TV Fading in One Area – Causes and Fixes
Uh oh! You’ve got a problem! You’ve sat down for a night of relaxing TV watching, but there is something wrong. Your TV is fading in one area! That can’t be good! Now, instead of watching a movie with your family, you’re scouring the Internet for fixes. Well, we’ve got some good news and some bad news. Honestly, it is mostly bad news. Let’s discuss.
TL;DR Answer
The end of the story is that you probably need a new TV. The fading in one area is probably not something you can repair yourself nor is it something that the TV manufacturer is going to pay to have fixed. If you are still under warranty, they’ll likely just replace the set. If you aren’t, the cost to fix is likely higher than getting a new TV. Time to shop for a new flat-panel TV!
What’s Happened
You own an LCD TV. Fading in one area doesn’t happen on OLEDs or other TV types. LCD TVs have a number of layers. The LCD layer allows through (or blocks) light. The backlight provides that light. In your TV, the backlight in one area has failed. You might have an edge-lit TV, or it could be that one zone of your FALD backlight has failed. Either way, that area isn’t getting all the light it should. That is why that area looks faded out.
Cause
It is impossible to know what specifically caused your TV to have a backlight failure. Could be that there was a power surge, you could have gotten water on the screen, or it could be simply the age of the display. Regardless, the light has either burnt or shorted out.
Fixes
Obviously, if you want that area of your TV to be the correct brightness, you’ll have to replace the backlight. If you immediately broke out into a sweat, this is not a job for you. If you thought, “How the heck do I do that?” This is not the job for you. Can replacement parts be found online? Yes. But we’d bet that most of the people reading this article wouldn’t be comfortable making that repair. If you are out of warranty and want to give it a shot, have at it. But most people should just start shopping for a replacement.
Take Away
We wish we had some better news. We wish you could leave this article with some easy fix for the faded area on your flat panel TV. But that’s just not realistic. We did say we had some good news. Unfortunately, the good news is that you have the opportunity to upgrade your TV. Which, honestly, might lead to more bad news.
