Drop, charge, and lose the cords
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- My rating: 0 stars
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Unbeatable SD quality, Unbeatable price!"
Pros: Great colors, perfect out-of-the-box calibration, excellent speakers, UNBELIEVABLE SD quality, a bazillion options/connectors, glass front panel, Upgradeable firmware
Cons: Heavy, awkward menu system, sometimes confusing options, doesn't do dishes for you.
Summary: I was in the market for a budget HDTV (aren't we all?), so I went store shopping. Originally, I wanted a Vizio as they seemed pretty cheap, but picture quality, options, and connections were all lacking on their TVs. Then, I heard about Olevia TVs. I looked at them in stores and noticed that, while paling in comparison to the $6,000+ Sony TV, the picture really wasn't that bad at all for anything under $2,000.
I purchased my 747i from Newegg for $1300 (refurb), and have been incredibly happy since. Olevia claims that the color is calibrated out of the box, and I found that after futzing with it anyway, it really didn't need any correction. The brightness and contrast are typical of any LCD screen, and are as good as can be under the limitations of the type. (excluding said $6000 Sony TV)
There are a bajillion connectors on the back of this TV. This is good and bad, as I don't need switchers any more, but you have to flip through every... single... input to get to the one or two you have hooked up.
The real shining star is the Realta SD deinterlacing processor. Normally, HDTVs have a really hard time with regular ol' cable channels - they look fuzzy, distorted, etc, but the SD processor in this TV is easily the best I have ever seen, and the SD quality on this TV rivals the 720P HD quality I've seen on other TVs! With this TV you don't mind only having 12 or so HD channels.
This TV, like others, won't pass Dolby 5.1 surround through the external audio out ports (S/PDIF / TOSLINK), so if you're going to use a home theater system, don't run it through the TV. Those of you who might worry that the video and audio will be out of sync, though, will be delighted to know that there is an option just for that... appropriately called "Lip sync". It will decouple the A and V to make them match up once again, once you fiddle with it a bit.
The glass panel that covers the face of the TV is a very nice touch; if you throw your wiimote at it, the glass panel will shatter instead of the LCD panel! This also means you can regular ol' (non-ammoniated) windex to clean the front panel, instead of that expensive LCD cleaner stuff.
Overall, I'm very impressed with this TV, even more so when you factor in its price. Yes, it is heavy - nearly 140 pounds, so definitely a two-man lift, but this is mostly because of said glass panel (it's thick) and the steel carapace that encases the TV to lend structural integrity.
So, the final word is this: If you're in the market for a cheap, full-featured, upgradeable, clear, sharp (especially in SD), and CHEAP HDTV, this Olevia is the one you need to get. End o' story.
Olevia 747i:
