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Olevia 37" 720P HDTV
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Pros: Looks good for the first five months
Cons: This unit, every one I've seen quickly suffers image fade
Purchase Date:August 2008
Purchase Price:$699.00
Maybe the worst buy EVER
mattCR reviewed July 2, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Most of my reviews have been pretty positive. This one will not be. The Olivia 537H managed to get very strong reviews and decent online press at locations like CNET, PCMag, etc. Color was reported as very good, and it had a clean look.
First, I've generally been dissatisfied with larger 720P screens.. the quality ends up looking blocky and they tend to suffer from rainbow effects far more then 1080P sets. However, a good 720P is still very good. And for the first few months, the Olevia lives up to it's billing. The unit has a bright, bold display and manages to render blacks better then I expected.
HOWEVER, this slowly and quickly began to fade. After about four months, the unit began to look "washed out". While the degredation doesn't continue, it never returned to it's former glory. Having seen a few others who bought their sets near the time I did.. or since, I've seen this same effect on about 5 different 537s, and after talking to Syntex/Olevia support, this seems to be common.
First, I've generally been dissatisfied with larger 720P screens.. the quality ends up looking blocky and they tend to suffer from rainbow effects far more then 1080P sets. However, a good 720P is still very good. And for the first few months, the Olevia lives up to it's billing. The unit has a bright, bold display and manages to render blacks better then I expected.
HOWEVER, this slowly and quickly began to fade. After about four months, the unit began to look "washed out". While the degredation doesn't continue, it never returned to it's former glory. Having seen a few others who bought their sets near the time I did.. or since, I've seen this same effect on about 5 different 537s, and after talking to Syntex/Olevia support, this seems to be common.
This is simply unnaceptable. As a fairly pricy product, it must have durability that goes beyond a few months, calculating standard usage.
This unit currently lives in my children's room, where they simply don't notice as much. But the fact that black will render only as a "dark grey" and everything looks washed over is something almost unforgivable in a $700 purchase after less then 6 months.
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