Syntax-Brillian 747i LCD HDTV

78

Good

Avg User Rating
5 User Reviews | add yours »

Pros
Very good picture and sound
Excellent remote
Cons
Horrible on-screen menu navigation
Lackluster extras

$2,499.00
From 1 Merchant

Performance: Good: 79
Features: Very Good: 81
Design: Fair: 66

Find out how these scores, and their relative weights, combine to produce the PC World Rating.

Performance
Brightness and Contrast	Good
Color Quality	Good
Detail	Good
DVD Image Quality	Good
High-Definition Image Quality	Good
Overall Quality	Good

What You Should Know about the 747i LCD HDTV

Good Fit For a Living Room

HDTVs with a diagonal screen size between 46 and 49 inches, such as this model, are LCDs or plasmas, usually with a resolution of 1366 by 768 or 1920 by 1080 (1080p). The optimum viewing distance for HDTV screens like these is generally considered to be about 7.5 to 8 feet. That makes a television of this size appropriate for a range of living areas, such as a large den or bedroom, a living room, or a game room.

Reviewed by: whatuphomey

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: Incredible picture

Weaknesses: Weight

Overall Evaluation: The picture on this TV is absolutely incredible. I only have standard cable, not HD or digital, and the TV does an incredible job of creating a clean, crisp image. My only beef is that this TV is unbelievably heavy, I was going to wall mount it until I tried to lift it. I have no idea why it needs to be this heavy.
Reviewed by: hadjih

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: INCREDIBLE PICTURE!

Weaknesses: Menu a little confusing at first. Weight.

Overall Evaluation: After researching LCD's in the 46 to 50 inch range for quite some time, I came across the Olevia 747i. I was impressed that it had won the prestigious Best of Test award from Wired magazine beating out Sony, LG and Samsung sets to name a few. The set arrived and I must say, the weight of the set is quite accurate. It is a beast, mainly due to the tempered glass that covers the entire front of the set. Having SECURELY mounted it to the wall after removing the included speakers(which worked wonderfully in my pre-mount test by the way but we have a nice Onkyo surround system), I put it through the tests to see how accurate the pro's were in their reviews. I was blown away by the image that appeared on the screen. I had to pinch myself and double check the back of the set to make sure it was an Olevia and not a high end Sony costing hundreds of dollars more. We have a smaller Olevia set that has been ok for use in the kids game room, but the image quality was so-so at best. This is the mack daddy of Olevia line and it certainly is on par if not better than the major name brands out there. It isn't just the picture that looks great, but the set itself looks very classy and showroom quality hanging on my living room wall. Standard definition feeds look good, HD feeds from my Directv are simply stunning. No jaggies, but a nice smooth natural picture. The menu is probably going to throw some people for a loop at first until you get used to it. It has already been discussed, but Red means the option is selected and Green means it isn't. A little backwards in my opinion, but really, how often are you in the menu system messing around anyway. Fro the pro's review, these sets are calibrated at the factory to be near perfect out of the box and mine was just that. I think I upped the contrast a couple of notches and changed the color temp. to natural and that was it. I really can't stress enough how great a quality set this is. Too bad Syntax Brillian is encountering some financial troubles. If they could have had a little more time to push this set and the brand name, they might be at the top of the flat panel market. It really is outstanding. I would not hesitate to recommend this set to anyone, even at the $2000 price range which was much more than I paid. Seriously.