Syntax Olevia LT37HVE 37-Inch HD-Ready Flat-Panel LCD TV

Just a quick warning: while the features/price of Olevia are decent (except the finicky remote), this is the very first TV I've owned in my 62 years that has died; and in rather short order - two years. Apparently (?) the capacitors on the power board have problems so the set stopped powering up - and mine is not an isolated incident (Google "Olevia power problems").

Pretty big ticket item to be worrying about repair bills two years down the road - and hefty to be lugging to the electronics shop.

I'd stay away from this brand.

I agree that Olevia is pretty good LCD for the price when it works. But I want to warned you about their quality. (A lot of people has quality issue with olevia, read other people's command)

I had a similar LCD TV from Olevia since June 2005. A week ago the screen when black but there still audio from the set so I know it's not the cable. I turned it off then back on. I got a brief blue screen, then the screen when black again.

I called the Tech support, and found out that I'll probably need a new LCD which going to cost me ~$500 because the warranty had ran out.

I spend ~$800 for the set and it worked for a year and a half, I don't think it's a good value, do you?

So before you waste your money on the set, asked yourself if it's a good value if it breaks in a little more than a year!

This is a new brand, so at the time when I bought the set, there's not report of how long the TV will last, knowing what I know now, I would spend a little more and get a different brand. Now I owned a $800 piece of junk!

I took a shot of this no-name TV and have only been pleased with the results. I just bought another smaller version (32). I also have two other name brands (Pan & Samsung) which I like and work well, but honestly I like this TV the most. It seems to have the best picture in HD and especially on the regular/normal mode TV of the group. It has the same codes as a Zenith so maybe they are the same, which I cannot say with any certainty. What I can say from my experience that I am very happy with it after 6 months. The price point is only a bonus, the quality seems to be there whatever the price.

After reading many of the reviews, it is important to actually know what you are doing. I purchased this TV over a year ago and the picture has been fantastic. Is the remote inadequate?? Yes, so what, I always purchase a programmable remote anyway. I highly recommend the Home Theatre Master MX-500.

For the money I have been extremely pleased with my investment. I plan on buying a second one for my son's room. One review mentioned not being able to watch letterboxed dvd's , I have not had that problem. The blue light can be a little annoying, if it really bothers you buy a $1,700 model that does not have a light ! Service problems, sure all manufacturers have problems, I had purchased a 65" Mitsubishi Diamond television only to have it completely shutdown. No picture, no sound, nothing and this from a $ 5,000 tv which took 2 weeks to get replaced. With technology changing as rapidly as it is it will be difficult to purchase a tv without something better and cheaper being available a month after you have made your purchase, unless you are paying top dollar. If so you should have a couple of months before the new technology is released providing more features and better pictures for less.

Before you buy and after, take the time to understand the programming of your TV otherwise you will be disappointed. Choose the right inputs to maximize sound and picture. Make adjustments to the brightness, contrast, color filters, and especially the sharpness setting. The Syntax has several different inputs, some that will not broadcast a letterbox picture.

Excellent product and excellent value!

After ten months of ownership I can agree with everyone that this tv has a spectacular picture, when there is a picture. Replaced once under warranty, repaired once more and now broken again for the third time. Quality control is clearly not an issue with these people. Customer service works well after you get though to them, assuming you get through at all. Save your money until you can afford a set from one of the big names, they cannot afford reviews like this, apparently Syntax could not care less.

I bought the Olevia 37 inch TV at Price Smart in David, Chiriqui in the Republic of Panama after reading the reviews on Amazon. While I continue to buy books and many small items from Amazon, I certainly couldn't afford to buy and ship this TV.

When I went to research this TV, not knowing the manufacture, I came upon the Amazon reviews. With more research and the Amazon reviews, I decided to take the leap and bought it. It has far exceeded my expectations and I am completely happy.

The picture and colors are sharp and bright. I even like the lit Olevia on the front of the set when it is powered off. The remote is better than I expected after reading the reviews. I compared the picture with Panasonic, LG and Samsung before I bought. And the picture seems even better not that the set is in my house. For the price difference to the larger named brands, I don't think it can be beat.

This LCD TV (LT37HVS 37" ) has a MAJOR FLAW!. I am surprised it has not be made more public. This TV is virtually useless for viewing letter boxed material or programming. This is a big problem because you will not be able to view any letter-box DVDs or letter-box TV movies / series (ie sopranos). I guess I should say you cannot view them in a way that is not extremely irritating. By default the image will appear as a small box with large black bars on BOTH tops and sides! Now, remarkably the zoom feature which could be used to over come this problem does not work! I guess I should say it works but so poorly that it would have been better to completely disable this function. The pathetic, crippled zoom function works in such a way that there is CONSTANTLY an large onscreen menu that appears near the middle of the screen and says: x2 and has a picture of a box. If that was not bizarre enough, to make matters worse the zoom creates significant horizontal distortion, further guaranteeing that you cannot use this feature. Believe me it is useless. Initially, I thought for certain, I just was not pushing the correct button somewhere, but a phone call to SYNTAX OLEVIA verified that this is a known "engineering glitch."

I feel burned and stuck with a defective product. It took me a while to sort all of this out and have had the product more than 30 days now, so I am pretty sure I am stuck with it.

Buyer beware.

I bought this TV primarily because I was getting a 37" tv for the price of other 32" tv's, the high contrast ratio did not hurt either.

Its just been 1 day of using this TV, But I am impressed. Colors are crisp, The screen is bright and the resolution is also very good. Paired with a good HD box this TV rocks !

Cons: Remote is laughable - important functions like aspect ratio are hidden. But it is not too much of a hindrance as I use the remote of the cable(comcast) box most of the time which can be manually programmed to work with the TV.

I picked up this TV about a month ago and dollar for dollar this set can't be beat. The only down side to this product is the remote and the annoying blue lit Olevia name brand when the TV is off.

I have this TV in my bedroom and when the set is off I find the blue logo light annoying.

The remote lacks a few features which IMHO would be helpful:
1) Being able to change inputs without accessing the menu,
2) Sleep timer,
3) Recall, being able to recall the last input for example I get HD over the air and cable via a cable. When I watch a HD channel then switch inputs to cable and press recall it only remembers the last 2 cable channels I watched so the set is unable to switch between inputs for recall
4) PIP you have to go through the menu which is really annoying.

I also found by accident that an apex DVD player remote will work on this TV, however the functions as they are labeled are different but I can switch between inputs using this remote.

This is a GREAT TV for the money and I highly recommend it.

Received this item about 4 days ago and all I can say is "WOW".
The picture quality-- although not as good as the higher end models (think, Sony, Sharp or Samsung")--is excellent given the low price I had to pay for it--$1,099 with free shipping and no tax through Tigerdirect via Amazon.com. For this price on a 37" lcd tv is unthinkable.

As stated, the picture quality is excellent, as well as the overall design. The different feautures, including the built-in hd tuner, makes this one of the best deals of this kind on the net or anywhere else.

I am definitely pleased with my purchase.

This is the most fantastic tv I have ever seen.
Amazon deserve 5 stars for their white glove delivery service.
You need to check this out. I never heard of Olevia before but they will become a vibrant factor in the marketplace as their product is equal to or better than the "Famous Names"
No need to spend the big bucks for the big names.
The picture quality is beyond imagination.

This is the first HD LCD TV that I've bought. I am very happy with my choice. Yes there have been some small issues, but I've had worse after spending less for an item. The two issues I have are, that when there is a night seen in a movie you really have a hard time seeing anything and the manual is almost useless. Does not explain how to program the different viewing modes, only what it allows and some pretty pictures that are useless. And I still haven't found a universal remote that works on Syntax TV's.
Now the good stuff. It's not that heavy, only about 40 lbs. The picture is very good, I just wish there was more HD being broadcast. The sound is great. And considering that this company is relatively new, I think that the quality for the price is worth it. Believe me my next one will also be Syntax.

My Tv started to have sound problems and I sent off an email to Olevia. No response. Then tried calling support - had to leave a message.

Days later after no response I called and transferred to sales - helpful guy and wanted all the details but again he could not help and would have tech support call me back - NO LUCK with call back

3 weeks go by and now I am getting rather ticked at the no response. So rewrote email again - no response.

Called tech support and left my number - no response.

Again called sales and got another person.
Got a live body - Yaaahoo! - could not help but forwarded me to customer service (to give me the service at home number). Customer service could not help and said Tech support were the ones to talk to. After an hour plus on hold I get to talk to a tech. 1/2 hour later he came to the conclusion that I needed service.

The support issue is really bad. My recomendation is call them yourself before you buy the TV.

Oh, and Good Luck!!!!

This TV is not an LCD...its a mammoth....13.7" thick come on..i canget a projection tv thinnner than that...and its heavy, 75 lbs! compared to similiar 40-50 lb tvs. the pics on the syntax site are decieving....they dont show how thick it really is..dont buy and spend the extra money on quality lcd tv....you can tell that all the reviews here are from Syntax salesmen trying to hype this tv up...my review is the only true one. yeah its cheap...but you get what you pay for.

After looking around for several months I decided to purchase the HD-Ready Flat-Panel LCD TV made by Olevia. I am very happy with my choice. I purchased this TV as a birthday gift for myself. It was easy to install and it was ready to use right out of the box. I'm so impressed with this product that I've recommended it to several friends who are looking to purchase a flat-panel LCD TV for Christmas. The only small problem I have is a little snow in the TV because I haven't purchased the HD receiver as of yet which I have placed on my Christmas list.

I had my first football party on Dec 18th so my friends can experience the joy I have while looking at my new TV. The Redskins/Dallas game was awesome on the TV. Everybody enjoyed the games as well as the TV we watched it on. The price is right and the picture is outstanding! And that's without having the HD receiver! I highly recommend this TV!

Like everyone else I experienced a little problem with the delivery of the TV. The TV was delivered to my job within a week from the date I purchased it. I was not given a tracking number or the phone number of the courier. Therefore, I had to do a little bit of research to locate the company. The remote is a little odd but I only have to use it to power the TV on or off or to watch a DVD so the remote is not a big issue to me. I can use my Direct TV remote to turn the channel. Other than that, I have no complaints.

This is one birthday gift I will always enjoy!

Why not offer full 1080i/p resolution at this size.
Should be 1920 x 1080. Anything less and you will want to upgrade very soon because these TV's don't support native HD.

I had been shopping for a new tv for a while before biting the bullet and going with this one. I had never heard of Syntax before and that usually makes me nervous. However I searched the web a bit and found out they are one of the top sellers in the US right now because of their pricing. The specs on this tv are equal to or better than nearly everything else out there and the price is roughly half.

I have only had my tv for a week and a half now, but I am very glad I went with this tv. It looks great mounted above the fireplace and you can see the picture from anywhere in the room. Shipping was cheap and it arrived in perfect shape with no dead pixels or other damage. Like other reviewers have said, the remote stinks so invest in one of the Logitech remotes with all the money you saved.

After months of searching around, I finally settled on this as my primary family room TV. I am not disappointed. At twice the price, it would be a good deal. The picture quality equals or surpasses just about anything on the market. The delivery (a delay as usual, causing me to waste time) leaves something to be desired; still, the guys were careful and the package arrived in good shape. I COULDN'T BE MORE PLEASED with the quality of this TV. Now, if Olevia (and every other electronics firm in the universe)could just find somebody who could write a straight-forward easy-to-read user manual we'd be in business!!!

I agonized and looked and searched and finally decided to go with the Olivia. The only LCD that came close was the Aquas, and when I considered the cost differential there wasn't much else to decide. Now that I have it hooked up I couldn't be happier.
The shipping was a pain in the butt...they used some "fullfillment" outfit so there was no tracking or definate delivery date. Would have been worth a couple of extra bucks for the peace of mind.
ABC can bite it....I live in a very rural area and can only get HD feeds over satellite...and ABC was the only network to deny me an East coast feed.

For those looking for 37" LCD TVs for an affordable price, this is it. At first, the brand name made me skeptical because it's not exactly a household brand but after perusing through the other customer reviews and doing a little research on the TV's company, I decided to set aside my bias for well-known brand names.

I don't have cable and therefore can't critic on HD performance but DVD and VHS programs show great clarity and no pixelation even at close range viewing. Glare should not be an issue unless you have the whole set directly facing the sunlight. I also tested the set as a computer monitor and you would be amazed at what a pleasure it is to play your favorite computer games in full 37" widescreen glory w/o any distortions on the screen.

The only minor drawback so far is that the speakers are permanently mounted and can't be detached but otherwise there are no problems with audio quality.

After viewing the TV for almost a month now with no problems, I consider this one of my greatest finds and buys on the net. I highly recommend this set.

TV was ready to use out of the box. It took less than an hour to get it from box to hanging on my family room wall. It look great by the way! I have Directv with only a s-video connection and the picture is great, so I thought then I hooked up my DVD player and realized how the picture can look. Once I get a HD receiver it will blow people away. The price was right on this set $1600 compared to $2700 for the same size Sharp? Easy desicion for me.

I bought 37" Olevia 2 weeks ago thru Target/Amazon. So far it exceeded my expectations. First I used with my direct Analog TV connection and it worked great. Some people complain about regular tv channels not showing good, but it might be due to their signal strength also. I had an amplifier installed before on the cable. When I shut down that, the view looked dotted. However, it is mostly good with the amplifier although signal quality/color/contrast change between channels. Contrast/brightness levels need adjustment sometimes. Then I got Cox HDTV and it is excellent quality with the DVI connection from box. The box component connection somehow was showing my analog channels not good as previous direct antenna link. I recommend highly on the DVI connection. I can watch the IMAX documentaries within couple feet with no resolution problem. The detail is amazing. I rented some DVD's, but I didn't have too much time to watch after HDTV channels. THe IMAX dvd also looked very good in component cable versus some older movies from 70's looked not as good. I see some edge resolution problems with some non-HDTV channels with DVI connection as I read in cnet review. It might be good to have maybe zooming adjustments like in computer monitors as for edge correction. With my laptop vga connection, the 1280x768 view do not fit 100% although you can stretch/zoom. I haven't used much except adjusting/testing colors between 2 lcd screens. It has blue/red/green color adjustments. Tint, saturation and noise reduction are off with DVI connection. The newer HDMI connection instead of DVI also might be better if they improve the model. Final say, excellent buy for this price. It uses the same LCD screen with LG models but nearly at the half price. I was going for 30-32" range due to prices before I see this model, and it fits better in my living room. I highly recommend LCD screens for watching tv compared to a plasma due to burn-out problems. I don't care now whether it fits 100% or not. The speakers are OK, even loud for the neighbours with movie and music options. No quality problems so far, no bad pixels. I give overall 4.5 stars. Until 40-45" LCD prices get cheaper, it is the best buy overall for budget concerned buyers.

This TV was really plug and play. Basically its take it out of the box plug it in and enjoy. HD television is fantastic. I made a mistake in the filing of a rebate on this product. The company was great about communicating with me and treated me very well. As in other reviews I would say the remote is the only weak part. Very vanilla and has to be aimed right on target. But the performance of the TV more than makes up for it. We really enjoy rental DVD's now. Its like being at the movies. I would definitly buy other products from this company. A great buy for the price.

I just bought this TV from amazon.com last week. (This was my first purchase of a big ticket item over the internet.) I originally ordered the Sharp 37 inch 6GU model from BrandsMart, for close to $5,000. but they had it on back order and after 90 days I cancelled the order. It worked out well because I got this model for half the price of the Sharp. I am very happy with it. With the built in speakers it seems very large. I have a comcast HD cable box. There are not a whole lot of stations that broadcast in HD, for the ones that do I get a remarkably clear picture with perfect color. One of the reviewers (the guy who is colorblind) mentioned that he experenced a dark picture. I have noticed this only on the analog stations myself, and had a hard time correcting it. My set has no dead pixels. The remote control for this set does seem cheap and poorly designed. However because I have HD cable I can use the cable box remote for most functions. Overall, after one week use, I am very happy with this set. I am glad I did not buy the Sharp, which would probably have been too much TV for me, and I can use the $2,500 difference to buy some other extravagance.