LG TVs are no doubt one of the most widely used TV brands out there as they have products for low-budget and luxurious spending. One of their unique characteristics is the usage of matte screens regardless of whether they’re using LED or OLED technology.
However, even with all these advancements in tech, there are still a lot of loopholes to their screen delivery as a lot of clients have complained about having brightness problems with their TVs, sometimes even when they claim that the contrast settings were set properly.
If you happen to be among such users, don’t worry, in this article, we will be outlining some troubleshooting measures on how to solve the brightness problem.
First, we’ll highlight some possible causes you need to be aware of going forward, and then troubleshooting measures to try out when you’re having the problem.
LG Smart TV Brightness Problem: Possible Causes & Fixes
Most of the causes of brightness problems on LG TVs aren’t related to the TV’s hardware. As such, it’s quite easy to find a fix without taking apart the system to void its warranty.
-
TV On Energy Saving Mode
Most LG smart TVs come with an energy-saving feature, which in most cases, is tuned on by default to reduce energy consumption. The problem with this feature is that depending on the looks and feel of the room, it can automatically deduce the LED strength of the TV, giving viewers brightness problems. Also, there’s a chance that if your TV has a firmware bug, it could mess with the energy-saving feature, resulting in brightness problems.
To fix this, you’ll want to disable the energy-saving mode feature. First, you’ll want to press the Settings button on your remote control and navigate through All Settings >> Advanced >> Pictures >> Energy Saving Mode >> then select Off. While this is the generic way to do it. the option may vary depending on your LG TV model; for some, you’ll navigate through Support >> Energy Saving >> Energy Saving Step.
-
Local Dimming is Activated
Local dimming is a feature that improves the contrast ratio of a TV by dimming the backlight in dark areas of the screen. This makes the blacks appear deeper and the highlights appear brighter, resulting in a more realistic and immersive image. This feature is often found on higher-end models like the LG Nano series, and LG NED.
If this is your problem, you’ll want to navigate to the feature’s settings and make adjustments. On your TV remote, press the Settings button, and navigate through All Settings >> Picture >> Picture Mode Settings >> LED Local Dimming >> then turn it Off.
Once you have disabled local dimming, the backlight of your TV will no longer be dimmed in dark areas of the screen. This may result in a slightly reduced contrast ratio, but it may also improve the overall brightness and clarity of the image.
-
TV in Wrong Picture Mode
This is most likely your problem if you only notice the brightness problem when watching some types of content, or some naturally dark scenes in a video. For example, if your picture mode is set to “Cinema” while watching the TV news, you’re bound to have some brightness issues.
To check and fix this, you’ll want to navigate through Settings >> All Settings >> Picture Settings >> Picture Mode >> then set to Standard. Alternatively, you can choose custom and configure the brightness to suit your taste.
-
Correctly Tune Backlight, Contrast, & Brightness
Sometimes, it’s just the case of your TV’s customizations being out of tune. This is often associated with setting the wrong custom picture mode. To solve this, you’ll want to navigate through Settings > All Settings >> Picture >> Picture Mode Settings >> enter either the backlight, contrast, or brightness and adjust till your TV is well visible.
If you’re still not able to solve your TV brightness problem, you may want to try out other advanced screen troubleshooting procedures.
-
Run a Picture Test
LG Smart TVs are equipped with self-diagnosis features that can be used to check the overall status of your TV and identify any potential problems.
One such self-diagnosis tool is the picture test. To run it on any LG TV from 2022 and later, all you need do is navigate through Settings >> All Settings >> General >> Settings >> OLED Care >> Device Self Care >> Screen Self-diagnosis. If you’re using the webOS6.0, you’ll want to go through Settings >> All Settings >> Support >> Screen Self-Diagnosis. For TVs before 2022, you’ll want to navigate through All Settings >> Picture >> Picture Test >> Enter.
This will run a series of tests on your TV’s screen to check for any problems. if any problems are detected, the self-diagnosis feature will provide you with more information about the problem and possible solutions.
-
Power Cycle the TV
This troubleshooting measure is often the go-to method for solving any issue with LG TVs that you don’t understand.
All you need do is unplug the TV’s power cable from the power supply, wait for about 5 minutes, and plug it back in. If you happen to be associated with power failure, power saving mode, or local dimming, this is a quick fix that you can try.
-
Update TV’s Firmware
Sometimes, these advanced features like local dimming, and energy-saving mode may just be malfunctioning because your device isn’t running on the latest firmware.
To check and update the firmware of your LG smart TV, all you need do is navigate through Settings >> All Settings >> Support >> Check for Updates >> If there’s an update ready, click on it, and the TV will download and install it automatically provided it’s connected to the internet.