Olevia 227v

[rigan.mor]

Hi all,
I'm a HDTV virgin so hope you guys can help. I've just bought my first HDTV, an Olevia 227V (from CC). The problem is no matter how much I mess around with contrast settings etc. the blacks are only gray. I like my "blacks" to be really black. Also when playing standard DVDs the whites sometimes bleed into the surrounding colors. Is this something I just have to get used to? Or should I bring the TV back to Circuit City? Thanks.

[Des]

I have the 437 which isn't too different, the core of the Olevia's seems to all be the same. Anyway, (I'm not in front of the TV right now so I am trying to do this by memory) in the menu cube there is an option other than picture and color and brightness and contrast to set enhancements. I know that when I turned them on it extended the backs and then there was another option to deal with the white clipping. It does a nice job.

If you need more info (like details) I can post again when I get home and am in front of the TV.

Remember that for the price it's only a 1000:1 contrast rating and then with the enhancements turned on -think they call it dynamic contrast, it's 1600:1. More expensive sets are up beyond 4000:1 contrast ranges.

Your blacks may never get really deeply black, but they should certainly be much better than what you are seeing now.

--dES

[Afterburner]

I understand LCD's don't compare with Plasma when it comes to black levels. Go back and check at CC.
I am happy as heck with my Olevia

[rigan.mor]

Hi Des,
Thanks for that, yeah if you could tell me what other settings you changed that would be great. Thanks.

[Des]

Hi Des,
Thanks for that, yeah if you could tell me what other settings you changed that would be great. Thanks.

No problem I'm in front of the TV now. Before you start go to Olevia's website and make sure your TV has the latest firmware. You'll need a computer and USB A (printer type) cable to update the firmware.

It's set to HDMI which actually limits some of your options, not sure why, I guess the HD box sets some things up but I'll walk you through the 2 modes I use and their settings from there you can adjust them to your taste: HDMI and Component Input incase there is a relatioship of some sort. These are only the options that I have changed from Factory.

HDMI: Press Menu, Rotate the cube to Picture. Mode-Powerup set to HOME, Showroom is a brighter picture with very few control options. Lighting Medium Room. Input HD
Next, In Picture Menu -Color Temp set to 6500. Color 50% (Approx. on the bar), Tint 45%, Sharpness 60%, Brightness 35%, Contrast 70%

That's pretty much it for HDMI; next is Component (My DVD player is Component Out) but S-Video should work just as well.

Component: Picture menu. Pretty much same settings as above only now the IDEA menu becomes available.
Rotate to IDEA Menu, Black Level Extender On, White Peak Limiter On, Contrast Enhance On, Adaptive Luma Control On, Flesh Tone On, Noise Reduction Off.
I actually have Black Level Extender Off because my DVD player has the same option built in but with three different levels of control so I use that.

That's it.

I'm thinking about the Picture->Mode->PowerUp-> HOME option again and I'm wondering if maybe you still have yours on SHOWROOM which is how the Olevia's ship. That would cause the problems you are describing.

Let us know how you do. Enjoy!

--dES