Brian's Brain

Those of you eyeing the gift certificates you received yesterday, or otherwise anxious to take advantage of the inevitable post-Christmas sales specials at various retailers, may be interested in my eyes-on observations of the 37" LCD TV I first mentioned a few weeks ago. I was first made aware of it by virtue of a sub-$500 Black Friday special highlighted at Dealnews, and subsequent perusal of the AVS Forum discussion database revealed it to be a popular item there. Until recently, according to AVS Forum postings, the 237T wasn't listed on Syntax Olevia's product and support websites (and firmware updates for the set still aren't available, although download links for some of its 37" siblings are listed). Keep reading for my theory on the corporate strategy behind the omission.

I'm happy to report that I ended up with the redesigned version of the 237T, with (undocumented) dual HDMI inputs, which the company appears to have begun phasing into the retail channel over the summer. Speaking of undocumented, I also discovered another second-generation enhancement which to date seems to have escaped the notice of most AVS Forum fanatics. When I connected my Xbox 360 Elite and PlayStation 3 to the display over HDMI, both consoles auto-reported that the 237T accepted 1080p/60 Hz inputs, whereas the set's documentation claims that the 237T only goes up to 1080i (note, I was also able to drive the display from the Xbox 360 Elite over analog VGA cabling at up to a 1360x768 pixel resolution setting).

I haven't cracked open the 237T's case (and I don't plan to!) but I suspect that the 1080i-to-1080p evolution is the result of a transition from Mediatek's video processor (as reported by numerous AVS Forum participants) to a Broadcom-sourced IC (as reported by what I deduce is an after-the-fact recently published press release). For Blu-ray, HD DVD (and DVD) playback, I'm leaving the consoles' outputs at 1080i max, since (as I've mentioned before) no high-def video format currently available is 1080p-native. If I were to drive the display at 1080p, the console would need to upscale the video content to that resolution before sending it out over HDMI, but the display would subsequently downscale it back to the display's 1366x768 pixel native resolution...with unknown quality impact.

I've heard plenty of horror stories of video processors that take the egregious shortcut of first lopping off half of the incoming 1,080 per-frame horizontal video lines, then upscaling each resultant 540-line neutered image to the end display resolution. While I'm not implying that either Broadcom or Mediatek (if indeed that vendor's still present in my set) is turning this effective resolution-limiting trick, I'm generally all for minimizing the number of up- and down-scaling steps done during the video processing chain that begins at the optical disc or incoming coax, copper, fiber or wireless connnection, and ends at your eyeballs. With that all said, if I play any 1080p-native games on either system, I'll be sure to crank up the HDMI link's resolution setting!

Speaking of HDMI, I'm happy to report that (at least as of yet) I haven't encountered any HDMI incompatibility problems. Granted, to date I've only tried two HDMI sources (the previously mentioned consoles), and by virtue of the display's dual HDMI inputs I haven't needed to install an intermediary many-to-one HDMI switch, but the smooth sailing so far is quite a relief in contrast to my many past documented digital interface problems with Samsung's HP-P4261 DVI/HDCP-supportive 42" plasma display. Speaking of the plasma display, I must admit that in spite of its 1600:1 claimed contrast ratio, the 237T LCD doesn't deliver quite the deep black levels of its plasma predecessor. But in exchange, the Syntax Olevia set has a higher native resolution (the HP-P4261 is a 1024x768 pixel widescreen display), and it also doesn't suffer from image-burn-in or operation-at-high-altitude long-term reliability concerns that are endemic to plasma technology.

Given my 6' viewing distance to the screen and per the chart that I referenced in a prior post (the earlier-mentioned BBC study was calibrated to a 2.7m i.e. ~9 foot viewing distance), a 42" XGA display delivered insufficient native resolution for an optimum picture. Conversely, a 37" 1080p native display would have been resolution-overkill, considering my eyeballs' discernment limits. Syntax Olevia's 1366x768 pixel native resolution LCD is, as Goldilocks said about the third bowl of porridge, "just right". And did I mention that it's a lot easier to move around than its heftier forerunner?

The 237T offers a plethora of image input options:

• NTSC/ATSC (with integrated tuner) via coax
• 2 composite video
• 2 S-Video
• 2 component video
• 1 VGA (which you can alternatively use as a third component video input), and
• the previously mentioned dual HDMI, through which you can also pass audio to the display for playback over its horizontally- and bottom-mounted speakers

Speaking of horizontally mounted speakers, you might notice that the 237T looks suspiciously similar to the more expensive model 537H ('H', I believe, refers to the speaker orientation; models 237V and 437V conversely mount the speakers on either side of the LCD bezel). Rampant speculation on AVS Forum suggests that the two sets are in fact identical, at least from a base hardware standpoint: the 237T has stingier warranty terms, comes with a less fancy remote control, and doesn't offer firmware-enabled individual-color RGB setting control (which Syntax Olevia brands as "Director's Image"). But, for example, my unit happily came with no bad pixels, which are a 'bin 2' panel downgrade that you might expect with an entry-level, cost-pressured LCD.

Syntax Olevia has, I suspect, chosen a skillful means of differentiating a common hardware design in order to extract as much revenue and profit as possible from the customer base. Consumers who value more robust technical support options, extended warranty protection or universal remote control capability, who are willing to pay extra for videophile-tailored image setting enhancements, or who shop at videophile-tailored retailers get the 537H. The consumer masses, who value price-per-diagonal-inch far above all else, pick up the discounted 237T.

Conceptually, this strategy is no different than that of a silicon supplier down-binning a CPU or memory chip that's inherently capable of running much faster than it's labeled, in response to market demand 'splits'. It's also analogous to a HDD vendor selling a firmware-limited-capacity drive whose internal platter count and per-platter densities would suggest much higher capacity potential, as a means of minimizing the number of manufacturing line items. Fortunately, the consumer electronics grapevine enables those of us who know where to look (and how to decipher the jargon) to snag deals we might otherwise not obtain. Now I just hope the 237T doesn't need a firmware update to fix a HDMI/HDCP or other functional flaw, and survives far beyond its warranty deadline...