The largest 4:3 LCD TV - Ölevia LT20S 

Unexpected Ashens, love it!

Props to that Panasonic engineer who made everything work on such a complex device. Underappreciated people.

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.

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.

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 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.

Man, I love your videos. Keep 'em coming. Thanks.

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.

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 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.

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.

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!

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..

Enjoyed the pronunciation of Olevia. For some reason it caught me off guard and amused me greatly. Enjoyed the video.

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!

I was looking for a TV kind of like this for my N64 and GameCube, so thanks for the recommendation. :)

thats an awesome setup man

I love that pronounciation of that brand 😆

I’m not certain why I watched this, but thank you. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 📺

I like your Umlaut remark, being I am also a German speaker. Thanks, Ray.

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!

Thumbs up for the Umlaut, I love it!

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.

Oh my God, the unexpected matt got me 😭 well there goes my clean setup. I love this channel.

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

it's the perfect fit for my dream retro gaming setup.

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.

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.

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 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.

21:00 - Wow, the kind of multitasking and types of interfaces possible was well done.

More 4:3 LCD stuff please I want retro gaming on these to catch on

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!).

That unexpected flashback to an old Ashens video was very much appreciated. 😅

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.

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 =)

very good find

Ah thanks Kevin for remembering me old 4:3 LCD TV I missed them, i really like old monitors/TV

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!

Love the reference back to Ashens 16:9 monsters video.

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.

oh the fan of this 2007 recorder is really clean , this recorder really needs good cooling

That Hitachi camcorder deserve its own review to be honest.

My first LCD tv was a 42" Olevia 720p 16x9 unit. Was great for the day, circa 2007

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... :)

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.

Interesting video as always. I have seen a 4:3 Sharp TV in 20 inches.

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.

Great video. Seriously Lol'd at the muppets piano bit.

I'd love to see a video about that cool rare Blu-Ray camcorder!

man it would have been funky to see the sonic 2 two player mode split screen, with that glitched out picture.

That ending program brings back memories, TI 99/4A back in the day. Remember Mr. Bogangles?

That VCR/DVD recorder is impressive

I got an LG 4:3 tv with scart from an e waste bin, and it works great with its 800x600 display.

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.

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.

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.

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

I used to have a 21" CRT TV with a remote that glowed in the dark. I miss that feature.

Wow nice, i like the design

that dvd vcr is dope yo

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

love that sneaky mavica in the background

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.

My dad’s stepdad had the Sylvania branded model. The power cord? We just call it a C13 power cord.

Good Information Video!

That dell sample DVD brings back memories. John wo once and thief and animusic are what I remember the most.

Holy crap, I want that combo VCR

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 actually had one of these DVD /VCR recorders. Also had the digital after I bought a High definition TV.

nice find

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!

glad you checked lag, i was gonna ask. i have an old lcd tv with a built in dvd player and the lag is pretty miniscule too (for composite, component is horrendously laggy)

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

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

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.

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'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

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.

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.

Oh wow, a surprise Ashens sighting

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

I have to try to get this DVD-VHS combo unit to play all my desired video media.

I'd love to see a video about that bluray camcorder you have!

I had one of the later Olevia TVs. It was a nice television for the money.

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.

Nice Ashens clip

My family had a 37” CRT that thing was big and heavy then we upgraded to a 53” rear projection CRT. Both were 4:3 sets

Top notch nostalgia.

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 have that kind of tv on a kitchen. 19" Orion. It was in repair shop recently and repair guy just replaced whole board, because of speakers were just hissing. 1280*1024 LCD, even had a DVI In. Nice picture on component in from xbox360. Now we use it with satellite receiver via VGA adapter. Sad that there are no cheap HDMI to DVI with sound. But VGA, even set to 720 looks very nice (we don't have 1080p channels, most of them 576p anyway)

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.

Around 2004 I had a Poloroid brand LCD TV that I bought used that was probably 3 or 4 years old probably. It was a 4:3 LCD and probably around 20". I wish I still had it. It didn't come with a the power supply but like many electronics it's power supply cord turned the 110 AC into 12 volt DC so I used a Radio Shack 12 volt 8 Amp power supply to run it. I wish I knew the exact specs of that old TV.

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.

Awesome. How things have changed.