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Olevia 537H

73

Good
  • Pros
  • Excellent color quality
  • Cons
  • Manual is on CD instead of on paper

User Reviews for Olevia 537H

  • Reviewed by: dboard

    Duration of ownership: 18 Months

    Strengths: quality of picture was good for first 12 months but quickly declined

    Weaknesses: Main picture board needs replacing after 18 months costing at least $350. Customer support and warranty is brutal.

    Overall Evaluation: I do not recommend this TV

  • Reviewed by: mistergq79

    Duration of ownership: 7 Days

    Strengths: Color quality, sound quality and last but not least value

    Weaknesses: None yet!

    Overall Evaluation: I'm super happy that I bought this TV. I compared it to the Vizio and not only did I get it for less than the Vizio from buydig.com (by the way they double boxed it and I ordered Thursday night, it was shipped by midday Friday and I got it Tuesday morning!) but I thought it really blew away the picture quality.

  • Reviewed by: bscummings

    Duration of ownership: 5 Weeks

    Strengths: None. AFter 5 weeks I still don't have a replacement TV, and it is likely to be another 4 weeks plus before I get a replacement.

    Weaknesses: Original TV DOA (blue light but nobody home). Bad customer service, and they wanted to replace it with the technically inferior 237T model

    Overall Evaluation: I purchased the TV at a good price from pcRUSH.com. It arrived very well packaged (undamaged box within an undamaged box). Unfortunately the TV was DOA. The blue power light is on, but the TV itself will not turn on. I spent 45 minutes on hold with the automated answer service for Olevia Tech Support. After explaining the problem the technician asked me to fax the pcRUSH.com invoice to Customer Service, wait at least 48 hours, then contact them to arrange return of the TV and replacement. I did this and called Customer Service today. They received the paperwork and will be calling me in the next 24 hours to schedule pickup of the TV. Apparently they won't send a replacement until the receive the broken TV. I imagine this will be a long process, but will keep my fingers crossed. I'll keep this review up to date so others can see how well Olevia handles a complaint and dead TV. Timeline: 6/1/07 - placed order 6/8/07 - received TV 6/10/07 - alerted Olevia Customer Service via their website 6/11/07 - called Customer Service to get case number 6/12/07 - faxed paperwork 6/14/07 - called Customer Service to confirm receipt of paperwork UPDATE: 7/10/07. Olevia have finally received the DOA TV. They have no replacement 537H in stock (which I don't believe), but offered to replace with the 237T which is an inferior model. Alternative to to wait until end of July or later for them to restock. Customer Service will never confirm receipt of an e-mail or do anything remotely proactive; you have to hound them for information and/or action. I hope this TV is really worth the time and effort in the end.

  • Reviewed by: bosjt

    Duration of ownership: 1 Day

    Strengths: Built-in tuner found a dozen HD stations on my analog cable subscription from Comcast - these look awesome on the 537H.

    Weaknesses: Having an issue where the TV reports "No Signal" on channels that exist when using the remote control's Channel Up/Dn button. For example, going from 41 to 42 to 43 gets No Signal on 42 and 43. But if I then go Down to 42 it comes on the screen. This is inconsistent. Punching in the channel number on remote always works. Going to report this today.

    Overall Evaluation: Overall awesome! Got it for $688 at Target yesterday in the Boston-area, less 10% so like $620!. I think the unit looks great from the front, this is clearly a taste thing as many people think it looks "uninspiring". Did I say I think this is the best looking unit that includes speakers! The color is a nice dark gray/black. Channel "flip" speed is reasonable (little more than 1 second). My unit came with a newer remote than I've seen in the manual. It doesn't have backlit buttons but the button arrangement is much better.

  • Reviewed by: Technik

    Duration of ownership: 1 Month

    Strengths: The Picture is very good. The 537H had an excellent display of HD and DVD images. It is also good for gaming. You can not buy a better LCD TV for this price.

    Weaknesses: User manual only available on CD.

    Overall Evaluation: 537H definately has an outstanding picture quilty.

  • Reviewed by: ntr880

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Great picture, excellent price, good sound

    Weaknesses: One HDMI input, PIP

    Overall Evaluation: The TV is excellent. Very good picture and surprisingly good sound. It does have a subwoofer output. This is nice if you choose to stick with the TV speaker, just hook up a powered woofer to it and you will have very nice sound. The menu take a few minutes to get the hang of, but once you get it, it is fairly simply and easy to use. The remote is fine, it could be nicer but you could also be paying a lot more for it too. The ability to use the TV as a computer screen is also very nice. OVERALL EXCELLENT BUY..THE BLUE LIGHT...there is a LED blue light that remains on when you turn it off, I actually like it. BUT if you don't like it all you have to do is go to the menu and TURN IT OFF...not rocket science...takes 10 seconds to do and no tape needed HA..THE BAD...there is only one HDMI input. Also the area containing all the inputs is some what crowded so try to do it once and only once. The PIP is not what you would think of, you can NOT watch two TV channels at once. Only two different inputs, such as your computer screen and cable TV. It should be noted also that there is a delay in turning the TV on, about 6-10 seconds. This may annoy some, but I have found that I am able to wait 10 seconds to watch TV without any difficulty.

  • Reviewed by:

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Clear picture, lots of inputs

    Weaknesses: Static popping noise. Insufficient speakers.

    Overall Evaluation: If I turn the bass up past halfway, I get a white noise echo which when I called Olevia they claimed was on account of the "cheap" speakers being unable to handle the input. If you are looking for a tv with good sound, this is not it. Plus, as mentioned in other reviews, once in a while the tv lets out a loud static pop that startles the heck out of you and the sound will not come back on until you turn the tv power off and back on.

  • Reviewed by:

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Great picture, great value.

    Weaknesses: Imagine trying to configure a complex electronic unit without the remote.....

    Overall Evaluation: I was like a little kid with a new toy when this arrived and couldn't wait to set it up. It was a bit of a drag that the instructions were only on the CD, but what the heck, how difficult could it be? I hooked it up to the DirectTV, the stereo and everything else, fired it up and Wow! What a picture. Granted, it was only a huge image of the Olevia logo, but it screamed BIG TIME. Then, the fun began. I pointed the remote, it flickered but nothing happened. I read the manual, followed the instructions - 8 TIMES!! And nothing happened. I called customer service and spoke with a nice lady who walked me through all of the procedures that the manual walked me through - to no avail. We agreed that I had a faulty remote. She told me it would take 4 to 6 weeks for me to get a remote!! That was on November 14th!! I am still waiting for that remote to arrive. I have called and even e-mailed the VP of Marketing (It's not easy getting an e-mail address of anyone at Syntax-Brillian) but she was on holiday vacation. In late December I spoke with a customer service rep who said that the record says to ship a new remote - TWICE it said this. Still nothing......3 days ago, customer service left a message at my house that they have shipped a remote. My guess is that they put it in the glove box of an intern who was driving to Florida to see his grandparents and I should get it any day now......I still can't configure this unit properly. Try as you may to use the nearly invisible buttons on the front of the set, you just can't get through all of the steps in order to get the picture right. I'm sure it is a piece of cake with a remote....at least that is what I'm hoping. I'll bet that 99% of the customers have a good experience, but unfortunately, I am in that stinking 1%

  • Reviewed by:

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Great High Def pictures

    Weaknesses: Grainy picture on non-HD stations

    Overall Evaluation: With the price of 1080i in this size range being close to a grand, this one's a good deal at sub-$800. What's more amazing was that Target had a Black Friday sale on this TV for $549. You don't think I was absolutely tickled getting it at that price? Wow!

  • Reviewed by: cfsys

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Price

    Weaknesses: 1)Cable remote control cannot be programmed to control the TV.2) Bright blue light on TV goes "on" to indicate TV is "off". How wierd.3) Takes too long for TV to turn on.4) Directions stink.

    Overall Evaluation: Cable remote control cannot be programmed to control the TV because Olevia customer service told me, "Olevia TV is too new and does not have codes yet".So I have to use the Olevia TV remote to control volume and cable box remote to change channel.The first direction is program to "HOME". I had to click enter 10 times to get this command to register.Several directions are WRONG. For example:The CD manual says to click "right arrow" to choose an option but that is wrong . You must click "enter" to choose an option.You must click "source" then click "tuner", then click "menu". The directions say to perform in the opposite order which does not work.The picture and sound is ok, but I am so aggravated it took me 3 hours to set up this TV when it should have taken only 10 minutes.

Olevia 537H Review

by Roy Santos

- The bargain-priced Olevia 537H--the first HDTV we've tested from this company--made a good first impression. The 37-inch LCD did particularly well in standard TV tests, effortlessly minimizing pixelation on baseball stadium turf and displaying noteworthy color vividness.

Read Complete Review ยป

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