@@t-dawg61221 I love panasonic, everything with their name on it that I've owned has been a quality product. I can't say the same for sony, sharp, magnavox/philips, zenith, etc. plus, their name sounds cool!
My first few LCD monitors from the early 2000s were all Olevia, and I think they all still work. LCD monitors were still pretty expensive then, so I think they made higher quality stuff. They also had virtually every input connection possible, which makes them great for hooking up old stuff.
Yep, my Mom still uses my first ever LCD TV, an Olevia 32" I picked up from Kmart on sale for $500. Its outlived several other sets I've bought since. It also did a fantastic job displaying old 480i content, much better than many TVs I've bought since....I'm hoping the CFL Backlight holds up
I used to have that Tv back in the day, but it had a matte display and amazed that it had a VGA port because it was used as a monitor when windows xp was a thing. nice sound for a flat screen tv for that era and good image quality for analog sources.
In the twilight years of analog broadcasting undocumented PAL compatibility was actually pretty common on no-name brand TVs and other video stuff in my experience (also it could often be unlocked in a hidden service menu). I guess by that point it was cheaper for the Chinese OEMs to use the same circuit design for every market rather than making separate NTSC and PAL models.
I recall them having a special buy of CRT TV VCR combis in the local supermarket. Each box had a large sticker attached to it saying something like " IMPORTANT. Before attempting to use this set you must change the tuner setting to PAL. Press Menu - Setup - Standard - PAL". I guess they had come in set to NTSC and the first few had been returned as faulty.
On some TVs you had to solder a additional oscillator to decode NTSC, I think some older Sony Trinitrons had this "oddity", I cannot remember which models required it but I recall you had to solder a cap and said crystal osilicator then flip a value in the service menu. On later sets it was already present and enabled from the get-go. I do have a Daewoo CRT TV that can also decode NTSC composite on the fly without any need to change any settings, and on the back it claims to be able to receive PAL RF (even though it's a SÉCAM-L/L' set in the first place).
I bought a small Samsung LCD TV in 2005. It had both NTSC and PAL analog tuners (I'm in the US) and even had a SCART port which I'd never seen in person until then.
@@AdhamOhm SCART is excellent for things like a Playstation as it supports RGB. The 8 Bit guy did a complex modification to a TV to get RGB. That was standard on all but the cheapest TVs in Europe.
I'm still rocking a Viewsonic N2011 (4:3 20" TV) in my bedroom. My parents bought it in 2006 for $399 and has seen pretty light use over the years, but still going strong! These silver flat panel TV's with side speakers definitely evoke an earlier era for flat screens.
I have always been a big fan of the Olevia TVs. Until late, I have never had an original Syntax Olevia set, But I have had and do have a bunch of the newer Syntax-Brillian sets, they are absolutely great. Not fancy, but have a nice picture and last a LONG TIME. The first one I ever had was from about 2009, the original owner used it almost 24/7. He moved and brought it with him, When he got to his new location, the TV stopped working. I took it apart and it had some bad capacitors on the power supply board (a very common thing for electronics of this era, so I don't blame Olevia at all). Once I replaced them, it came right to life, I returned it to the original owner, he eventually got a Smart TV (which has since died) so I took the Olevia back. I then loaned it to another guy who is pretty much stuck in bed all of the time, so it got used A LOT there as well. I finally got it back, the TV still works great and has never had an issue despite being VERY high hour. I also have about 6 other Olevia sets from the Syntax-Brillian days, and all of them are of great quality (compared to other crap, even Sony or other "high end" brands). I just recently got 2 of the Olevia sets made by Syntax before they merged with Brillian. The quality of them is great as well, although I would argue that the newer Syntax-Brillian sets are slightly better. (fun fact, they actually moved a large portion of their operations from Taiwan to California in their later years). One of the two is a very early ( I believe a 1st generation) Olevia set, which is actually branded on the front as a Syntax, and only marked Olevia with small letters in the top left corner, I believe at that time Olevia was just a line of TVs made by Syntax (they also had other similar sets marked as Syntax Kolin). The only issue other than capacitors I have seen is on one set the HDMI chip was acting up (it still worked, but displayed a garbled image when using an HDMI source until warmed up). From what I have heard, this is not too uncommon for early HDMI TVs, so once again, I don't blame this on the quality of the TV itself, especially since it was a high hour TV. I did end up just replacing the whole main board on that set, which fixed it. I am unsure if attempting to "reflow" the solder on the chip would have helped or not. Of course Olevia and Syntax-Brillian has been gone for a long time now (except for Vivitar, which they briefly owned). I guess they were better at making TVs than running a business. But the fact that every Olevia TV is now 12 years old or more (except for a VERY small amount of cheap sets made by Funai that had that name on them), and they are still quite common if you look and pay attention, definitely shows that they had great longevity, and people must have been happy with them to have kept them as long as they did.
I still have my first 20 inch wide 6:10 monitor and use it daily. 2ms time, 2000:1 contrast. I love it. Has real buttons for every function. It was about $500 in 2004 or 2005.
I have a 24" 16:10 (I suspect that's what you meant as well) monitor from 2008. 1920x1200 resolution. Still works fine. Can't remember what I paid for it though. It's been with my brother for a couple of years now, as I'm using a 120" screen+projector setup.
Unfortunately my 24" Fujitsu 16:10 caught fire recently... it was great for playing older games in 1600x1200 or 800x600 :/ Out of nowhere, smoke started coming out of the vents
my sister had this exact TV for years. It was the best TV we had at the time, I would often play GameCube in my sister's room because it looked the best, I don't even remember if it actually did look better compared to our big CRTs. In fact your video seems to prove that young me was wrong in assuming newer was better. My dad liked it so much when it came time to get an HD TV we got a ölevia because he thought it was a good brand. It had the wide speakers on the side and it was ridiculous. only had a 32" screen, but it was over 40" wide. Even got it at the HHGreg which is now another bygone brand.
That TV is the best of both worlds; it’s 4:3 like a CRT, but compact with plenty of inputs since it’s a flat panel. Too bad it lacks a digital ATSC tuner. The glow in the dark remote control buttons more than make up for it, however. I’d really welcome seeing a review on that Blu-Ray camcorder. I vaguely recall hearing about them when they were new, but never had one and certainly never saw anyone else use one. They must’ve been stupendously expensive when new.
I would do a video about the camcorder, but unfortunately it's broken. It has either a stuck iris or a dead CMOS sensor, because all I get from it is a black screen.
I found very similiar Samsung set at a thrift store near me, though it runs 640x480, and it's easily the best looking TV i've had for my pre-HD consoles. That includes a few CRT sets of varying price and wear. I'm impressed and it looks like you got a great find too!
Really nice with all those inputs, I could use one of these as well. Back to hunting thrift shops. :) That Tandy monitor stand was a real find by the way! I'm quite jealous. Can't imagine there being a lot of those around these days..
7 minutes in and we have surprise Stuart, a very good VCR and a blinking red light?! Used a 1600x1200 21.3" LCD for a good bit of the 2000s, very nice to work on. But it meant that I had to upgrade to 1920x1200 rather than 1080p when replacing it.
@@CT-vm4gf Sony had a model until 2012 that could output standard, SVHS and D-VHS through HDMI, including recording S-Video quality on standard tapes, but these were only playable on the same player model.
I had one of these years ago too - but I bought it, and there was no Dell logo as in the video. Presumably they got a batch made for Dell shortly releasing the initial DVD.
I have that very DVD Recorder/VCR. Still used it up until very recently. Those Panasonic products are very good. Most are built like tanks and indeed very robust.
If they aren't affected by the capacitor plague of the era it's something remarkable in itself. As it happens, Panasonic is a top capacitor brand. There should be Panasonic caps in Panasonic gear (although you can never be sure) at least for the most heavy duty tasks in the device. Or at least you'd expect them not no cheap out using crappy cap brands.
Picked up this very model from the discard pile at our local flea market on Sunday. No stand or remote, but seems to have base functionality. Mine has a matte screen. Thanks for sharing useful information about this TV!
the best video you have made in awhile...there all good..but i loved this one the tv is awesome ..the vhs dvd player is awesome..and you even included game systems which is my main hobby!great job kevin!
I will have to keep my eyes open for a similar TV. I have several similar, but smaller, TVs that I use for 8 bit computers and consoles. That VCR/DVD recorder you have is awesome!
What a useful television! I didn't realise that there was a Blu ray camcorder! Wow! (You could say that the television had a "syntax error" while trying to sync the signal with the Mega Drive/Genesis console for a moment there!).
I've not seen a 4:3 LCD TV for a along time, only ever noted them as being small and cheap ones though with hardly any worthwhile inputs, though they usually did at least come with SCART, which has pretty much all you need on one connector, which I know is a bit smug-mode knowing the US never adopted it, but, it's so useful, as bulky as it is... :)
I remember there being standard definition only 4:3 LCDs and 16:9 CRTs in the UK, with not always a digital tuner because you were expected to connected an On/ITV Digital box via SCART (SCART having both a composite and RGB input) My current Samsung HDTV has no buttons on the front, you need a remote to do anything including adjusting the volume or changing the channel. It also goes no highwer than 60Hz on HDMI and all the way doen to 24Hz on HDMI. I don't have anything with a VGA output. Thne Samsung has a tuner which is both analogue and digital (PAL/DVB only of course) one SCART connector, 2 HDMI connectors, a USB connector (for photos, audio and video) and RCA composite, component and audio) my other TV has one HDMI input, one USB input and has separate 3.5 mm inputs for composte and component for adaptors that will break out to RCA sockets for video and L+R audio or Y+CR+CB inputs. SCART was for 15KHz RGB video. Unsure if the VGA input would accept 15KHz video or of the SCART input would accept higher scan frequencies. It is kind of a shame that the VGA input on an American TV doesn't go down to 15KHz as that would have functioned the same as the RGB input on SCART and having both a SCART and RCA composite inputs would comprise of two composite inputs, one on the SCART socket and one on the RCA connectors.
Never thought I'd be watching a video on an Olevia in 2022. I had a 32" 1080i that lasted 10 years. I think it still worked when I replaced it with a LG in 2018, which died last month.
The silver plastic look of this TV reminds me of the Philips single disc DVD player I had back in 2004/'05: silver painted, but it could play discs loaded with mpeg 4 video files.
Re: the Commodore 64 program at the end of the video. I remember back then when they published simple C64 BASIC programs in magazines that you could try out. Now I feel really old =)
I wish they still make new 4:3 monitors for professional video users. Also I just gave that Panasonic VCR/DVD recorder to my cousin a month ago, because she wanted to converted dozens of VHS tapes. I wish I didn’t because it has amazing recording features for the old camcorders!
Honest question: what use case is there for a 4 : 3 monitor except for running old legacy hardware that doesn't work (or at least doesn't work well) with modern 16 : 9/16 : 10 monitors? In my experience 16 : 9 and 16 : 10 monitors aren't so wide that they end up causing issues with space (unless you have a desk with shelves/cabinets build around the dimensions of a 4 : 3 display) and even running legacy software (that can't be patched to use a widescreen resolution) is not a problem if you have either a recent enough GPU with an option in the GPU control panel that allows the scaling to be done on the GPU instead of the monitor or a monitor that can properly handle a 4 : 3 resolution (for example my iiyama 1920x1200 monitor can display a 1600x1200 resolution with correct letterboxing and no blur).
I'm amazed how huge late CRTs were. My grandma had a decently by modern standards sized 16:9 TV, I'm surprised how they managed to make such a giant tube
My aunt had one of those when I was younger, but hers was around 40 in and widescreen. I loved that thing so much because of its versatility and good sound, but it got fried in a power surge.
I still have a 20" Sharp AQUOS LC20E1UM that works great. One of the early flatscreen TVs, gotta be close to 20 years old now. It only has Component, Svideo, & F-connector inputs
i've had a few of the aquos series. they were great. i replaced the last one about 2 years ago when the screen got scratched. other than that, it still rocked!
Sharp made a nice Aquos portable model 20-inch LCD 4:3 Stereo TV with a carrying handle on the top that I’ve been using lately with a PS2 on a desk. The L/R speakers sound great so it’s perfect for retro gaming or any SDTV video/dvd playback.
I dont know why but there is something about those grainy videos or that audio with feedback of the 80s and 90s that comforts me more than the heavily engineered audio/video of current tech. Loved the presentation videos of Jetta etc.
I have a Pioneer 4x DVD RAM drive, I am lucky to own over 20 discs. I really like it and it is a fun thing to have on my p4 3.2ghz single core retro gaming machine.
If I had to go with a second choice for retro consoles, I would definitely take a 4:3 LCD display as it keeps the ratio without the ugly borders in 4:3 mode and doesn't stretch the screen as 16:9 screen would. I also loved the fact that earlier LCD and HDTVs had a variety of inputs.
I have used different lcd tvs as second monitors for like 12 years. They're perfect as a secondary display because of all the inputs.I dont have any 4:3 aspect ratio displays anymore though.Its all upscaled widescreen.
I've got another model with the same panel. Also from Syntax, an Olevia LT20HVK. Something very remarkable, is the PAL comparability as you mentioned. Also very notable is how it properly handles flicker effects in 25Hz such as shields running in Sonic 2's 2P mode. Mine has got some pixels that get stuck when the monitor gets hot but otherwise a great TV still.
I have a couple 20" 4:3 LCDs by Sylvania and Sharp, they're EDTVs so 480p native resolution but they lack VGA input. I also have a 15" Insignia that is 1024x768 with HDMI input.
There's currently a 20" Sylvania 4:3 LCD on ebay with a builtin DVD player! Also a 19" Samsung 1280x1024 lcd tv, presumably they basically just added av inputs to a monitor model for that one.
12:01 *MASSIVE HUGE NOSTALGIA* for me here while I'm not from the NYC area (I'm actually closer to Philadelphia 🦅) we would still get NYC channels such as WNYC on our cable and I LOVED watching their Leased Time Programming particularly the Japanese programing. Some of my most favorite television ever like the taiga drama Nobunaga: King of Zipangu and the anime Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro. Oh man that took me back, thanks.
in the mid 2000s, 20ish something me, living in detroit at the time, used to work as a compusa salesman. that's the only place i ever recall seeing olevia TVs for sale, lol
i ended up with one of these awhile ago when my grandad swapped his tv out with a more modern one because he got tired of messing with his ancient converter box. it was perfect for emulating gameboy games.
Just tried out your website on my NCR System 3333 and it worked great. Even played the am mono audio clip well. It couldn't handle the stereo clip sadly.
I have a Panasonic TC-20LA5. 20" 640x480 EDTV. I knew when I found it that it was unusual and wanted it to see consoles like the dreamcast or xbox looked good on it. The xbox does look great at 480p on an lcd.
I think that I had this exact model. I was in my 20s and living in a setup without much space. It did a decent job at pulling double duty as a TV and a computer monitor.
16:10 -- My Sony PCG-729 laptop used to do that occasionally, and I'd have to restart it. I'm pretty sure what happened was that the LCD panel shut off, but the backlight stayed on.
My Mom had one of these in the late-00s in her bedroom. It was a decent TV. My Dad currently uses a widescreen Olevia TV, but I'm not sure of the year. Has the same relative design though.
I don't think 4:3 LCD TVs even existed in the European market, because widescreen standard definition was a widely adopted thing from the turn of the century (or so).. Widescreen CRT TVs were very common in the early 2000s. Also, I remember first seeing a widescreen LCD/Plasma televisions already in 1999 at a convention.
yes they did, or at least in the UK (which is in Europe). there was a 17" 4:3 LCD Logik TV in my family from 2002 or 2003 to 2011. It was sold at Dixons (which means it was probably also sold at Currys).
@@aperson6955 OK, I don't remember seeing them in Finland, most people had widescreen or regular CRTs in the early 2000s... (Widescreen) LCDs became hugely popular from the mid-2000s onwards. 5:4 computer LCDs were a thing briefly.
My favourite LCD TVs are from the range between 2006-2012, where you have 720p resolution and HDMI but also pretty much any connection known to man, Composite, SCART, VGA, Component, S-Video, TOSLINK, 3,5 mm jack and even digital AUX. Scalers in these tends to be a bit rubbish, but they have minimal lag because of that.
I still find it interesting that PAL support on an NTSC TV is actually considered a feature when practically every PAL TV made after a certain point (in the 90s?) supported NTSC inputs. I suppose imported NTSC equipment was way more common in PAL regions than imported PAL equipment would've been in NTSC regions
Most stuff made for US / Japanese market works only on 100/120V, even if it has a switch mode power supply, while most 230V AV appliance works down to 100V. That might be one of the reasons. Althogh I heard about some late '90s TVs that was marketed in the US with EUROSCART input on them... Which is great, because it has RGB on it!
@@mrnmrn1Edit: re: the US TVs with SCART/Péritel. They do exist, but are far and between. On top of my head I know two examples though I think these were mostly worldwide export TVs, one such example would be the Sony KV-2900 (=27in viewable area) and KV-3400 (=32in viewable area). RCA's Lyceum TV monitors allegedly had a BNC RGB input, but I haven't yet found any pictures of one to confirm... And since I live in Europe, I'd probably never come across one lol Also worth noting, was the Sony ProFeel monitors such as the KX-2501A and KX-1901A that sported Sony's weird 34pin multi input that supported RGB (digital and analog, the non-A versions of these "ProFeel" monitors, the KX-2501/1901 only supported digital RGB) though you had to either build your own cable or buy a breakout adapter that Sony sold (I presume this was for MSX computers? One such adapter I've seen could allow you to connect a IBM PC's CGA card). That port was also used on the Sony KV-25XBR/20XBR and the KV-25DXR (the DXR being the same as the KV-25XBR, but with a more advanced OSD and digital deflection controls, being AFAIK one of the first North American Sony CRT TVs to have an on-screen service menu, other ones had a OSD yet were adjusted by potentiometers on the boards) There's the RCA Dimensia that allegedly had a SCART/Péritel input but while it had the shape of SCART/Péritel, it wasn't one, it was some kind of composite and audio only variant that was dubbed EIA Multiport. Some RCA Colortrak2000 TVs on the other hand had a RGBI/CGA input on them using RCA jacks (odd thing but here you go...) so in theory you could connect a PC with a CGA card to it using a RGBI DE-9 to RCA breakout cable -- scart rambling wall of text galore below -- it's true, and in France, SCART, or actually, Péritel (Péritelévision, SCART being the acronym for "Syndicat des Constructeurs d'appareils radiorécepteurs et de télévision", the manufacturers' association that created Péritel) became mandatory by law for any TV sets that was to be sold in France starting between 1980 and 1981, up until 2013 where that law was repealed. Some manufacturers that were part of the SCART manufacturers' association implemented Péritel connectors on their TV sets much earlier than 1980. Europe followed suit with SCART/Péritel much later. Originally Péritel was meant to pipe in composite video and allow to superimpose teletext information using RGB through the means of external Teletext decoded, however some folks soon figured out that if you always set pin 16 to a certain voltage (that pin being for RGB blanking) you could actually use the RGB input to display stuff while using composite video as the synchronization pulse. Sorry for the long and complicated rambling but that's about the best I can do to explain what SCART is.
A real shame that 4:3 television or monitors are no longer made. I happen to love the 4:3 aspect while playing Cartrivision, V-Cord2, Quasar VX, VHS, CED and Laserdisc videos. I use a Vitek VTM-LED190P 19 inch 5:4 aspect monitor with HDMI, composite and VGA inputs. It has a 1280 x 1024 (SXGA) resolution. It supports 1080P via HDMI with built-in digital noise reduction on all inputs which works wonders for both VHS and CED video feeds.
That Battery in the Apple computer reminds me of a box of lithium batteries I bought in a surplus shop literally thirty years ago. Mil spec lithium cells made in Israel. I still have some of them and they all are at 3.5-3.6 volts. Amazing. I have to check if they are still able to put out some current if I can find that box.
Spotted an Element flx-2210 today which is 22 inches and has a native resolution of 1680x1050 and is a 16x10 aspect ratio, don't need another toy taking up room but it is a nice middle ground between 16x9 and 4x3 aspect ratios. Had all the analog fixings and HDMI.
I've never heard of a TV with a 16:10 aspect ratio display, only computer monitors. But it would be a good compromise for someone who watches a lot of both 4:3 and 16:9 video content.
The Perfect PS2 TV! The lag isn't going to be that noticeable especially since many games are in 30 FPS on the PS2 even then it's not going be terrible. There aren't a lot of widescreen games too so the 4:3 aspect ratio is fine!
My first LCD TV was a Syntax 30" widescreen from in 2004. 1280x768 I think? A then low price of $2500 CAD from Tiger Direct's Canadian sales launch. I remember horrible viewing angles and having to force resolutions when hooked up to a computer because it only reported 4:3. The $3000 37" Sharp I replace it with a couple years later was barely any better. Wasn't until my Sony 40W3000 in 2007 that I was satisfied.
This tv as more inputs than my modern smart tv that only as digital input and a glow in the dark buttons on the remote is a welcoming addition i have lost the amount of times ive hit the wrong button operating the remote in the dark
Warren Robinett, author of Atari 2600's Adventure and creator of one of the most famous easter eggs of all time, listed as one of the programmers of that Apple II game!
Unexpected Ashens, love it!
Just perfect integration of that clip. 👍
And now I had to go and watch the chicken in a can video!
Boo it got spoiled for me :(
Or “surprise Ashens”, as we call it in the trade.
Also Matt, from carwow
Props to that Panasonic engineer who made everything work on such a complex device. Underappreciated people.
Panasonics also a underappreciated company
Several engineers would have worked on it.
@@t-dawg61221 I love panasonic, everything with their name on it that I've owned has been a quality product. I can't say the same for sony, sharp, magnavox/philips, zenith, etc. plus, their name sounds cool!
My first few LCD monitors from the early 2000s were all Olevia, and I think they all still work. LCD monitors were still pretty expensive then, so I think they made higher quality stuff. They also had virtually every input connection possible, which makes them great for hooking up old stuff.
Yep, my Mom still uses my first ever LCD TV, an Olevia 32" I picked up from Kmart on sale for $500. Its outlived several other sets I've bought since. It also did a fantastic job displaying old 480i content, much better than many TVs I've bought since....I'm hoping the CFL Backlight holds up
I used to have that Tv back in the day, but it had a matte display and amazed that it had a VGA port because it was used as a monitor when windows xp was a thing. nice sound for a flat screen tv for that era and good image quality for analog sources.
In the twilight years of analog broadcasting undocumented PAL compatibility was actually pretty common on no-name brand TVs and other video stuff in my experience (also it could often be unlocked in a hidden service menu). I guess by that point it was cheaper for the Chinese OEMs to use the same circuit design for every market rather than making separate NTSC and PAL models.
I recall them having a special buy of CRT TV VCR combis in the local supermarket. Each box had a large sticker attached to it saying something like " IMPORTANT. Before attempting to use this set you must change the tuner setting to PAL. Press Menu - Setup - Standard - PAL". I guess they had come in set to NTSC and the first few had been returned as faulty.
On some TVs you had to solder a additional oscillator to decode NTSC, I think some older Sony Trinitrons had this "oddity", I cannot remember which models required it but I recall you had to solder a cap and said crystal osilicator then flip a value in the service menu. On later sets it was already present and enabled from the get-go.
I do have a Daewoo CRT TV that can also decode NTSC composite on the fly without any need to change any settings, and on the back it claims to be able to receive PAL RF (even though it's a SÉCAM-L/L' set in the first place).
I bought a small Samsung LCD TV in 2005. It had both NTSC and PAL analog tuners (I'm in the US) and even had a SCART port which I'd never seen in person until then.
My phillips CRT has it over component, it will sync over composite but with no color
@@AdhamOhm SCART is excellent for things like a Playstation as it supports RGB. The 8 Bit guy did a complex modification to a TV to get RGB. That was standard on all but the cheapest TVs in Europe.
I'm still rocking a Viewsonic N2011 (4:3 20" TV) in my bedroom. My parents bought it in 2006 for $399 and has seen pretty light use over the years, but still going strong! These silver flat panel TV's with side speakers definitely evoke an earlier era for flat screens.
I have always been a big fan of the Olevia TVs. Until late, I have never had an original Syntax Olevia set, But I have had and do have a bunch of the newer Syntax-Brillian sets, they are absolutely great. Not fancy, but have a nice picture and last a LONG TIME. The first one I ever had was from about 2009, the original owner used it almost 24/7. He moved and brought it with him, When he got to his new location, the TV stopped working. I took it apart and it had some bad capacitors on the power supply board (a very common thing for electronics of this era, so I don't blame Olevia at all). Once I replaced them, it came right to life, I returned it to the original owner, he eventually got a Smart TV (which has since died) so I took the Olevia back. I then loaned it to another guy who is pretty much stuck in bed all of the time, so it got used A LOT there as well. I finally got it back, the TV still works great and has never had an issue despite being VERY high hour. I also have about 6 other Olevia sets from the Syntax-Brillian days, and all of them are of great quality (compared to other crap, even Sony or other "high end" brands).
I just recently got 2 of the Olevia sets made by Syntax before they merged with Brillian. The quality of them is great as well, although I would argue that the newer Syntax-Brillian sets are slightly better. (fun fact, they actually moved a large portion of their operations from Taiwan to California in their later years). One of the two is a very early ( I believe a 1st generation) Olevia set, which is actually branded on the front as a Syntax, and only marked Olevia with small letters in the top left corner, I believe at that time Olevia was just a line of TVs made by Syntax (they also had other similar sets marked as Syntax Kolin).
The only issue other than capacitors I have seen is on one set the HDMI chip was acting up (it still worked, but displayed a garbled image when using an HDMI source until warmed up). From what I have heard, this is not too uncommon for early HDMI TVs, so once again, I don't blame this on the quality of the TV itself, especially since it was a high hour TV. I did end up just replacing the whole main board on that set, which fixed it. I am unsure if attempting to "reflow" the solder on the chip would have helped or not.
Of course Olevia and Syntax-Brillian has been gone for a long time now (except for Vivitar, which they briefly owned). I guess they were better at making TVs than running a business. But the fact that every Olevia TV is now 12 years old or more (except for a VERY small amount of cheap sets made by Funai that had that name on them), and they are still quite common if you look and pay attention, definitely shows that they had great longevity, and people must have been happy with them to have kept them as long as they did.
I still have my first 20 inch wide 6:10 monitor and use it daily. 2ms time, 2000:1 contrast. I love it. Has real buttons for every function. It was about $500 in 2004 or 2005.
I have a 24" 16:10 (I suspect that's what you meant as well) monitor from 2008. 1920x1200 resolution. Still works fine. Can't remember what I paid for it though. It's been with my brother for a couple of years now, as I'm using a 120" screen+projector setup.
Unfortunately my 24" Fujitsu 16:10 caught fire recently... it was great for playing older games in 1600x1200 or 800x600 :/ Out of nowhere, smoke started coming out of the vents
@@vibingwithvinyl oh yes, 16:10 🤣
@@HazewinDog oh man. Sorry to hear that
How does it have such high contrast? VA panel?
my sister had this exact TV for years. It was the best TV we had at the time, I would often play GameCube in my sister's room because it looked the best, I don't even remember if it actually did look better compared to our big CRTs. In fact your video seems to prove that young me was wrong in assuming newer was better.
My dad liked it so much when it came time to get an HD TV we got a ölevia because he thought it was a good brand. It had the wide speakers on the side and it was ridiculous. only had a 32" screen, but it was over 40" wide. Even got it at the HHGreg which is now another bygone brand.
Thumbs up for the Umlaut, I love it!
That TV is the best of both worlds; it’s 4:3 like a CRT, but compact with plenty of inputs since it’s a flat panel. Too bad it lacks a digital ATSC tuner. The glow in the dark remote control buttons more than make up for it, however.
I’d really welcome seeing a review on that Blu-Ray camcorder. I vaguely recall hearing about them when they were new, but never had one and certainly never saw anyone else use one. They must’ve been stupendously expensive when new.
I would do a video about the camcorder, but unfortunately it's broken. It has either a stuck iris or a dead CMOS sensor, because all I get from it is a black screen.
I think the one in the video is too old to have a digital tuner. However, I have a 2007 crt that has a built in digital tuner.
I found very similiar Samsung set at a thrift store near me, though it runs 640x480, and it's easily the best looking TV i've had for my pre-HD consoles. That includes a few CRT sets of varying price and wear. I'm impressed and it looks like you got a great find too!
Except that the delay must be INSANE. Cause even now with the MUCH BETTER processors game mode is a thing...
Really nice with all those inputs, I could use one of these as well. Back to hunting thrift shops. :)
That Tandy monitor stand was a real find by the way! I'm quite jealous. Can't imagine there being a lot of those around these days..
7 minutes in and we have surprise Stuart, a very good VCR and a blinking red light?!
Used a 1600x1200 21.3" LCD for a good bit of the 2000s, very nice to work on. But it meant that I had to upgrade to 1920x1200 rather than 1080p when replacing it.
The Panasonic VHS machine are great units. I have one of the newer models that features a built in hard drive. Great video as always thanks
Any idea what year it was made? I didn’t think Panasonic were making vhs machines that late into the 2000’s.
@@CT-vm4gf Sony had a model until 2012 that could output standard, SVHS and D-VHS through HDMI, including recording S-Video quality on standard tapes, but these were only playable on the same player model.
That Ultimate DVD Demo is the first DVD I remember watching! It came with a Windows 98 Dell PC with DVD drive that my dad bought.
I had one of these years ago too - but I bought it, and there was no Dell logo as in the video. Presumably they got a batch made for Dell shortly releasing the initial DVD.
I like your Umlaut remark, being I am also a German speaker. Thanks, Ray.
I have that very DVD Recorder/VCR. Still used it up until very recently. Those Panasonic products are very good. Most are built like tanks and indeed very robust.
If they aren't affected by the capacitor plague of the era it's something remarkable in itself. As it happens, Panasonic is a top capacitor brand. There should be Panasonic caps in Panasonic gear (although you can never be sure) at least for the most heavy duty tasks in the device. Or at least you'd expect them not no cheap out using crappy cap brands.
Yep, I have it too, it's an absolute beast of a machine. Paid a lot of money for it used but worth every penny.
@@BilisNegra Some Panasonic models are apparently, though mine are fine(so far)
Enjoyed the pronunciation of Olevia. For some reason it caught me off guard and amused me greatly. Enjoyed the video.
I love that pronounciation of that brand 😆
Oh my God, the unexpected matt got me 😭 well there goes my clean setup. I love this channel.
Mat, you mean -- for some reason, Brits spell it with just one T.
Got me as well 😆, met mat in real life, nice guy
@@vwestlife didnt know mat had 2 t's unless its a name
had to rewind that part, i knew of carwow looking for reviews of my car, a Volvo V40 that is only sold in europe (and for some reason south america)
Picked up this very model from the discard pile at our local flea market on Sunday. No stand or remote, but seems to have base functionality. Mine has a matte screen. Thanks for sharing useful information about this TV!
it's the perfect fit for my dream retro gaming setup.
the best video you have made in awhile...there all good..but i loved this one the tv is awesome ..the vhs dvd player is awesome..and you even included game systems which is my main hobby!great job kevin!
his name is Kevin?
I will have to keep my eyes open for a similar TV. I have several similar, but smaller, TVs that I use for 8 bit computers and consoles. That VCR/DVD recorder you have is awesome!
What a useful television! I didn't realise that there was a Blu ray camcorder! Wow! (You could say that the television had a "syntax error" while trying to sync the signal with the Mega Drive/Genesis console for a moment there!).
I was looking for a TV kind of like this for my N64 and GameCube, so thanks for the recommendation. :)
I've not seen a 4:3 LCD TV for a along time, only ever noted them as being small and cheap ones though with hardly any worthwhile inputs, though they usually did at least come with SCART, which has pretty much all you need on one connector, which I know is a bit smug-mode knowing the US never adopted it, but, it's so useful, as bulky as it is... :)
I remember there being standard definition only 4:3 LCDs and 16:9 CRTs in the UK, with not always a digital tuner because you were expected to connected an On/ITV Digital box via SCART (SCART having both a composite and RGB input)
My current Samsung HDTV has no buttons on the front, you need a remote to do anything including adjusting the volume or changing the channel. It also goes no highwer than 60Hz on HDMI and all the way doen to 24Hz on HDMI. I don't have anything with a VGA output. Thne Samsung has a tuner which is both analogue and digital (PAL/DVB only of course) one SCART connector, 2 HDMI connectors, a USB connector (for photos, audio and video) and RCA composite, component and audio) my other TV has one HDMI input, one USB input and has separate 3.5 mm inputs for composte and component for adaptors that will break out to RCA sockets for video and L+R audio or Y+CR+CB inputs.
SCART was for 15KHz RGB video. Unsure if the VGA input would accept 15KHz video or of the SCART input would accept higher scan frequencies.
It is kind of a shame that the VGA input on an American TV doesn't go down to 15KHz as that would have functioned the same as the RGB input on SCART and having both a SCART and RCA composite inputs would comprise of two composite inputs, one on the SCART socket and one on the RCA connectors.
Love the reference back to Ashens 16:9 monsters video.
Never thought I'd be watching a video on an Olevia in 2022. I had a 32" 1080i that lasted 10 years. I think it still worked when I replaced it with a LG in 2018, which died last month.
Get a Sony. That last from 8-10 years. Maybe 12 if you’re lucky.
The silver plastic look of this TV reminds me of the Philips single disc DVD player I had back in 2004/'05: silver painted, but it could play discs loaded with mpeg 4 video files.
man it would have been funky to see the sonic 2 two player mode split screen, with that glitched out picture.
My dad’s stepdad had the Sylvania branded model.
The power cord? We just call it a C13 power cord.
Yes! C13!
Re: the Commodore 64 program at the end of the video. I remember back then when they published simple C64 BASIC programs in magazines that you could try out. Now I feel really old =)
This Tv having a component input would be great honestly, especially for the ps2 and I think the gamecube that do component and im sure others
That Hitachi camcorder deserve its own review to be honest.
I think that brand was sold at radio shack.. I bought my first lcd TV from there same brand ... 32 inch for 1400 bucks!
Thanks for the video!
I used to have a 21" CRT TV with a remote that glowed in the dark. I miss that feature.
I wish they still make new 4:3 monitors for professional video users. Also I just gave that Panasonic VCR/DVD recorder to my cousin a month ago, because she wanted to converted dozens of VHS tapes. I wish I didn’t because it has amazing recording features for the old camcorders!
Honest question: what use case is there for a 4 : 3 monitor except for running old legacy hardware that doesn't work (or at least doesn't work well) with modern 16 : 9/16 : 10 monitors?
In my experience 16 : 9 and 16 : 10 monitors aren't so wide that they end up causing issues with space (unless you have a desk with shelves/cabinets build around the dimensions of a 4 : 3 display) and even running legacy software (that can't be patched to use a widescreen resolution) is not a problem if you have either a recent enough GPU with an option in the GPU control panel that allows the scaling to be done on the GPU instead of the monitor or a monitor that can properly handle a 4 : 3 resolution (for example my iiyama 1920x1200 monitor can display a 1600x1200 resolution with correct letterboxing and no blur).
@@electricindigoball1244 4:3 is still used for medium format photography or in cinematography they have a square or 4:3 display.
I'm amazed how huge late CRTs were. My grandma had a decently by modern standards sized 16:9 TV, I'm surprised how they managed to make such a giant tube
I had an 86cm (34 inch) CRT TV with inbuilt subwoofer at one stage. It was an absolute monstrosity!
My aunt had one of those when I was younger, but hers was around 40 in and widescreen. I loved that thing so much because of its versatility and good sound, but it got fried in a power surge.
I got an LG 4:3 tv with scart from an e waste bin, and it works great with its 800x600 display.
I still have a 20" Sharp AQUOS LC20E1UM that works great. One of the early flatscreen TVs, gotta be close to 20 years old now. It only has Component, Svideo, & F-connector inputs
i've had a few of the aquos series. they were great. i replaced the last one about 2 years ago when the screen got scratched. other than that, it still rocked!
Sharp made a nice Aquos portable model 20-inch LCD 4:3 Stereo TV with a carrying handle on the top that I’ve been using lately with a PS2 on a desk. The L/R speakers sound great so it’s perfect for retro gaming or any SDTV video/dvd playback.
I'd love to see a video about that cool rare Blu-Ray camcorder!
I dont know why but there is something about those grainy videos or that audio with feedback of the 80s and 90s that comforts me more than the heavily engineered audio/video of current tech.
Loved the presentation videos of Jetta etc.
That unexpected flashback to an old Ashens video was very much appreciated. 😅
I have a Pioneer 4x DVD RAM drive, I am lucky to own over 20 discs. I really like it and it is a fun thing to have on my p4 3.2ghz single core retro gaming machine.
Ah thanks Kevin for remembering me old 4:3 LCD TV I missed them, i really like old monitors/TV
RRRRRrrrr matey ! Me love them 4:3 TVs as well!
If I had to go with a second choice for retro consoles, I would definitely take a 4:3 LCD display as it keeps the ratio without the ugly borders in 4:3 mode and doesn't stretch the screen as 16:9 screen would. I also loved the fact that earlier LCD and HDTVs had a variety of inputs.
I have used different lcd tvs as second monitors for like 12 years. They're perfect as a secondary display because of all the inputs.I dont have any 4:3 aspect ratio displays anymore though.Its all upscaled widescreen.
oh the fan of this 2007 recorder is really clean , this recorder really needs good cooling
Interesting video as always.
I have seen a 4:3 Sharp TV in 20 inches.
yeah.i bought one for my mother back in the day. i mounted it on a vesa arm and connected it to her cable box and dvd player. she loved it.
I've got another model with the same panel. Also from Syntax, an Olevia LT20HVK. Something very remarkable, is the PAL comparability as you mentioned.
Also very notable is how it properly handles flicker effects in 25Hz such as shields running in Sonic 2's 2P mode.
Mine has got some pixels that get stuck when the monitor gets hot but otherwise a great TV still.
On analog tuner does support NTSC, some TV have supoort PAL-M (525 lines for Brazil) and PAL-N (625 lines, for Argentina)
I’m not certain why I watched this, but thank you. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 📺
The VW Jetta promo vid is so 90's. I was writing to car manufacturers to get as many as a could, too bad my mum did threw all of that away.
I have a couple 20" 4:3 LCDs by Sylvania and Sharp, they're EDTVs so 480p native resolution but they lack VGA input. I also have a 15" Insignia that is 1024x768 with HDMI input.
There's currently a 20" Sylvania 4:3 LCD on ebay with a builtin DVD player!
Also a 19" Samsung 1280x1024 lcd tv, presumably they basically just added av inputs to a monitor model for that one.
Oh wow, a surprise Ashens sighting
More 4:3 LCD stuff please I want retro gaming on these to catch on
12:01 *MASSIVE HUGE NOSTALGIA* for me here
while I'm not from the NYC area (I'm actually closer to Philadelphia 🦅) we would still get NYC channels such as WNYC on our cable and I LOVED watching their Leased Time Programming particularly the Japanese programing. Some of my most favorite television ever like the taiga drama Nobunaga: King of Zipangu and the anime Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro.
Oh man that took me back, thanks.
My first LCD tv was a 42" Olevia 720p 16x9 unit.
Was great for the day, circa 2007
in the mid 2000s, 20ish something me, living in detroit at the time, used to work as a compusa salesman. that's the only place i ever recall seeing olevia TVs for sale, lol
Great video. Seriously Lol'd at the muppets piano bit.
That dell sample DVD brings back memories. John wo once and thief and animusic are what I remember the most.
love that sneaky mavica in the background
Except it's not so sneaky, because I use it in the video!
That ending program brings back memories, TI 99/4A back in the day. Remember Mr. Bogangles?
dude the picture on that is amazing i want one for older games i think the blacks are great too cuz its a glossy lcd
that dvd vcr is dope yo
21:00 - Wow, the kind of multitasking and types of interfaces possible was well done.
i ended up with one of these awhile ago when my grandad swapped his tv out with a more modern one because he got tired of messing with his ancient converter box. it was perfect for emulating gameboy games.
The quality is just fine imo. I always thought you need a CRT to get a proper quality from old devices but even NES thru RF looks well here
Top notch nostalgia.
Just tried out your website on my NCR System 3333 and it worked great. Even played the am mono audio clip well. It couldn't handle the stereo clip sadly.
I have a Panasonic TC-20LA5. 20" 640x480 EDTV. I knew when I found it that it was unusual and wanted it to see consoles like the dreamcast or xbox looked good on it. The xbox does look great at 480p on an lcd.
I think that I had this exact model. I was in my 20s and living in a setup without much space. It did a decent job at pulling double duty as a TV and a computer monitor.
A res?
16:10 -- My Sony PCG-729 laptop used to do that occasionally, and I'd have to restart it. I'm pretty sure what happened was that the LCD panel shut off, but the backlight stayed on.
my pc with a radeon rx 470 GPU does that when i use the CTRL+WIN+SHIFT+B shortcut
Peter Carey! As soon as I heard that voice on the tape I knew it was him. I worked with him a couple of times doing industrials.
Thanks for finally giving me a full name to go by! I know I've heard his voice elsewhere.
My Mom had one of these in the late-00s in her bedroom. It was a decent TV. My Dad currently uses a widescreen Olevia TV, but I'm not sure of the year. Has the same relative design though.
I don't think 4:3 LCD TVs even existed in the European market, because widescreen standard definition was a widely adopted thing from the turn of the century (or so).. Widescreen CRT TVs were very common in the early 2000s. Also, I remember first seeing a widescreen LCD/Plasma televisions already in 1999 at a convention.
yes they did, or at least in the UK (which is in Europe). there was a 17" 4:3 LCD Logik TV in my family from 2002 or 2003 to 2011. It was sold at Dixons (which means it was probably also sold at Currys).
I had a Philips 15" 4:3, with HDMI input. Extremely strange thing. Bought in Tesco so probably a supermarket special
@@aperson6955 OK, I don't remember seeing them in Finland, most people had widescreen or regular CRTs in the early 2000s... (Widescreen) LCDs became hugely popular from the mid-2000s onwards. 5:4 computer LCDs were a thing briefly.
Surprisingly I ended up getting more interested in the dvd/vhs unit and that tiny Sony crt
My favourite LCD TVs are from the range between 2006-2012, where you have 720p resolution and HDMI but also pretty much any connection known to man, Composite, SCART, VGA, Component, S-Video, TOSLINK, 3,5 mm jack and even digital AUX. Scalers in these tends to be a bit rubbish, but they have minimal lag because of that.
4:3 was a good work format. We got 16:9 dominance because Hollywood got to have a say in video format because they shoot in wide.
I still find it interesting that PAL support on an NTSC TV is actually considered a feature when practically every PAL TV made after a certain point (in the 90s?) supported NTSC inputs. I suppose imported NTSC equipment was way more common in PAL regions than imported PAL equipment would've been in NTSC regions
Most stuff made for US / Japanese market works only on 100/120V, even if it has a switch mode power supply, while most 230V AV appliance works down to 100V. That might be one of the reasons. Althogh I heard about some late '90s TVs that was marketed in the US with EUROSCART input on them... Which is great, because it has RGB on it!
@@mrnmrn1Edit: re: the US TVs with SCART/Péritel. They do exist, but are far and between. On top of my head I know two examples though I think these were mostly worldwide export TVs, one such example would be the Sony KV-2900 (=27in viewable area) and KV-3400 (=32in viewable area).
RCA's Lyceum TV monitors allegedly had a BNC RGB input, but I haven't yet found any pictures of one to confirm... And since I live in Europe, I'd probably never come across one lol
Also worth noting, was the Sony ProFeel monitors such as the KX-2501A and KX-1901A that sported Sony's weird 34pin multi input that supported RGB (digital and analog, the non-A versions of these "ProFeel" monitors, the KX-2501/1901 only supported digital RGB) though you had to either build your own cable or buy a breakout adapter that Sony sold (I presume this was for MSX computers? One such adapter I've seen could allow you to connect a IBM PC's CGA card). That port was also used on the Sony KV-25XBR/20XBR and the KV-25DXR (the DXR being the same as the KV-25XBR, but with a more advanced OSD and digital deflection controls, being AFAIK one of the first North American Sony CRT TVs to have an on-screen service menu, other ones had a OSD yet were adjusted by potentiometers on the boards)
There's the RCA Dimensia that allegedly had a SCART/Péritel input but while it had the shape of SCART/Péritel, it wasn't one, it was some kind of composite and audio only variant that was dubbed EIA Multiport. Some RCA Colortrak2000 TVs on the other hand had a RGBI/CGA input on them using RCA jacks (odd thing but here you go...) so in theory you could connect a PC with a CGA card to it using a RGBI DE-9 to RCA breakout cable
-- scart rambling wall of text galore below --
it's true, and in France, SCART, or actually, Péritel (Péritelévision, SCART being the acronym for "Syndicat des Constructeurs d'appareils radiorécepteurs et de télévision", the manufacturers' association that created Péritel) became mandatory by law for any TV sets that was to be sold in France starting between 1980 and 1981, up until 2013 where that law was repealed. Some manufacturers that were part of the SCART manufacturers' association implemented Péritel connectors on their TV sets much earlier than 1980.
Europe followed suit with SCART/Péritel much later.
Originally Péritel was meant to pipe in composite video and allow to superimpose teletext information using RGB through the means of external Teletext decoded, however some folks soon figured out that if you always set pin 16 to a certain voltage (that pin being for RGB blanking) you could actually use the RGB input to display stuff while using composite video as the synchronization pulse.
Sorry for the long and complicated rambling but that's about the best I can do to explain what SCART is.
I had one of those super heavy tube TVs before flat screens and when projection TVs were very expensive. The damn thing weighed a ton!
A real shame that 4:3 television or monitors are no longer made. I happen to love the 4:3 aspect while playing Cartrivision, V-Cord2, Quasar VX, VHS, CED and Laserdisc videos. I use a Vitek VTM-LED190P 19 inch 5:4 aspect monitor with HDMI, composite and VGA inputs.
It has a 1280 x 1024 (SXGA) resolution. It supports 1080P via HDMI with built-in digital noise reduction on all inputs which works wonders for both VHS and CED video feeds.
That Battery in the Apple computer reminds me of a box of lithium batteries I bought in a surplus shop literally thirty years ago. Mil spec lithium cells made in Israel. I still have some of them and they all are at 3.5-3.6 volts. Amazing. I have to check if they are still able to put out some current if I can find that box.
very good find
"the tape was...warm?! Oh my god no!!!! 🤣
Sure?
Had to do a double take at 0:34 when that Ashens clip came up.
I'm more surprised than anything that it needs to upscale (or downscale) almost any source except a VGA PC to 800x600. And that the lag isn't so bad.
Spotted an Element flx-2210 today which is 22 inches and has a native resolution of 1680x1050 and is a 16x10 aspect ratio, don't need another toy taking up room but it is a nice middle ground between 16x9 and 4x3 aspect ratios. Had all the analog fixings and HDMI.
I've never heard of a TV with a 16:10 aspect ratio display, only computer monitors. But it would be a good compromise for someone who watches a lot of both 4:3 and 16:9 video content.
@@vwestlife yup, but this was a tv with tuner and all, I imagine it letterboxes 16x9 and not just stretch it
I actually had one of these DVD /VCR recorders. Also had the digital after I bought a High definition TV.
That VCR/DVD recorder is impressive
It wasn’t locking on to the Genesis at first probably because the Sega Genesis composite video signal is notoriously bad.
The Perfect PS2 TV! The lag isn't going to be that noticeable especially since many games are in 30 FPS on the PS2 even then it's not going be terrible. There aren't a lot of widescreen games too so the 4:3 aspect ratio is fine!
I have to try to get this DVD-VHS combo unit to play all my desired video media.
My first LCD TV was a Syntax 30" widescreen from in 2004. 1280x768 I think? A then low price of $2500 CAD from Tiger Direct's Canadian sales launch. I remember horrible viewing angles and having to force resolutions when hooked up to a computer because it only reported 4:3.
The $3000 37" Sharp I replace it with a couple years later was barely any better. Wasn't until my Sony 40W3000 in 2007 that I was satisfied.
This tv as more inputs than my modern smart tv that only as digital input and a glow in the dark buttons on the remote is a welcoming addition i have lost the amount of times ive hit the wrong button operating the remote in the dark
Warren Robinett, author of Atari 2600's Adventure and creator of one of the most famous easter eggs of all time, listed as one of the programmers of that Apple II game!