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LED TV Problems: 8 Most-Common Issues (Solved)

LED TVs have common issues, regardless of brand, which is why it pays to know how to work around them. That way, you may be able to save time and money by avoiding taking your TV to the repair shop.

Here are eight of the most common problems you may encounter with LED TVs.

1. No picture on the screen

You may encounter an LED TV that will go blank, and nothing seems to return the display. 

Even a quick reboot won’t fix things.

If this happens to you, chances are the power supply of your LED TV has a damaged component.

  • Often, the damage in the power supply is rooted in a damaged capacitor, which usually happens during power surges. (That is why it is highly recommended to use a surge protector with your LED TV to prevent damage!)
  • Now, if the damage has been done, it’s best to have a qualified technician look at your TV. It’s most likely to have a damaged capacitor, which often looks bloated or leaking.
  • A quick replacement of the capacitor will be able to restore your TV to top shape.

2. Horizontal Lines appear during start-up

The issue of lines appearing on the screen is usually associated with set-top boxes.

This happens because many set-top boxes can only churn out a low input signal, while LED TVs need a high input signal to display correctly.

The best fix for this is to switch to an HD set-top box. 

3. LED TV has no sound

Sound issues are another common problem for many LED TVs. 

The TV isn’t producing any sound despite the TV not being on mute.

There are different ways to diagnose this.

  • If you are watching a video from the USB port, you may want to try other sources. If the sound works on other TV or streaming platforms, the TV’s codecs likely don’t recognize the video’s audio language or encoding. Should that be the case, you must have the video file converted to a format compatible with your TV.
  • Another thing to do is reset your TV. Depending on your TV model, resetting your TV involves you turning it off and unplugging it from the power source, then restarting it after a few minutes.
  • If there is still no sound after resetting the TV, connect an external speaker to the HDMI output for eARC compatible devices or audio output jacks. If sound comes out of the speakers, the damage is likely connected to the internal speakers of the TV.
  • But, if there is no sound, the issue lies in a component of the TV’s amplifier. LED TVs have built-in amplifiers in their speakers. Repairing this issue is rather simple, as it only entails a qualified maintenance specialist to replace the damaged audio IC chip.

4. LED TV does not connect to Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi connectivity is another common issue for LED smart TV users.

But don’t be too alarmed, as a lot of the factors that contribute to a lack of connectivity are easily fixed. 

The help you diagnose the problem, the first thing you need to check is where the problem is.

Is it with the TV or the Wi-fi router? 

  • To test whether the TV or Wi-Fi router is at fault, you should check if other devices can connect to your network.
  • Try streaming a service such as Netflix or YouTube on another device.
  • Should you be able to stream, it means that the issue is most likely with the TV.

But before ruling out if the TV is at fault, check how many devices are connected to your router.

  • Try disconnecting a device, and see if your LED TV connects to the router.
  • The typical home Wi-Fi router has a limit to the number of devices that can connect to it.
  • If your TV can connect after removing a device, it means your router had reached its limit.

But if you are still unable to connect, there are further steps you can take. 

Try restarting your TV and router by unplugging them from the power source and plug and turn on after a minute.

Should the TV still not connect to the router, you should check for other devices that may be riding on the same bandwidth. Baby monitors and microwave ovens also occupy the 2.4 GHz bandwidth that is used for Wi-Fi.

If your router supports dual bandwidth, consider connecting your TV to the wider bandwidth of 5 GHz to decongest the 2.4 GHz bandwidth.

If you are still having problems, the issue may be the distance between the TV and router.

  • You can try moving your TV closer to the router.
  • But, if that is impossible, you can try using an Ethernet cable for a more stable connection.
  • Should an Ethernet cable be hard to route, you can try getting a Wi-Fi extender or repeater to improve the signal from your router.

5. The image on the screen is stretched or distorted

You may notice that the image on your LED TV does not seem right. It may look stretched, cropped, or squashed.

Should that be the case, it’s most likely that your LED TV has the wrong picture settings.

  • You are probably using the wrong picture settings for the media or accidentally switching the settings. Or, in some cases, the TV has cropped the frame to fit.
  • You can fix this by looking at the options that pertain to Zoom, Stretch, and or Resolution (such as 16:9 or 4:3). You will then have to adjust these settings to get the framing correct.

6. Soap Opera Effect

The Soap Opera Effect refers to unnatural screen movement, which is the effect of the TV trying to render 60 or more frames per second when the video isn’t rendered for it.

To give you an idea, movies are rendered at 24 frames per second, while TV broadcasts are rendered at 30 frames per second. TVs have refresh rates that reach up to 120 Hz and can display up to 120 frames per second. It also comes with image processing that smoothes movement.

These features help 24 or 30fps videos render smoothly on screen, but it reaches a point of being too smooth and unnatural, hence the Soap Opera Effect. This feature is useful for watching sports or video games, but movies and TV programs look off. 

This issue can be easily fixed by turning off smoothing. When switched to theater or cinema mode, many TVs automatically deactivate the smoothing function, so you can also just look for that picture option.

7. The screen is too dark

You may notice your TV becoming darker than usual, which often has to do with the light sensor, a power-saving feature.

  • The light sensor automatically adjusts the brightness of the TV screen to match the room’s lighting conditions.
  • But not all light sensors are made equal, which is why some TVs become darker when the light sensor isn’t able to detect lighting correctly.

The best way to resolve this is to turn off the light sensor. 

  • This setting can usually be found in the picture settings under the Backlight menu.
  • For some TVs, you can find this feature under Energy Saving.
  • For some TVs, you may also have to deactivate Automatic Power Saving picture mode, which also adjusts the brightness of the TV. You can get better results if you turn off any energy-saving features of your TV.
    While they don’t automatically pertain to the light sensors, energy-saving features reduce backlight brightness.
  • Should you decide to deactivate any energy-saving features, you may opt to adjust the backlights manually to preserve the lifespan.

Now, if the TV’s brightness is still low, despite all the adjustments made, then it may mean that your TV’s screen has reached its half-life or the end of its full lifespan.

If your TV is new when this happens, then you should seek a replacement with your warranty. However, if your TV is older, alas. It may simply have reached the end of its lifespan!

8. Colors have excessive hues

There might be times you notice that the screen has excessive hues of blue or green when you know that the content shouldn’t look like that.

This means that you need to calibrate the color of your TV.

  • Calibrating your TV doesn’t just fix excessive hues; it also helps you get the best colors out of your TV.
  • To fix this, you need to open the Picture Settings of your TV and adjust the settings.
  • Any movie-related image settings will have the best color calibration. It would be good to set it to Movie or Cinema to get a good color temperature.
  • If your TV does not have this feature, you need to set the White Balance or Color Temperature. Set it to Warm to get a calibrated color setting.
  • Should there be no warm setting, or if there are different warm settings, you will need to scroll and test which image will have the lowest level of blues and greens and highest levels of red and pink hues. Or whatever looks right to you!

Remember that not all TVs have good color calibration out of the box. That’s why it is good to sit down and check the color settings out. 

General Pros and Cons of LED TVs

LED TVs have a better image quality

LED TVs have better blacks and brightness levels than LCD TVs that use fluorescent bulbs to illuminate the screen. There’s also better contrast on LED TVs.

LED TVs have better power consumptions

You consume up to 50 percent less when using an LED TV when compared to LCD TVs. At the same time, LED TVs last longer than LCD or plasma TVs.

Disadvantages of LED TVs

  • LED TVs are harder to wall-mount due to the additional depth in the dimensions.
  • Their contrast ratio is not as good as plasma TVs.

Final Thoughts

These problems are relatively easy to resolve. And in some cases, the problems you may encounter are not with the TV itself, but because of external factors.

Knowing how to deal with these issues saves you money and effort and helps you fully utilize the features of your TV.

For more information on LED TVs, check out our article How Long Do LED TVs Last?.

 

Sources:

Easy Fixes for Common TV Problems

Common LED TV Problem You Need to Know

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