What I Liked About The LT32HV
2. The LT32HV offers good progressive scan performance; HD performance via DVI input is impressive. The color is excellent, with no overblown reds when using Component, or DVI-inputs, and very little with S-Video.
3. The LT32HV has a great sounding internal speaker system; I really like the line output for an added powered subwoofer.
4. The screen brightness was excellent; the "soft" backlight setting is more than adequate.
5. The LT32HV has great picture adjustment flexibility. Not only does it have the standard brightness, contrast, and color temperature controls, but I really liked the fact that it have separate saturation controls for Red, Green, and Blue. This adds more setting choices to maximize color texture.
6. Very wide viewing angle provides flexible seating.
7. The onscreen menu functions are easy to navigate - great PIP/split screen/POP. Although the remote control has some quirks, overall, it was easy to use.
8. The Owner's manual and Quick Start Guide were both well illustrated, with brief, to-the-point, instructions.
What I Didn't Like About The LT32HV
2. I found the table stand design a little awkward. The large footprint of the table stand does not allow convenient placement on a shorter width table. The table needs to be almost as wide as the LCD TV itself, which detracts from its otherwise sleek design.
3. The location of the DVI and VGA connections, which was underneath the set, were inconveniently located. There seems to plently of room on the left side panel where these connections could have been placed, much the same way the rest of the AV connections were placed on the right side/rear panels.
4. The backlight setting is reversed, the bright setting appears to dim the backlight, while the soft setting appears to intensify the backlight. However, once I was aware of this "glitch", I considered this a minor issue.
Conclusion
With DVD sources utilizing S-video, component, and upscaled HD sources, the LT32HV performed great, with excellent color and detail, as well as improved contrast over some other LCD units I have seen. This unit is just the ticket if you desire an inexpensive flat panel television for viewing primarily DVDs and High Definition source material.
Although its performance with low resolution analog material, such as analog cable and standard video (VHS) sources, falls short when compared to standard CRT-based direct view and projection televisions, the LT32HV definitely exthibited improved performance in this area over past LCD televisions I have viewed.
The quality of the source material definitely contributes to what you end up with on the screen. This brings me ot my next point; I did not use the Olevia with a direct HD-cable, HD-broadcast, or HD-satellite source. However, based on the results I observed with the DVD progressive scan and DVI input sources, I would expect good results from any HD or progressive scan signal source.
Overall, video performance was very good and much improved over many past LCD televisions I have seen, especially for the price.
In addition, not to be overlooked, is the audio side of the Olevia LV32HV. Although most consumers elect to have the audio from their DVD player and other components connected through a separate home theater system, this unit has decent onboard audio. The 15 watt-per-channel onboard amplifier is a good match for its side mounted speakers, which produce a very wide stereo sound stage. In addition, the Olevia has a subwoofer line output, which lets you combine a compact subwoofer, such as the Maxx Miniwoofer , with the onboard speaker system to provide much fuller stereo sound.
Final Words - The Bottom Line
Overall, the LT32HV represents a great value in design, functionality, and progressive scan and high definition performance, as well as improved analog performance, for an LCD TV in its price range. This set is definitely worth consideration for DVD and HDTV fans on a budget; and also makes a great large screen computer or video game monitor.
The LT32HV demonstrates how much LCD technology has improved in the area of large screen applications in recent years. Continued improvement in contrast and response time will bring LCD closer to CRT performance.
I rate the Syntax Olevia LT32HV 4.5 Stars out of 5.
