My TV Buzzes When There's Too Much White

A TechLore "Ask the Experts" Question...

Question:

The TV at my place of work will make a loud, annoying buzz when ever there's too much white on the screen. I searched the tips section of this web site and found nothing related. I'm not sure if this is something that can be fixed or not, but it's rather bothersome.

-submitted by JackB

Answer:

There's nothing more annoying than a buzzing TV... especially when you're trying to get some work done! Fortunately, the way you've described the problem indicates something that can be easily fixed.

White is the most stressful color for the television to make, and so requires the greatest amount of juice from the television's power supply. Many low to mid grade CRT television's contain power supplies that are inadequate to power the television during these stressful moments. In most cases, an inadequate power supply will cause the television CRT to bloom on bright scenes, thereby distorting and bending the picture. Another common side effect is that the overstressed power supply will make a horrendous buzzing sound when trying to product white scenes.

Most televisions default to cranking the white level (often called contrast or picture) of the television as high as it will go. To help reduce or eliminate the buzzing sound on these types of TVs, reduce the white level by lowering the TV's contrast or picture control. The image may not "pop" off the screen as it would with the white level cranked, but it should alleviate the stress on the power supply enough to stop the buzzing... unless the power supply is shot.

Matt Whitlock - Editor, TechLore.com

Set Your TV Right!

How To Use Your Television's Video Controls - Contrast, Brightness, Color, Tint... and some easy explanation as to what these controls are, what they do, and how to set them right!

How to Adjust Your Picture Using Video Test Patterns - Go a step further in adjusting your televisions video controls by using video test patterns to get the best and most accurate picture possible!

Get More Out of Your Gear!

What To Do If You Run Out of Inputs On Your TV - Added too many devices to your TV, and now can't add any more? Time to add more inputs to your TV, and this will tell you how!

Why Is Black Level So Important? - You can't get the best picture on your TV without getting the black level just right. Learn more about black level, and how you can use it to make your picture go from good to great in minutes!

Comments

There is a noticeable increase in the use of bright white backgrounds on tv,
especially in advertising. Probably hoping to make their product stand out
and hit you in the eye! My LCD tv doesn't buzz, but the brightness is very
glarey and annoying. Following your advice, I have changed the picture settings
from Vivid to Normal, then increased the contrast slightly, to compensate for
the darker picture. It takes only a few minutes to get used to and is so much
easier on the eyes. I should explain, I've always preferred a bright, high
contrast picture, until these snow-blinding ads began! Cheers.

 

Connect With Techlore