Olevia 232T LCD TV

September 19th, 2008 -- by David Birch-Jones
Source: Playback

Syntax-Brillian’s Olevia brand is one of the fastest-growing LCD TV marques, and they’re striving for the right balance of performance and affordable price in order to compete with the established brands in the marketplace. Their new 232T model includes a decent input complement, along with quite good video processing, to ex-tract the most picture quality out of standard definition sources such as DVD. As with the other sets in this survey, the 232T is a 768p set, meaning it has a tad more resolution than the 720p high definition standard calls for, and with its WXGA PC video input, the set can easily double as a dandy computer monitor—just the ticket for hard-core PC gamers. While the set features stereo audio outputs for connection to an external audio system, it doesn’t provide a digital audio output, a curious omission.

FEATURES

• ATSC/NTSC/Cable Clear-QAM tuners

• HDMI input

• VGA input

• Component video, S-video, composite video inputs

USER INTERFACE

Remote Featuring a control layout similar to that of the remote provided with the Westinghouse SK-32H540S (also reviewed in this issue), the Olevia’s black remote dispenses with direct source selection buttons, meaning you must toggle through selections via the source button, which takes some time as the process can only be described as leisurely. The white fonts are reasonably legible in low light conditions.

Menu System

Zagging while the rest of the industry zigs, the Ole-via comes with a menu system that is rather unusual, to say the least. Instead of a text-based menu, the Olevia features (as do other Olevia models) a rotating barrel that offers up the main menu categories. Once a particular category is chosen, that same barrel changes its offerings appropriate to the sub-group.

While I’m all for a snazzy-looking menu design, I find myself grumbling as I search through the available choices to get to a particular control. While Olevia is to be commended for providing a well-written owner’s manual with the set, I found that I had to delve into it for guidance a lot more than I would have cared to, just to find my way around their menu system. Ideally, a TV’s menu system should be clear and intuitive, and I feel that the Olevia’s unusual menu design falls short of the mark. Adjustments are made via a linear slider, but without numerical indication, which makes duplicating settings a chore.

RECOMMENDED PICTURE SETTINGS

Note: The following recommended settings were obtained using a Samsung Blu-ray player, set to 720p output, and connected to the set via HDMI, using the recently released Digital Video Essentials HD Basics Blu-ray test and set-up disc. Having a test DVD and/or HD disc on hand is really the only way to ensure that your source components and the display are properly adjusted, especially with respect to the brightness and contrast controls.

color (3 clicks left of center)	-3
Tint	0
Color Temperature	6500
Sharpness	-15
Backlight Room (minimum)	Dark

**performance olevia 232T**
	Detail	Color	Blacks	Shadow Detail	Artifacts/Noise
Blu-ray (Donnie Brasco)	Sharp as a tack, as you’d expect. The disc’s menu features a montage of images overlaid with a simulated rifle-scope pattern that is pixel perfect.	The movie features a lush color palette, with rich skin tones that don’t veer into the cartoonish orange as is often the case.	The 232T does a very good job with blacks (but that’s only when the backlighting is trimmed back to the lowest of the three available settings). Most of the mob characters are sporting jet black hair color as is Depp’s undercover FBI character.	Chapter 16 opens with a dimly lit nighttime scene. Depp’s character is wearing a black leather jacket that is rendered fairly well, except for moments when the scene lighting is at its dimmest.	None noted.
DVD (American Beauty)	The 232T provides a very good job of upconversion, and the disc’s opening titles are clean and crisp.	Chapter 5’s dream sequence features Mina Suvari surround by deep vermillion red flower petals that are highly defined.	Annette Bening’s character wears a fancy black dress to a party, and her attire’s fine detailing is easily discernable.	That same chapter features Kevin Spacey and Wes Bentley sharing a joint in a dark parking lot, and the dark grays defining the building’s bricks are solidly presented.	None noted. With test DVDs, the 232T scores highly on tough film cadence deinterlacing patterns.
HDTV (Ax Men) Discovery HD	Shot in 1080i video, the show features closeup shots of the crew handling dangerous log moving equipment, with no evidence of softening.	Many outdoor scenes feature bright blue skies, along with vivid natural colors of the trees and their multihued bark, which are finely rendered without unnecessary over-emphasis.	Much of the logging equipment used in the show is painted black, and the 232T easily captures all the black detail.	Very good. A number of shots are of logs being aerially transported against a bright sunlit sky, and the 232T does a splendid job of retaining shadow detail even when the picture is very bright.	None noted.

Ambient Light Tolerance: While the 232T only offers three backlighting settings, the lowest choice is still able to produce a very robust 60 foot-Lamberts of light (at 100% white), more than enough to cope with a brightly lit room. Going to the top backlighting setting permits the set to put out double that amount.