup for color, sound, picture size, etc. is odd. The "Menu" button brings up a three-dimensional wheel, which you can rotate with the arrow keys. The "Enter" button usually brings up a subsidiary wheel with even more options. Once I got used to this configuration, I liked it and found it easy to use. What I found most interesting is that all of the settings can be configured separately for each input device. I like that I can set the color, tint, etc. that looks the best for HDTV reception, but set them differently for DVDs. In fact, I decided to hook up two DVD players to the TV: one hooked to the HDMI port from an up converting DVD player for widescreen DVDs; the other hooked to Component Video and set to 4:3 format for my old TV shows on DVD. I optimized the video and sound for each separately, and now the old 4:3 format shows really look good! While I don't usually use a lot of the extra features like Closed Captioning, Parental Controls, PIP, and Timers, I played with all of them and found them quite easy to set.

Video

Watching TV in high definition or DVDs from HDMI, it's hard to tell the difference between this TV and the Toshibas or Sony models selling for 2-3 times the cost of the Ölevia. The video also has an amazing number of settings which can be tweaked for best picture quality, including things like noise reduction, black level extender, white peak limiter, luma controls, adjustments to account for level of lighting in your room, and a list of others. As the settings are moved, the change shows on the screen, so it is easy to see when you have the settings where you want them.

Sound

The attached 15W speakers are not at all bad, even though they are close together under the screen and are not detachable. The sound can be adjusted for your environment, or you can just bypass the speakers with an Audio Out that goes to an external receiver or surround system. I use the regular speakers for TV, but route the sound for the DVD players to a receiver with multiple speakers. The audio and video can be set separately for each input channel, which can be useful. For instance, I have a DVD player hooked to the HDMI port via a DVI cable. Since I run the sound to a receiver and surround sound system, I don't miss the sound that would normally go through a HDMI link. However, if I wanted to send the sound to the TV speakers, I could run the sound to any available set of sound input ports, and simply "tell" the HDMI source where to find the sound. (Of course, if you set this wrong, you could end up watching a DVD while listening to a TV program!)

The Remote

This remote can be set to control up to 7 DVD players, DVRs, VCRs or Audio systems as well as the TV itself. However, this list of codes and brands is limited, so it may not work with the ones you have. It can run my two DVD players, but not the receiver for the external speakers (a TEAC), which is not on the list. The TV will also work with most brands of Universal Remote Controls, but not all of them. There's a bank of "quick keys" on the remote for things like "Swap" (between PIP screens) and CC (turn on closed captioning), but the keys are so small they are hard to use, especially sitting in semi-darkness! On the plus side, the Channel Up/Down and Volume are large and easy to find, as are the directional keys and the Enter button.

Miscellaneous Oddities

The programming for this TV has a "Firmware version" that can be displayed on screen. The website (www.olevia.com) has upgrades to the programming which can be transferred to the TV via USB cable. I haven't tried this yet, since my computer and TV are not close together, and I don't have a USB cable that long.

Just like a computer, the TV has to "power up" (10-12 seconds) when turned on, and there's a slight delay whenever you switch channels or change sources. This can be irritating for the "instant gratification" types, but it only bothered me for a week or so. Now it is a minor annoyance, but one I can live with.

Analog channels (but not HD channels, for some reason) can be renamed, and the name will pop up on screen when you switch to that channel. I'm sure this has some practical use (like calling the channels "CBS", "HBO" or other identifier), but I amuse myself during commercials by renaming channels with all sorts of improbable, sometimes unrepeatable, names. This is a function you should be aware of if you have creative, techno-savvy teens in the house, for reasons that should be obvious with a little thought.

And, oh by the way, "Olevia" (or Ölevia) is pronounced like "Olivia", so my TV has been dubbed with the nickname "Olive."


Overall

This TV is a very good value for the price, and I am happy with it. It had the best picture quality of any TV I checked that cost less than $1000. The TV and input setting are quite versatile, but you may not appreciate that if you are a "I just want to plug it in and have it work" kind of person. It does take some time to set everything up right.