Suppose you are hesitant to try OTA TV because you like to watch your favorite shows on your own schedule. In that case, you’ll be relieved to know that it is possible to record free OTA television.

Furthermore, with an antenna and an OTA DVR, you may not only record and replay movies and shows, but you can even stop and rewind live TV.

This article will teach you how to record over-the-air television. But first, let’s look at the definition of OTA TV.

What is an Over-the-Air TV

Simply, OTA TVs are television sets that transmit local television channels. To see these channels, you need an OTA TV as well as a digital antenna, as opposed to cable TV or some subscription bundle. In OTA TVs, there are no monthly fees or subscriptions.

OTA television is a low-cost option to access weather stations, local news, and specific primetime television programming.

How to Switch to OTA TV

It is simple to go from satellite or cable to free OTA television.

First, you’ll need to purchase an antenna. You may use the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) DTV Reception Maps to see which channels you should be capable of seeing and how powerful the signals should be.

Link the finest antenna for the setup to your existing TV once you have purchased it. Next, use your TV to search for channels and, if required, change the antenna location and rescan until you are satisfied with the reception.

How to Record Over-the-Air TV

When you connect an antenna to your television, you are connecting it to a TV tuner, which scans the OTA television transmissions picked up by the antenna. It then shows them on your TV. That means you can’t do much more than enjoy free OTA TV; recording it is out of the question if all you have is a television and an antenna.

One such sort of equipment is the OTA DVR. An OTA DVR is nothing more than an antenna DVR. It includes an input for your TV source (simply plug in the antenna) and records to a hard disk drive, enabling you to retrieve that recording afterwards and play it on-demand, like a standard DVR.

OTA DVR Setup

There are several DVRs on the market. You’ll find a coaxial jack somewhere on the item, which is what you connect one of these into:
There’s one on your over-the-air antenna, so that’s what you’ll connect to the OTA DVR’s coaxial port.

Then you will need a hard disc to keep all of the great footage you’ll be capturing. This is included in certain versions; in others, you’ll need to rely on an external hard drive, which you’ll have to purchase separately.

How to Record Using OTA DVR

It is critical to read the exact instructions for your DVR (digital video recorders) because the features and functionalities differ greatly across manufacturers and models. However, after you’ve completed the basic setup, you should be able to start utilizing your OTA DVR straight immediately.

Most DVR remote controls have a Record or REC button. Press this button to record the show you’re currently watching. The DVR will record the full episode even if it has already begun if you started viewing the show from the beginning. However, you may be required to begin recording within a specific time frame, such as 30 minutes into the presentation.

Even if you are not recording the show, you can generally pause or rewind it. However, you need to acquire a blank tape to record because a DVR set will preserve your episodes on its hard disc.

A DVD recorder is another alternative. You must purchase a blank DVD. They can hold films of reasonable quality, but not the greatest by today’s standards of 4K (or even 1440p).

If you want high quality, acquire a Bluray recorder/player, which is far more expensive than a blank Bluray disc. DVR is arguably the greatest choice in terms of convenience and quality. However, DVR systems are not inexpensive.

How to Record Over-the-Air TV Without a Cable

Many DVRs are now of two kinds: standard cable provider set-top boxes (which you do not own) or third-party devices such as TiVo. Both of these things negate the goal of severing the chord.

But, a PVR, or Personal Video Recorder, is a fancy OTA digital tuner with a USB interface for an outer USB hard drive and a very simple VCR-like system software.

For instance, we will look at Homeworx PVR in this article.

HomeWorx PVR

These are the steps to take for setting up your HomeWorx PVR:

• Attach the coaxial cable from your TV to the coaxial antenna input just on the backside of the PVR.
• Link an HDMI cable from the PVR’s HDMI out connection to the HD television’s HDMI input.
• Connect the PVR’s AC power wire to a wall socket.
• Switch on your HDTV and change the video input to the HDMI input that the PVR is using.
• Select “Select Language,” “Select Country,” and “Search Channel” on the PVR. The channel scan will commence automatically.

You will also require an external USB hard drive. Although the PVR’s front-facing USB connector is USB 2.0, you may use a contemporary self-powered USB 3.0 hard drive. Use a drive with a capacity of less than 1 Terabyte.

The disc should be formatted in the “Windows NTFS” format. For the formatting, you may use any Windows PC or the PVR’s menu settings. (Refer to the device’s supplied handbook.)

From here, you may program your PVR much like an old-school VCR from the 1980s.

The UI is simple, but it gets the job done.

Set the PVR timer

• On the remote, press the “Timer” button.
• On the remote, press the “1” button.
• Scroll down to the channel, date, time, and frequency selections by using the arrow keys.
• When finished, press the “OK” button.
• To quit the menu system, use the “Exit” key.

After that, simply continue the recording instructions outlined above.

Conclusion

With the correct DVR, free over-the-air TV may be readily recorded. There are several solutions that may accommodate practically any arrangement and budget.

While attractive, high-end choices are significantly more expensive than a simple low-end model, low-end devices can still be used if you’re on a tight budget, but you should be aware of their limits and whether any additional hardware, such as an external hard disk or flash drive, is required.

The majority of affordable devices lack internal storage and instead store their recordings on external flash drives. Now you understand how to record over-the-air TV. You can record all of the over-the-air programs you want to watch and watch them whenever you want with the correct DVR.

However, there’s a considerable possibility you’ll run into issues with overscanning, which occurs when the monitor or TV cuts off the corners of your desktop. Underscan is the inverse of overscan, in which the image is too tiny for the screen.

This TV habit is a holdover from the days of CRT TVs. Still, happily, it is fixable utilizing a variety of solutions we have provided for you in this post.

But first, finding out the reasons for the overscan is essential. Let’s dig in!

Reasons for Overscan

Generally, Windows will begin to consider the resolution of the screen you’ve attached to your device and tweak the screen likewise. However, sometimes the interaction between both the linked screen and Windows goes awry, resulting in Windows displaying an incorrect resolution.

You’ll realize overscanning on your display if this occurs. Even so, it is not always the mistake of Windows since an outdated driver also can lead to an overscanning problem.

The good news is that there are a few simple fixes for overscanning. Let’s look at them one by one!

Reconnect HDMI Cable

This is most likely the easiest solution you may attempt. Overscanning is frequently resolved by simply removing the HDMI cable and reconnecting it to the monitor.

This normally happens when you have a loose HDMI cable put into the socket, which may have interrupted the connection between the PC and the display. You might also try a new HDMI cable to see if it makes a difference. If it doesn’t work, move on to the next solution.

Change Screen Resolution

Throughout most circumstances, altering the screen resolution will resolve your overscanning problem. There are various methods for resolving resolution difficulties in Windows, but we’ll concentrate on utilizing the Windows settings program here.

Keep in mind what resolution is ideal for the screen you’ve attached to a computer before proceeding. Suppose you do not even know the resolution. In that case, it’s generally listed on the box or in the manual that comes with your monitor.

• Step 1: Open the Settings app.
• Step 2: Navigate to System > Display.
• Step 3: Expand the Display resolution option and choose a suitable resolution for your monitor.
  
• Step 4: You’ll observe the improvements on your display as soon as you apply the settings.

Change the Display Settings on the Screen

The resolution of the screen you’re using can also be changed. Different manufacturers’ monitors and TVs have different ways of doing this. However, resolution settings are usually found under the Display or Picture settings.

If you can’t find the settings, have a short look through the manual; the process will most certainly be illustrated someplace. In most circumstances, you’ll be able to change settings on a smart TV using the remote, but changing settings on a monitor may necessitate utilizing the buttons on the back or bottom of the display.

Use the Graphic Card Control Panel

You might have graphics from Intel, AMD, or NVIDIA. Because each of them has its own Control Panel, you’ll need to change it to remedy the problem. As an example, we will use Nvidia and Intel.

Fix Overscan for Nvidia Graphic Card

If you use an Nvidia GPU, open the Nvidia Control Panel, choose:

• Step 1: “Display” in the left-hand pane
• Step 2: “Adjust desktop size and position.”
• Step 3: Then check the “Enable desktop resizing” box. (To ensure that you are not duplicating the computer display, click Ctrl + P on your Windows PC and pick an option apart from “Duplicate.”)
  
• Step 4: Then, select “Resize” and drag the sliders to fit your desktop onto the TV screen.
  

Fix Overscan for Intel Graphics

If you have Intel Graphics, follow the instructions to change the settings.

• Step 1: Open the Intel HD Graphics Control Panel. The simplest method to access it is to right-click on the screen and pick “Graphics properties.”
• Step 2: Select Display from the menu.
• Step 3: Select the device suffering Overscanning from the Select Display drop-down box.
• Step 4: Select Customize Aspect Ratio from the “Scaling” menu, and then use the sliders to resize the screen.

Calibrate Your Monitor

Windows includes a calibration tool that may be useful when repairing overscan. Yes, you could use a third-party calibration software, but Windows includes a calibration tool. It’s easier.

• Step 1: Press Win + I to launch the Settings app.
• Step 2: Go to System > Display.
• Step 3: Choose Advanced display options.
  
• Step 4: Locate the required display in the Display details section and choose Display adapter properties for Display X on the following page.
  
• Step 5: Switch to the Color Management tab and pick Color Management after the properties window has opened.
  
• Step 6: Select Calibrate display in the Color Management box and follow the on-screen directions to finish the calibration procedure.
  

Fix Overscan and Underscan on TV

One of the most straightforward approaches to correct overscan is to utilize the settings on your television. With this method, you’re more likely to keep the same image quality as you would with whatever onboard alternatives your PC provides.

The actual name of this option differs by TV model. Still, in general, you’ll discover it by selecting the “Menu” key on your remote, then heading to Picture Size, Aspect Ratio, or maybe something like, if you’ll be able to choose among 16:9, 4:3, Zoom, Ultra Zoom, and etc.

For example, in Samsung TV, to remedy this issue, go to “Home -> Settings -> Picture -> Picture Size Settings -> Picture Size” on your Samsung TV.

Once here, choose “Screen Fit” if it’s an option, or 1:1, or click to “Custom” and manually adjust the desktop to fit your screen.

On an LG TV, navigate to “Smart/Home button -> Settings -> PICTURE -> Aspect Ratio” to resolve overscan and underscan issues.

Change the setting to your aspect ratio or “Just Scan” to discover which works best.

Conclusion

It’s infuriating when you’ve just purchased a massive screen in order to have the best visual experience, but your device refuses to cooperate. Hopefully, one of these solutions will help you resolve your overscanning problem.

Now we all have HD Flat TVs, which are so fragile that you’re afraid to sneeze around them, and even a stiff breeze might break’em, not to mention the magic little box that can get you hundreds of high-definition channels and a world of entertainment at a flick of a switch.

However, the subscription for that cool little box is becoming increasingly expensive year over year, as any other thing in our lives actually, and in turn, people are starting to cut cable and come back to antennas.

Which brings us to today’s topic actually: how to boost an outdoor TV antenna signal?

Modern antennas are highly advanced compared to old-school models, and the latest-gen Antennas Directs ClearStream series of HDTV antennas are ideal for “cord cutters” looking for high-tech solutions.

Speaking of high technology, antennas today are designed with sleek and inconspicuous profiles, and obviously, reception ranges have improved greatly compared to earlier versions.

However, you might end up spending a lot of money on the best outdoor TV antenna and discover that reception quality is still horrible. Don’t worry, we’re here to help, and here comes our take on how to boost outdoor antenna signal, right after a short commercial break.

Direct your Antenna Correctly

This may sound like a “doh” moment for our readers, but here’s the thing: it’s not enough to throw your new antenna near a window or wherever, and voila, you get crystal-clear/ 20/20 reception. Most modern antennas require a little bit of research to work correctly, as in you need to direct the antenna towards a certain point in space, from where the signal originates.

Speaking of quick and easy fixes, this one is as straightforward as it gets. Okay, but how do you know the correct position of the antenna, right? That’s why we’re here.

All you have to do is go to your computer and browse AntennaWeb, TVFool, or the Digital TV Map from the FCC, put your details in and you’ll be served with enough information, including a map showing where the broadcast signal is coming from relative to your specific location.

Based on that map, you can aim the antenna correctly and you will dramatically increase your chances to pick up subchannels.

Move your Antenna’s Placement

Again, this may sound obvious to most people, but if the direction of the antenna doesn’t solve the problem, you may have to actually move the antenna to another location. Not a problem with modern antennas, which all have sleek designs which allows them to be moved around with ease.

The idea of relocation the antenna is to take it from behind the TV (maybe you thought to put it there for optics reasons) and put it in a less blocked off area. For example, if the broadcast signal comes from the west (according to the map), the best location for the antenna would be near an external wall on the west side of the residence, and as high-up as possible.

Reduce Interference

Changing the physical location of the antenna is aimed at reducing physical interference first and foremost, but there’s another kind of interference messing up with your signal: electronic interference.

Electronic interference is caused by wireless communication devices, such as Wi-Fi routers, Bluetooth speakers etc. If you own such devices, you should test if they are the root cause of the poor-signal issue by turning them off and checking antenna reception quality again.

Generally speaking, it is advisable to move any potentially interfering gear as far away from your antenna (and TV) as possible.

Consider Replacing your Cable

As any other product these days, TV antennas arrive with a bunch of gear in the retail package, including a cable to connect the antenna to your TV set. Unfortunately, in most cases, the quality of the connection cable is rather poor (generic RG59 made in China crap), and our recommendation would be to replace it with a higher-quality (thicker) cable, such as the RG6.

Install a Signal Booster

Also known a TV antenna amplifier, the signal booster is the best thing ever invented since sliced bread if you’re looking to improve reception, or so we’re told. The thing is, some antenna models already have a signal booster built-in, but if your particular model doesn’t, you should try find a compatible one, hoping that it will improve reception range.

Keep in mind that using signal boosters can be hit or miss, because they amplify both the broadcast signal from network stations and other signals, which means you can end up adding to your interference. Which is not good, to use technical jargon.

Ditch the Foil

Back in the day, putting tin foil on “rabbit ears” antennas was a cheap remedy to low quality signal reception. By attaching tin foil to your digital antenna, you’re probably doing more damage than good, as this high-tech procedure is highly likely to mess up reception.

Reset Your Digital Tuner

Ever called tech support when you had trouble with your computer, and a guy asked you to restart your machine and see if the problem still persists afterwards? Well, fix may very well end up working for your antenna, and by that we mean restarting your digital tuner to get better TV reception.

The digital tuner works by converting signal captured by the antenna into a digital format recognized by your TV set. Here’s the catch: from time to time, broadcasters change metadata, which may interfere with how your tuner understands the signal.

To make a long and complicated story short and easy to understand, restarting your digital tuner may fix signal quality issues in 5 minutes flat. Here’s the procedure:

1. Disconnect the coaxial cable from your TV
2. Run the channel scan on your TV
3. Turn off and unplug you TV and/or converter box
4. Reconnect all connections
5. Do one more channel scan

Mount a Second Antenna

You know that saying: if something doesn’t work, bring a bigger hammer; in this particular case, a second antenna, a bigger second directional antenna, to be more precise. Don’t forget to allow at least 2 yards between antennas, as in don’t stack them closely together, and attach them using a coaxial signal combiner.

To avoid phase problems, make sure you are using the exact same length of coaxial cable between the combiner and both antennas, and install and check both antennae independently from each other when setting them up, before attaching them to the combiner.

The Final Solution

If everything we taught you fails, well, you’ll have to do it the hard way: call somebody who knows what he’s doing, also known as an expert or licensed technician.

With the great retro resurgence, people have begun looking for advice on how to play old tapes and for the best way to digitize VHS tapes to preserve their home videos.

Knowing how to digitize VHS tapes doesn’t require much. The right equipment and a little bit of time are all you need and you’re good to go! From there on, whether you have a simple laptop or the best DVD player to play them back on, you’ll be able to enjoy your memories at the click of a button without the hassle of tapes getting stuck, written over, or squinting through static lines on a fuzzy screen.

Why Digitize VHS Tapes

There are many valid reasons to digitize VHS tapes. Going through the tapes is a great way to relive memories in real-time. With the age of the VHS being long gone, it is possible that your tapes will soon start to be unplayable due to magnetic decay. In fact, even a well-stored VHS tape will experience around 20% signal loss within 10-25 years.

Preserve Your Videos for Longer Periods

Practical reasons to digitize VHS tapes are the longevity-based aspect of keeping your videos in a storage format that is way more accessible, durable, and easy to make more copies or back-ups of. No matter how many times you play it or where you keep it, digital video will still be the same. Of course, there is a chance that your file becomes corrupt. However, a basic backup should take care of this problem.

Clear up Physical Space

You also clear up physical space – boxes upon boxes of VHS tapes could all be stored on a couple of DVDs barely the size of a small watermelon, if not on an external hard disk or your own laptop/computer. This means that your data, your videos, your memories can be stored for a longer time, with much less physical consideration, and with better quality and better preservation.

Digital Videos Are Easier to Share

It also becomes easier to share the memories. You could take screencaps easily to make pictures out of old tapes, and you could even compress the files and share with your friends and family through online file transfer services like WeTransfer, Google Drive, or even WhatsApp.

This is especially useful if you have any valuable or rare archival material of special interest to you or groups out there, such as old music concert tapes or rare television recordings. This material could be shared on YouTube to great acclaim or made copies of that could sell for a pretty penny or win you the adoration of millions of people (adoration that you might feel the need to reject).

How To Digitize VHS Tapes

You can digitize VHS tapes in a way that is simple and effective but cost-intensive or some way that is cost-effective but requires more time and a little research. Let’s look at the various ways to digitize VHS tapes and then we’ll look at the best way to digitize VHS tapes that works best for your needs.

If you want to do it at home, the process is three-way. A VCR player, a USB VHS-to-DVD converter, and a computer with a working, available USB port. Video-converting USB-to-composite devices can do the job automatically with simple software that comes with the video converter itself. It’s important to spring for a model and device that has good reviews on Amazon or forums. Even if it’s a bit pricier compared to other ones, you should value reliability and ease of mind above all else. In many cases, cheap devices can end up not working at all, causing frustration as you try to fix a problem that is essentially not solvable.

The Best Way to Digitize VHS Tapes

For many, the best way to digitize VHS tapes is to use a professional service. A simple Google search can give you leads to who does this in your area, and the rates are as reasonable as a service charge to use the same devices that you would use.

However, if privacy is an issue for you, this option is not feasible. You could ask to sit in with the shop as they do it, too, and most would not have an issue with such a thing, especially if you calmly explain your concerns.

If this is something that is a touchy point, however, and it really can be, then avert the anxiety that’s yet to come, invest a little in a good device, and make a weekend project out of watching old tapes while you digitize them and throw them up on the cloud to stay safe with you forever!

Calibration entails adjusting settings on your TV with specialized software or, preferably, equipment and kits. It’s different than a simple setup of the user controls you can see or know how to access, and both are considered essential for peak performance.

This is especially true if you’re aiming to calibrate a TV for gaming: better color volume, less strain on the eyes, and much more will be yours.

Is it worth it, however, or are the claims in its favor overstated?

The Benefits Of A Calibrated TV (For Gaming And Otherwise)

We mentioned less strain on the eyes but there’s also another benefit of the same technical coolness that allows for that. A calibrated TV’s picture is much more contained and in a way dimmer than the default settings of a regular TV’s light output.

This means that it draws less power and can even have a longer-lasting lifespan owing to reduced strain, especially if the TV in question is an OLED, to the parts that produce light.

However, properly calibrated televisions might at first appear reddish – in other words, warmer than how we’re used to seeing most out-of-the-box (i.e. uncalibrated) television sets, not to mention with a “softer” tint owing to the dropping of the sharpness tool which exposes finer detail in the picture, meaning the picture has much richer color and contrast.

In fact, if you consider how to calibrate a 4K TV, most high-end sets require simply playing with settings for brightness, contrast ratio, gamma, and saturation is enough to forgo the proper use of a colorimeter and required expertise to handle one. This makes the pain of learning how to calibrate Samsung TVs (generally) much easier, as most of their products can be considered “premium” status in the market, being either smart TVs, UHD, or such.

A close approximation of how a TV looks calibrated is in the Movie/Cinema picture modes; watching a long film or the TV for a few days on this mode can help you experientially understand why this is the optimum and preferred way for many.

What makes this happen is the fact that manufacturers work with the Imaging Science Foundation that works with calibrators to produce these picture modes. In many cases, these are specifically referred to as ISF-Day or ISF-Night, building on the information of the expected amount of light that would be present in a room at different times of the day.

How To Calibrate A TV: The Professional Way

The “official” advice for calibrating a TV is to have a professional take care of it, and here is why that’s a good thing.

Many users report that – as we mentioned above – the calibration adds years to the life of a television set. If you’ve already dropped a cool couple of grand on your TV, the additional investment will make sure to protect your initial cost, adding a shield of protection at the very least, and ensuring optimal performance and maximum enjoyment.

If you’ve had a TV for a while now and are just beginning to consider improving the picture quality, then there might not be much to be said for paying a professional who would know how to color calibrate TVs or the specifics of, say, how to calibrate a TV for gaming.

However, with a new television, even having a calibrator handle the setup from the get-go is extremely useful, as we claimed at the start of the article, as they’d be handling the next, more complicated step in either case.

Why A Calibrator Is Worth It

Knowing how to color calibrate TVs is not an art, nor is it a skill. Rather, it is a precise science, with its own tools and equipment, as we’ve mentioned before, and the right application of the set of tools, with the most important apparatus being what is called a colorimeter.

Many websites claim to teach you how to calibrate your TV with the eye alone, but the eye is not an exact barometer for this. In many cases, the “right” image cannot be discerned, as a warmer or a cooler color still look “right” to the human eye in different situations.

This makes it especially important that you get people who have the exact know-how of how to color calibrate TVs with the right tools and expertise. It’s even more complicated when it comes to knowing how to calibrate a 4K TV as their wide-gamut color spaces require specialized knowledge; more so for HDR.

Your calibrator will also know how to adjust color points if your TV has the available controls to allow it. Ultimately, the goal is to come close to the D6500 standard that is used for producing photographic imaging and films, used worldwide in films and television, meaning you “see” exactly what the content creators worked hard to create.

How To Calibrate A TV On Your Own

While we believe that the “how” of calibrating your TV largely depends on you finding and ultimately paying a good ISF calibrator and discussing all the aspects beforehand of what he, she or they will be able to do with your model, there are also less-than-ideal home-based remedial workarounds that will help you at least feel better about what you’re seeing.

Our ultimate recommendation – with some caveats – is to look up your TV’s model and make and to search for it specifically on the AVS Forum or, better still, RTINGS. Following their calibration settings will get you the closest to someone who has already done the testing on your television’s model, which means you can approximate and replicate the same settings on your television.

Of course, from the rest of the article, you can guess that it’s not that easy to achieve the perfect calibration. Manufacturing tolerances in each part that makes up your TV means that each product is physically different from the rest in some way.

Finally, there’s also the very popular post from the AVS forum – it’s quite old at this point but still up and running and helpful for anyone in a pinch – specifically geared for the XBOX, from where you can download and use the attached MP4 files and Play To/DLNA (on the same network as the XBOX One) for getting your TV closer to its full potential in just under an hour.

With any technological issue, not knowing where the problem’s coming from might be much more annoying than being faced with a knowable problem. We speak anecdotally, but the importance of the “formulation of a problem” has been known to experts across all fields of life for years and is relevant when knowing what the absolutely-maddening dirty screen effect is what the dirty screen effect’s fix is.

Being infuriating as it is, we’ve deliberately held back and eased you into this article instead of laying it out for you – reader, beware, if you aren’t aware of what the dirty screen effect is, then your Eureka moment can be one of deep annoyance.

What Is The Dirty Screen Effect?

Even in displays with great color accuracy, the dirty screen effect can creep in and cause havoc.

The dirty screen effect is observed where “residue” can be seen on your screen: spots, specks, streaks, and lines. In many cases, it’s unobservable (unless pointed out – we warned you, but we’re still sorry) and in others, it’s an extreme nuisance.

More technically, the dirty screen effect arises from a lack of uniformity in colors; particularly, the grays. This happens when the other aspects are functioning perfectly or reasonably well on your own, so knowing how to calibrate a monitor is a fundamental and helpful thing but won’t help us with the DSE.

What Is Gray Uniformity?

The gray palette is the standard against which we can test for the luminance of other colors. A saturated pink becomes grayer as it goes, a saturated red shade moves towards gray, and so on. Darkness and light can be compared uniformly on a gray background.

The gray uniformity is thus calculated as the standard deviation (a statistical term meaning the average spread of a number of figures) of color “values” of a single, solid, static, and non-gradient color across the entire screen, as well as the presence and severity of darker patches (particularly along the edges and in the center, the optimum and median viewing angle of a TV or monitor screen).

Thus, we define gray uniformity as a screen’s ability to maintain that solid color uniformly.

It can be most pronounced when playing video games or when watching sports, as the darker patches affect how surfaces look, presenting potentially misrepresenting situations. These surfaces tend to be uniform color – think of a snooker table, a football pitch, and so on. However, you can also see it in snowy or sunny scenes in television and film. If it’s too bad, it manifests as dirty wet splotches that ruin all viewing experience.

There are websites and online resources that detail how screens are tested for dirty screen effect, but the focus of our article is primarily on getting to a dirty screen effect fix.

Getting To A Dirty Screen Effect Fix

Knowing about how to apply a dirty screen effect fix requires some knowledge of how gray uniformity is unique between different television sets, right down to each different panel, even if of the same model.

That being said, some manufacturers are slightly more notorious in this department than others. For example, of the known sets with the dirty screen effect, TCL 4K Smart TVs are said by some to be known to have noticeable problems, and generally, pricier models from different manufacturers – owing to better, more stringer quality standards – have less of a noticeable dirty screen effect.

In many cases, the first course of action should be to notify the manufacturers and retails and get a return or refund. In case this fails – and it very well can – the last resort is simply that of adjusting.

In some cases, the adjusting is literal: picking viewing angles and spots from where the “damage” is least visible. You can gain a better understanding of this in the next section, but common practice is to get the screen closer and as vertical as possible so there’s no tilting.

You can also adjust the display modes and picture settings on your device. Many television sets have preset modes, such as movies, sports, and game mode. Many users have reported that the gaming preset is designed to present better color uniformity particularly when it comes to gaming thus minimizing and mitigating the dirty screen effect.

For gamers, there’s also a possible snafu that’s causing these problems: check to see if you have an artificial 120HZ refresh rate setting – consider this a pro-tip from us (that might or might not help, since we can’t stress enough just how painful the DSE is to diagnose and fix).

In case you go for an exchange or a new purchase, note that most plasma televisions, due to the way they display images, do not run a risk of the dirty screen effect being prominent in these sets. That is, of course, unless the model is particularly cheap or outdated and the phosphors are either worn out or malfunctioning.

Usually, however, the individually-illuminated pixels on a plasma screen TV help keep the dirty screen effect away.

Why Does The Dirty Screen Effect Exist?

We know that problems in gray uniformity give rise to the dirty screen effect. Where do these problems in gray uniformity arise? At the panel level.

The panels in an LED/LCD TV are highly sensitive to pressure – in many cases the dirty screen effect could’ve even come up as a result of a bump or a thud with a television in your possession as opposed to it being there out of the box. The pressure can also have come into action during manufacturing, such as by mishandling or misalignment of the components underneath. In some cases, you can also see the grid of the underlying LEDs, owing to full-array backlighting.

OLED TVs also suffer from the dirty screen effect at times, although in these cases, it’s the entire panel that’s faulty, which is rarer still. In any case, having the television set replaced or returned and exchanged is the key – repairing and other such promises or attempts are just cat-catching-own-tail “solutions” that will only cause more wastage of time.