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Official Syntax OLEVIA LT42HVi Thread

post #1 of 1175
11/28/05 at 7:25am
Thread Starter 
Just received the 42 inch LT42HVI and set it up last night. Bought it from ATL retailer and it came with a $400 rebate.

Initial impressions:
1) Set looks nice on the stand and picture is very good. I have not set it up using AVIA yet, but just messing around it with settings and the color looks nice. I do need to take out a little bit of purple-ish hue though..

2) HDTV is great via local antenna. DVD looks really good using component video. No significant motion artifacts. From only 3 or 4 feet away the picture was clear. Black level on Spiderman looked pretty good to me. Maybe not as good as my Hitachi 50" CRT, but not bad - certainly nothing to complain about. Plus the LCD sharpness was much better than the CRT.

3) SD looks pretty good on Directv. In Atlanta, Fox and NBC looked really good, and even the FOX football game looks good in SD. CBS looks like crap on Directv in ATL, so the monitor couldn't do much to improve the NFL game.

4) Set up was easy, the set has a lot of connections - 2 HDMI, 2 Component video.. stand is stable. I left the speakers attached at the bottom although I am not using the TV speakers. No significant heat emitted.

5) The TV in the off position has an LED light that emits an enormous amount of blue light - almost like a laser pointer - so I am not planning to look directly into it.. I was concerned I wouldn't be able to sleep with this thing on - but the room is not any brighter than a full moon evening. I'll probably stick a small piece of electrical tape over the light to at least diffuse some of it's intensity.

One other note -- The HHGregg guy didn't know much about the set, and instead tried to push me to Plasma for more money.

Overall, nice set for the money.
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post #2 of 1175
11/29/05 at 6:31am
Thanks for the info! I am looking at this set too....was very impressed with
it at CompUSA this weekend. It compared very well with the HP PL4200N
plasma just above it. I like the glass cover vs the plastic on the Bravia too.
And maybe it's just me, but I didn't really notice any SDE on the Olevia, like
on the Bravia.
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post #3 of 1175
11/29/05 at 7:13am
fcbtivo2,

Thanks for the initial report on the 42HVI, after reading about it on the Syntax website it really had my interest. I've been researching for a new tv for the folks to replace their analog 32" set. They watch a LOT of tv with logos like Fox News and the room receives a lot of ambient light even with window treatments so I was basically staying away from plasma at this point. Also, the new set must be able to handle game consoles as the grandkids are over quite often and have a PS2 and XBox there, hopefully there are no problems in that regard with this set. The thing that had my interest on the website was the marketing hype on the "Idea" chip. Of course the still photo comparisons made it seem like viewing nirvahna , so I was real curious how it translated into a real life viewing experience. Could you please try tuning in a hockey game to see how it handles the fast moving action with a basically white background (SD and HD if possible), hopefully there is no ghosting along with good contrast and detail. Definitely give it the AVIA treatment to see if that changes anything. Do you have the HQV Benchmark DVD by chance? I am real curious how the deinterlacing circuitry is on the set. Looking forward to your reply.
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post #4 of 1175
11/29/05 at 3:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by asaturno View Post

I like the glass cover vs the plastic on the Bravia too.

Are you saying the Syntax uses glass? Well that screws that as a choice since the big advantage of LCD is no glass so no reflections. Might as well get a huge plasma for the money if you like staring at yourself on the screen.

I wonder if this will be true of all large LCD sets.
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post #5 of 1175
11/29/05 at 4:09pm
Syntax has truly taken the market by storm similar to Samsung did 3-5 years ago.

I love my LT27HV bar non one the best bangs for your buck. Hopefully by the time I am out of school and have the money they will have 50-60in LCD panel at 1080p

~Bob
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post #6 of 1175
12/1/05 at 7:55pm
Does LT42HVI have QAM tuner to get HDTV directly from cable?
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post #7 of 1175
12/2/05 at 1:49pm
Thread Starter 
Quick update on questions --
Could you please try tuning in a hockey game to see how it handles the fast moving action -- reply: haven't seen hockey yet - but football looks great.

Q- Does LT42HVI have QAM tuner to get HDTV directly from cable? reply: Not sure what QAM is (and I use Directv HD DVR) but I'm pretty sure it doesn't have cablecard. Basically one NTSC and one DTV antenna. I hooked up my OTA antenna and HD looked great.

NOTE: I did spot one dead pixel that is kind of bugging me, but I'm not going to send it back for one pixel. I hope to run AVIA this weekend.
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post #8 of 1175
12/2/05 at 1:53pm
Thread Starter 
previous post "Are you saying the Syntax uses glass? Well that screws that as a choice since the big advantage of LCD is no glass so no reflections. Might as well get a huge plasma for the money if you like staring at yourself on the screen."

Answer - this is definately a glass screen that shows even the slightest fingerprint. It is reflective at night with bright table lamps. In the daylight not a big deal.

As far as money - for what I paid - the plasma is probably up to $1000 more expensive for the same quality sharpness. At full retail you may be right, I would have probably bought Plasma - because there is lot to choose from in the low $3k+ range.
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post #9 of 1175
12/5/05 at 7:40pm
This tv looks like a new contender for me. I'll have to head to a CompUSA and check it out tommorrow if I can Rebates are putting this at not too much more expensive than a similar sized RPLCDTV. Hooking up to a htpc as my main source this seems to be a good choice, lots of inputs, and the detachable speakers are I think what sold me (really....who wants tv speakers ) If I can find a store that has them in-stock I'll post my impressions from under their harsh lights.
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post #10 of 1175
12/7/05 at 12:34am
Could anyone give us any true opinion on how the glass screen cover effects the reflection on the Olevia LT42HVi. I always hated the glass part on big projection tv's due to the reflection it gave, so I wonder if on 42" Olevia this will be an issue. All plasma tv's also come with glass (reason why plasma is heavier than LCD, but not Olevia LT42HVi - 114.7 Ibs.) and it looks like the glass does not couse the refflection effect as mutch as it did in projection tv's. I am planning to buy the 42" LT42HVi but I would like to hear some more detail from current owners.
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post #11 of 1175
12/8/05 at 6:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Naylia View Post

This tv looks like a new contender for me. I'll have to head to a CompUSA and check it out tommorrow if I can Rebates are putting this at not too much more expensive than a similar sized RPLCDTV. Hooking up to a htpc as my main source this seems to be a good choice, lots of inputs, and the detachable speakers are I think what sold me (really....who wants tv speakers ) If I can find a store that has them in-stock I'll post my impressions from under their harsh lights.

None of the CompUSAs by me have it in stock yet
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post #12 of 1175
12/8/05 at 11:09am
I'm sold The CompUSA in Woburn,MA has this on display so I decided to hop over during my lunch break. The 42 HVi was absolutely beautiful. It does have a sheet of glass protecting the screen but it looks very nice. Angle of viewing was perfect from all sides, no issues there. It was bright and vibrant and the picture quality actually looked smoother with less jaggies than the 37" HVS. (This could be attributable to calibration maybe?? I think they were all connected via component, but I could be wrong. I would have thought that at the same distance the PQ would look better on the slightly smaller tv, but it didn't). On a good note there is a $400 rebate at most seller's until 12/31.

/dance

definitly ordering a tv this month

Sorry I can't comment on reflection since all the lights were overheard (those caused no issues at all) and the guy in the tv dept didn't have anything I could shine on it.

Fingerprints seemed to be the biggest issue so you'll have to teach your kids and their grubby grape jelly hands to keep their fingers to themselves.
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post #13 of 1175
12/8/05 at 1:17pm
The price for this TV is very lucrative. The only thing about this model is that it comes with bottom speakers mounted. I would prefer speakers mounted on the sides so that it looks beautiful when you put it on the FP mantle or hang it on the wall.

I have not seen this model as a display yet. No distributor in my area carries this model on the floor as a display.
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post #14 of 1175
12/8/05 at 8:09pm
While visiting relatives this past weekend I went to CompUSA to check it out, first the good news they had 4 in stock, the bad news none were set up on display. I asked a sales clerk about them and he said they just got them in. I REALLY want to check this set out to see how it handles SD. Does anyone know when Syntax will be releasing their sets with the Realta processor? Based on reports on the outboard processors with the Realta chip, that could be an awesome combo.
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post #15 of 1175
12/9/05 at 5:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yogibear View Post

The price for this TV is very lucrative. The only thing about this model is that it comes with bottom speakers mounted. I would prefer speakers mounted on the sides so that it looks beautiful when you put it on the FP mantle or hang it on the wall.

I have not seen this model as a display yet. No distributor in my area carries this model on the floor as a display.


Yogi on the 42hvi you have your choice bottom mount the speakers or side mount them or not even mount them. check their website 1 of the cool features of the 42hvi IMO
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post #16 of 1175
12/9/05 at 6:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ExCavTanker View Post

While visiting relatives this past weekend I went to CompUSA to check it out, first the good news they had 4 in stock, the bad news none were set up on display. I asked a sales clerk about them and he said they just got them in. I REALLY want to check this set out to see how it handles SD. Does anyone know when Syntax will be releasing their sets with the Realta processor? Based on reports on the outboard processors with the Realta chip, that could be an awesome combo.

Problem with the two CompUSAs I went to is that at both places they were looping a CompUSA clip that had been put together...there were HD parts and SD parts but the whole thing had been remastered as one long HD clip at 1080i. So you couldn't do full screen SD and stuff like that...for instance there was a King Kong The Game clip that was just shown in the center of the screen with a big black border all the way around. It was not the optimal way to judge SD content.

Quote:
Originally Posted by phipp01 View Post

Yogi on the 42hvi you have your choice bottom mount the speakers or side mount them or not even mount them. check their website 1 of the cool features of the 42hvi IMO

I believe the bracket for side mounting is an option that must be purchased separately and will be available shortly. I'd contact Syntax for more info about it, I don't think the stores will have it yet.
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post #17 of 1175
12/9/05 at 8:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Naylia View Post

Problem with the two CompUSAs I went to is that at both places they were looping a CompUSA clip that had been put together...there were HD parts and SD parts but the whole thing had been remastered as one long HD clip at 1080i. So you couldn't do full screen SD and stuff like that...for instance there was a King Kong The Game clip that was just shown in the center of the screen with a big black border all the way around. It was not the optimal way to judge SD content.

Bummer,

Obviously it was put together by someone that doesn't have a clue. Well, how did the HD segments of the clip look?
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post #18 of 1175
12/9/05 at 8:59am
absolutely fabulous, i was actually a bit shocked by how good it looked. the prior day I had seen the 37" in another store and was a bit disappointed about seeing what i saw on the 37"blown up to 42" but when i saw the 42" the clarity was a big step up...there are sections of the comp usa clip where they show like a product # down in the corner of an advertiesed product and on the 37" it wasn't crisp, like the sony next to it was, but when i hit up the other compusa that did have it on display it was crisp clear and beautiful on the LT42HVi, so there must be a difference in technology/quality of components used. I was actually very surprised, easily convinced me to invest the extra couple hundred to snag one of these over the 42A10 from sony, I mean the price difference between olevia and the sony RP is about three hundred dollars when compared between the best prices from Sony Authorized dealers I've found and the LT42HVi at BeachCamera.com (reseller rating 9.1 ish) with free shipping included (8-10 day ground) and a $400 manufacturer's rebate. Makes it only about $300 difference once you get the rebate.
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post #19 of 1175
12/10/05 at 6:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Naylia View Post

I believe the bracket for side mounting is an option that must be purchased separately and will be available shortly. I'd contact Syntax for more info about it, I don't think the stores will have it yet.

The web site makes clear that one of the positions, side or bottom, requires an accessory mounting bezel, but doesn't say which position.

Yogibear, thanks for mentioning it comes bottom mount. That's a requirement for me to fit in existing furniture. Nice to know that side mount is an option if I ever wall mount in another room. It is pretty high at 34.8". Looks like another shelf comes out of the existing furniture. At 30-31" height for tv, one shelf still had some utility; moved up to allow 35-36", it is a waste.

I thought I had my mind made up on JVC 40X776 until I saw an ad for this. Now, I at least have to go see it first.
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post #20 of 1175
12/10/05 at 7:13am
Took a look at my local Microcenter -- this set is impressive. They only had it hooked up to p-scan DVD (no HD or SD feed), but for contrast, color sat, yes - even black levels, this set was better than the LT37HVS for sure. On par with the Sony KDL 32 and 40 XBRs, at least with p-scan feed. No better, but certainly no worse to this viewer. They also had it hooked up to a 17" Apple powerbook via DVI->HDMI cable and it looked pretty good as a monitor. There was a fair bit of pixel bleed around B&W text at the borders, which was annoying, but colors were rich. Not sure what resolution they were running, but doubt it was native 1366x768, so it may have been GPU or sync related.

Styling is a plus - simple & elegant black. Glass adds a bit of reflection and weight, but also looks classy, less cheap plastic than the smaller Olevias. Trying to avoid hyperbole and self-justification, but looking live just convinced me to buy this set. FYI, the speaker side mount brackets are available on the Syntax web site for $89.99. Bummer that they aren't included, but for ~$2k AR for a 42" LCD with this feature set -- not too bad.

I was ready to drop more coin on a smaller set for higher quality, but seeing is believing...
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post #21 of 1175
12/10/05 at 7:55am
Naylia and cryoablator,
Thanks for the "eyeball" review. This set is definitely looking like a winner.

fcbtivo2,
Any more feedback now that you've spent some more time with it?

While important to me and many others, the traditionally poor black levels on LCD would not have bothered the folks, but it sounds like the blacks on this one are very good which is just a bonus. It sounds like the IDEA chip IS more than marketing hype. Now if someone could try this with a game console (Xbox, 360 or PS2) to see how it performs, that would be the clincher, my guess is it will be great.
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post #22 of 1175
12/10/05 at 8:14am
The 34.8" height on stand is giving me some heartburn vs. current furniture. Two questions for someone who has it, or maybe looked at this aspect:
*If I remove the speakers entirely (I don't really plan to use them), can I reduce mounted height on stand or does it just "show more leg."
*If I adapted a wall mount to the furniture, what is the height w/o stand or speakers? Also what is the spacing of the four mounting holes on back, horizontally and vertically?

Edit: NEVER MIND, IGNORE THE REQUEST. My Micro Center didn't have it. In fact, although they featured it in this week's flyer, the idiot salesman denied Olevia made such a model. And I wasn't that keen on the 37" on display. I went back to my prior plan and bought the 40" JVC LCD. It comes tomorrow.
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post #23 of 1175
12/11/05 at 7:45pm
are these in target stores?

Quote:


HDTV Ready with ATSC and NTSC Tuners / 1366x768 WXGA Resolution / 800 CDM2 Brightness / 1200:1 Contrast / 178 degree Viewing / 8ms Response / Dual HDMI

Syntax's OLEVIA LT42HVi is a breathtaking 16:9 42" widescreen HDTV that can easily enhance the decor of any family room, living room or den. Incorporating IDEA Technology, this 42 LCDTV delivers all the Video and Sound enhancements accompanied with amazing video content. It features a native Resolution of 1366 x 768 S-IPS panel that provides high brightness, a 1200:1 dynamic contrast ratio, with wide 178-degree viewing angles. The LT42HVi speakers are detachable and deliver 25 Watts per Channel for Stereo or virtual Surround sound.

With a fully Integrated ATSC Digital Tuner input, the LT42HVi is a complete state-of-the-art HDTV. This means you can "plug and play" with any digital High Definition set top box or simply receive local high definition broadcasts over the air for free (when you use an Optional HDTV antenna). It features DUAL Progressive Scan Component inputs and HDMI inputs to support the latest video technology craze within the industry. It is PC compatible and delivers 25 watts of enhanced surround sound. It offers PIP, Split screen views to enable simultaneous TV/PC source viewing at one time. Furthermore, the LT42HVi features a patent pending rear panel AV Lamp for best visibility when accessing the rear inputs.
# 42" 16:9 Cinema-Style Widescreen Aspect Ratio
# HDTV Built-In (480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i)
# 1200:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio
# Wide XGA 1366 x 768 Native Resolution
# High Brightness 800 cd/m2
# 8 ms Response Time for smooth graphic display even with high-performance videogames
# Dual HDMI w/HDCP compatibility inputs
# Dual Progressive Scan Component Inputs
# ATSC Tuner Built In to receive Over-the-Air Digital broadcasts (when used with optional HDTV antenna)
# 178 / 178 Degree Wide Viewing Angles
# VGA (DB15) PC Compatibility
# 25W + 25W TruSurround Speakers
# HDTV Ready 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i
# Includes Table Stand / Wall Mountable with purchase of optional wall mount
# Unit Dimensions - Screen Only 43.11" (W) x 27.56" (H) x 4.52" (D) w/o stand; With speakers Speakers (side mounted) 48.35 (W) x 30.5 (H) x 11 (D) w/Stand; 48.35 (W) x 27.5 (H) x 4.52 (D) w/o Stand / Weight - Screen only 92.6lbs; With speakers, no stand 102.5lbs
# Optional Wallmount Type VESA 100 x 200
# 1-year Parts and Labor Warranty with On-site from Syntax
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post #24 of 1175
12/11/05 at 7:50pm



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post #25 of 1175
12/11/05 at 9:06pm
If you want side-mounted speakers you have to buy the kit from Syntax. With shipping it's around $100. It appears that you can also raise and lower the height of the stand to accomodate your preferred speaker placement.

With the $400 rebate and the prices I'm seeing on PriceGrabber this is looking better and better.
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post #26 of 1175
12/12/05 at 2:30pm
Wow, Wow, Wow... Just left the CompUSA in Raleigh, NC... I made the sales rep go to the back and bring out a new 42" Olevia LCD and set it up for me to watch. OK, literally, he plugged it into a very lame Component Feed and did NOT tweak in any way. It looked as good, if not better than Anything in the store! Now granted, this is CompUSA we're talking about, so that may not be saying much.

I own an 8th gen 42" panny plasma and a Pioneer 63" 16x9 Pioneer ELite RPTV (which is still considered by many to be the best consumer picture ever made.. until plasma and lcd's generate inky blacks!) so I have a fairly well trained eye.

My initial reaction is:

1. very good detail
2. Un-tweaked color was very watchable
3. The Glass "cover' made colors "pop", unlike a traditional LCD. I own a "tru brite" HP laptop and I prefer this look, so YMMV!
4. Honestly, better than virtually all LCD's I've seen to date (including SONY and Sanyo). In fact, this is the FIRST LCD I actually liked!
5. At $$ I couldn't believe my eyes... for the money, it's a no brainer.
6. No visible scan lines, very fine picture... even 720P plasma's reveal scan lines to my eyes.

Weaknesses
OK, remember, this was a 30 minute in store eval.
1. Clearly NOT up to par with plasma or RPTV in terms of black levels. That said, I found the black level veyr acceptable. With tweaking, who knows?

2. Speakers? Couldn't really comment on these since it was in-store.

Bottom line I'm now chaning my last minute xmas gift plans!

If this is the wave of the future, bring on the LCD's!

bradesp
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post #27 of 1175
12/12/05 at 2:46pm
Thread Starter 
I haven't removed the bottom speakers because, using my existing table, I like the height at the current time. However, I think that removing bottom speakers would decrease the overall height. I think the stand attaches to the speakers which attach to the TV. Remove the speakers, the stand attaches directly to the TV.

I calibrated the TV with Spyder TV. The spyder recommended warm setting and tended to provide more color saturation than I typically prefer, but I'll leave it there for awhile. Perhaps I will run AVIA soon but I noticed I can't change individual colors from the regular menu on the Syntax like I can on my RPTV, so I'm not sure it will be that helpful.

Also, the HDMI connection from a HD Tivo only let me change contrast and brightness (I think?) and not the color settings.

I'm now using a Harmony 676 to control the TV and my Onkyo receiver and my older PScan Toshiba DVD player. I've got to work on sending signals for changing the inputs from HDMI 1 to Component 1, but the harmony remote is really nice - I own 2 others, the 959 and the 688 (I think those are the right models) and this is by far my favorite - it's more big button TIVO friendly.

After watching the Victoria Secret show on CBS in HD, I'm convinced they would sell a lot more HDTVs, antennas and/or setup boxes if more people could catch 5 minutes of this show... and to think I thought football was the HD killer app.
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post #28 of 1175
12/12/05 at 8:08pm
Jus pulled the trigger on Olevia LT42HVI. All I can say that it looks great for an lcd and the price is unbeatable. Before purchasing I got to look at the Sony & Samsung and LG side by side for comparison. The only the Sony had a simular picture (better flesh tones) in my opinion. The Olevia came very close with some in store tweaking. Im very happy with the purchase. Get one before the $400 rebate ends 12/31.
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post #29 of 1175
12/13/05 at 7:02am
should i go through amazon? get the warranty?
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post #30 of 1175
12/13/05 at 8:23am
Doesn't Samsung put something over their LCDs to give them that color pop? I really like the look of the glossy covered lab tops so I am excited to see how a LCD TV looks.

I currently own a 30" Syntax and I could not be happier with it especially for the money I paid. Oh and btw can someone post some pictures?
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