52IN WIDE LCD HDTV FHD-ATSC NTSC 1600:1 19X10 review

Performance
For the price, the Olevia 252T FHD delivers fine picture quality compared to the budget LCD competition, performing as well as the Vizio GV52LF for example, especially in terms of color accuracy. Its off-angle viewing and screen uniformity are certainly below average, and its black-level performance won't win any awards, but it's still a solid low-buck LCD.

During our initial setup, we calibrated the TV for ideal light output in our completely dark room using our baseline light output of 40 footlamberts. We also chose the 6,500K color temperature preset, which while closer than the very blue Native setting, still introduced too much blue. We also engaged the Dark Room setting, which reduced the backlight a bit, and left most of the other controls turned off. For our full darkened-room picture settings, check out the Tips section below or click here.

To evaluate the Olevia's picture quality, we set it up next to a few other HDTVs we had on hand, including our reference televisions for black-level and color, the Pioneer PDP-5080HD and the Sony KDS-55A3000 respectively, along with the Philips 47PFL9732D, a more expensive, smaller LCD (we disengaged its 120Hz mode) and the Insignia NS-PDP42, a budget plasma. We checked out the great-looking Black Snake Moan on Blu-ray, courtesy of the Sony PlayStation 3.

In dark areas, the Olevia performed a bit below average for a flat-panel LCD, producing a lighter shade of black than any of the other sets in the room with the exception of the Insignia plasma, whose depth of black was about the same as the 252T FHD's. When Christina Ricci's character Rae attends the outdoor bar at night, for example, the shadows in the trees and over the car hoods, as well as the black of the letterbox bars above and below the screen, looked lighter than they did on the Philips, for example, which in side-by-side comparisons made the darker scenes on the Olevia look more washed-out. The 252T FHD also looked a bit less natural in shadows than the rest of the displays because the shadows became too bright too quickly in comparison. On our reference Pioneer and the Philips, for example, the posts against the wall behind the bed of Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson) looked too bright and distinct compared with our reference Pioneer. The darkest areas of the Olevia picture also dipped into blue somewhat, although not as noticeably as we've seen on some LCDs.

These dark scenes also revealed issues with the 252T FHD's uniformity across the screen. The upper-right corner bore a markedly brighter splotch, and the other corners had less apparent but still noticeable brighter areas. The Philips LCD looked relatively uniform by comparison. Like all LCDs, the Olevia's black areas became brighter and more washed out when we moved off-angle, more so then the Philips, and they also became discolored, turning reddish/bluish the further we moved from center.

Speaking of color, the Olevia 252T FHD's major strength is its primary color accuracy. The set came very close to the standard for red and blue, and even green, the most problematic hue for most displays (including the Philips), was solidly average. The trees around Lazarus's house for example, when he first sees Rae sprawled in the street, looked natural and not too yellowish, as we saw on most of the other displays (with the exception of the Sony). We also appreciated the accurate cyan when Lazarus visits the pharmacy; the sky-blue walls looked correct as opposed to greenish as they did on the Philips.

On the other hand, the Olevia's color temperature skewed a bit toward blue, although with the set's accurate color decoding skin tones, such as Rae's perpetually bare midriff, still appeared relatively natural. The bluish tinge, at least compared to those of the other sets (aside from the Insignia), did compromise skin tones somewhat, but overall they looked solid considering our inability to tweak the Olevia's color temperature beyond the so-called 6,500K preset.

As we expected from a 1080p HDTV, the Olevia resolved every detail of both 1080p and 1080i sources according to test patterns. Details on this sharp Blu-ray looked crisp and lifelike, from the weave in the rug on Lazarus' floor to Rae's dirty-blond hair to the grungy wood walls of Tehronne's hangout. As we're fond of pointing out, however, the benefits of 1080p were almost impossible to discern. The 1,366x768 resolution Pioneer, which we placed right next to the Olevia, looked just as sharp from our seating distance of about 8 feet, and moving even closer we saw the difference only by staring hard at the finest details, such as Rae's hair, and only in select scenes. In most instances, the Pioneer actually appeared sharper due to its superior black-level performance.

The Olevia did not deinterlace 1080i video properly, causing moire in the grille of the RV from Chapter 6 of Ghost Rider, but such artifacts are exceedingly rare in our experience and can be eliminated by setting sources to 1080p mode when possible. Unlike the Philips, the Olevia also played 1080p/24 content normally, although there's no benefit to using 1080p/24 mode with this television.

With standard-definition sources, the Olevia was about average. The color bar pattern showed that the set could handle all of the detail of the HQV DVD, and details in the grass and the stone bridge looked relatively sharp and well-resolved. When showing moving diagonal lines, the 252T FHD didn't do much to smooth out the edges, so we saw jaggies in the stripes of the waving American flag for example. Noise reduction was quite effective between the Off and Low settings, reducing the motes and video "snow" in the noisy shots of flowers and skies, but engaging the Medium and High settings didn't seem to increase the effect. The set evinced fine 2:3 pull-down, removing the moire from the grandstands behind the racing car.

For whatever reason, the Olevia actually fared better in our tests with analog VGA sources than with digital PC sources delivered over its HDMI input. With both of the HDMI-equipped laptops we connected via HDMI, the TV didn't perform well--in one case, connecting the Olevia caused the PC's display driver to crash and elicit a Blue Screen of Death in Vista. In the other, the display came up but didn't fill the screen, looked somewhat soft, and didn't resolve every detail according to DisplayMate, despite our setting the output to the panel's native 1,920x1,080 resolution. Dedicated computer users may find a way around this issue or may even get the Olevia to work without a hassle via HDMI, but in our experience with two different Vista PCs, the 252T FHD worked much better via analog VGA. Hooked up via analog, the 52-inch screen resolved every detail of 1,920x1,080 according to DisplayMate, and text looked as good as we've seen from any big-screen LCD with an analog connection.

Juice box

Olevia 252T FHD	Picture settings
	Default	Calibrated	Power Save
Picture on (watts)	257.29	173.8	N/A
Picture on (watts/sq. inch)	0.22	0.15	N/A
Standby (watts)	1.24	1.24	N/A
Cost per year	$78.89	$53.53	N/A
Score (considering size)	Good
Score (overall)	Average

*Cost per year based on 2007 average U.S. residential electricity cost of 10.6 cents per kw/hr at 8 hours on/16 hours off per day.