Syntax Olevia LT30HV 30-Inch HD-Ready Flat-Panel LCD TV
Good value for DVD watching
The Olevia LT27 series are all an excellent value with a better picture than all of the competitors in this price range.  The picture on a good DVD is excellent.    However there are two problems when they are used as a computer monitor, or when watching letterboxed movies.  All of the Olevia products have 3 aspect ratio modes: widescreen, 4:3, and zoom.  The widescreen can be used with a DVD player set to widescreen for a very detailed excellent picture.  The 4:3 is just the ticket for normal TV viewing.  But the zoom mode enlarges a widescreen picture, not on the 4:3 picture.  As such it is only useful for filling the screen when watching a DVD which is letterboxed even when watched in widescreen.  Unfortunately it cuts off the sides of the screen.  There is no mode for watching letterboxed normal TV or tape presentations.  The owner's manual shows a picture which indicates that zoom is to be used with letterboxed movies, as it shows the 4:3 picture enlarged to fit the full width with no distortion in the aspect.  It is not suitable for this purpose because it both cuts off part of the picture and widens the picture to make everyone look fat.  When contacted the Olevia support denied that the mode was incorrect and would not compare the manual to the actual performance.  This problem appears in all Olevia LCD TVs.    (...)    The only other complaint could be the remote/control options.  It would be desirable to have some frequently changed functions such as the aspect ratio as a separate button, or better yet the aspect could be automaticaly changed with the source so that the DVD input automatically goes into widescreen mode while the AV or TV input is in 4:3.  The input designations are a bit cryptic for the average user, and the menu layout is sometimes frustrating.      In all I would rate this as an excellent value, but not for the person who will watch mainly letterboxed conventional tapes/TV.  A little attention to the remote control issues, lack of a driver, and the addition of a letterbox mode would go a long way toward making this the ideal solution for the person who wants a 27 inch widescreen TV without buying a backbreaking bulky CRT set.  The best of all worlds would be for Syntax to make available a firmware upgrade to fix some of these issues.