Olevia 47 inch 747i, 42 inch 742i 1080p Full HD LCD HDTV Review

The Olevia 747i and 742i are Full HD, 1080p LCD HDTVs and are the premium models in Olevia’s LCD HDTV range. The brand Olevia is still reasonably new to the HDTV market but, has become quickly well regarded. Syntax-Brillian Corporation, the parent company of the Olevia brand, made a fairly unusual and bold move when they established their assembly plant in the continental US. However, the display panels are supplied by LG Philips.

Olevia 47 inch 747i LCD HDTV

Olevia specify the 747i and 742i as having a 1600:1 dynamic contrast ratio which will be higher than the unpublished static figure. In any case it will be lower than for plasma panels. The response time is good at 8ms but, there are faster LCD offerings on the market. If you plan to watch a lot of sport or other fast action content it would pay to watch the models before you buy (as is always the case). Interestingly, these LCDs are very heavy (128lbs for the 747i); most probably due to the thick glass sheet covering the display panel. Wall mounting will take some effort and will require a sturdy bracket and wall. The viewing angle range is listed as +/- 178 degrees which is excellent but, off axis dimming and possible color change with wider viewing angles are something the individual needs to be test.

Both the 747i and 742i have two Clear QAM/ATSC/NTSC tuners. The Silicon Optix Realta HQV video processor actually has the bit crunching power to simultaneously process two high definition video streams. So you can view two HD broadcasts at the same time as picture-in-picture (PIP) or side-by-side. Most video processors don’t have this much grunt and commonly the second HD video image is not processed to the same degree and appears less sharp.

Silicon Optix Realta HQV Video Processor

As you may have guessed, the picture quality delivered by the premium Silicon Optix Realta HQV video processor which handles all video processing tasks like scaling and deinterlacing is where the Olevia 747i and 742i shine.

As is mentioned in the video overview below, the Realta HQV Video Processor incorporates aspects of Teranex’s professional broadcast quality processing platform. Silicon Optix justifiably mention the some 100,000 hours of content verification over which Teranex’s software algorithms have been refined. If you like big numbers, then consider that the processor is capable of performing over 1 trillion operations per second. The Realta includes a Fidelity Enhancement Engine and motion adaptive noise reduction with all (end-to-end) video processing done at 10 bits.

In a sensible and more common move the Realta has an on-chip PCI interface allowing platforms built with Realta to be fully software upgraded and re-programmed via Web access or via a memory stick or other storage device. It’s a way of future proofing a display by ensuring that it can remain optimized with the latest driving software even after purchase.

Sound

Both models have D2Audio DAE-1 (Digital Audio Engine) intelligent digital amplifiers and SoundSuite audio enhancement software.

D2Audio delivers an immersive audio experience which is particularly flexible. It actually takes a sampling (feedback) approach to optimizing the amplifier’s sound. Using feedback makes the output more robust. Also incorporated is SoundSuite which is a collection of advanced audio processing enhancements for consumer devices.

A range of resources are available below below or on D2Audio’s web site.
An unusual feature of these Olevia models is the ability to remove the speakers and used the onboard digital amplifiers (26Wpc) to drive external speakers of your own choice.

Connections

There are a reasonable range of connection options including two HDMI, 3 component video (2 RCA + 1 15-pin D-sub), 2 S-Video, 2 composite video, HDMI audio, headphone, R/L analog (RCA), TosLink and coaxial digital audio, RS-232 and USB.

Resources

Last year Wired Magazine’s Chuck Gage named the Olevia 747i as best of a test of nine similar size LCD HDTVs.

At Ultimate AV Mag, Thomas Norton did some significant testing of the Olevia 747i and found that although it has weaknesses typical of most LCD sets, it does have excellent color, great detail and a compelling, easy to watch image.

User Manual Olevia 747i (PDF)

Olevia’s FAQ Page

Realta Advanced Image Processor (PDF 830KB)