Olevia 237T

I love this TV. I had purchased a Best Buy 37" Insignia HDTV and used it for 2 weeks before deciding to take it back because the image was too fuzzy. I realize that low res sources can look fuzzy on an HDTV, but it just seemed ridiculous.
I went to Target and picked up the Olevia 237T for $799, went home and hooked it up. From the moment I turned it on, I knew it was going to be a keeper.


The low res source of our cable came out looking just fine. When you get up close, it's still a little fuzzy from being enlarged, but Olevia's algorithm for enlarging is definitely much better than Insignia's. With a high res source, it looks amazing!
A lot of people trash the menu of the Olevia, but I really liked it. For one, most menus give you options for changing the picture, but have the menu take up 75% of the screen while you're adjusting things. Olevia's stays in the top left corner so you can see what's going on. Nobody likes changing from the big blocky style of menu that we're used to, but using Olevia's menu will be easy after a few attempts.
The menu also includes TONS of settings for the picture. There are the standard settings of brightness, contrast, etc; but there are also settings for skin tones, sharpness, noise reduction, black levels, color channel settings, and more! There is a lot of room for customization.
I haven't needed to do it yet, but the ability to upgrade the software in the TV via USB is pretty awesome. The TV should be able to stand up to competition longer, so long as Olevia releases decent firmware updates.



The one thing that I have NOT liked about this TV was that the remote that comes with it is pretty crappy. It's not universal, so you can't set up other devices to work on it. I haven't tried getting my own Universal remote yet, but I've heard that they don't always support the Olevias, because they're newer TVs, but that might not be a factor anymore. The remote that comes with the TV has special buttons to quickly change the aspect ratio, lighting, closed captioning, etc... so it would be nice if it could be used with other devices.


All in all, a great, big TV for the price, with lots of features and a great picture. I think that when it comes to the less expensive HDTV's, if your biggest concern is the lack of features on the remote, you're still in a pretty good spot. Great HDTV; I would recommend it to EVERYONE.

Check with Rueters and confirm for yourself as I did, that Olevia has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. How can they honor the one year warranty? I would not take a chance they can. Good luck to those who have already bought Olevia TV sets. Beware to those contemplating buying one.