My Vizio TV Color is Messed Up!

My Vizio TV color is messed up!

Are you sure it isn't due to bad lighting in the room or a bad movie disc?

The problem is universally bad, whether I watch on air TV or DVDs or streaming video.

If it was just the Vizio TV app or streaming media app, updating that app or reinstalling it could fix the image quality.

You'd think there's an app to fix that.

I'm assuming the HDMI cables are all okay.

I haven't changed them.

Vizio says you should use their certified HDMI cables for best picture quality.

I shouldn't have to change out the cables to get the image quality I had last week.

If you disconnected the cables to the set top box to play pictures or media on your TV and then didn't plug them back in all the way, you could get messed up video as a result.

I wonder if I need to change the settings to fix this.

Turn down the contrast so that the areas around dark areas on the image aren't surrounded by gray.

I haven't touched the contrast settings in ages. Could it be the brightness settings?

If everything is equally dark or dim, yes, you could fix this by turning up the brightness.

How would I do that?

Hit the menu button on the remote, go to the brightness option, then use the right arrow to increase brightness and left one to reduce it.

I could check other settings in that menu too, for things I could improve. I'm just afraid I'll mess it up.

If you messed up the display settings, you can go to help, menu, picture, reset picture mode, OK, exit.

At least that's easier than updating and rebooting.

If the TV updated its firmware, the image could be wonky until you power cycle the TV.

It has been turned off.

I mean hard power cycle, unplug, wait five minutes, plug back in.

Not everything is solved by rebooting.

You're right, and if the display board or inverter in the TV are malfunctioning, the only solution is getting the TV repaired.

Now I hope it is a setting problem.

Go to menu, TV settings, picture, and you'll see the picture settings. Set contrast to the default or neutral option, and you'll have the option to adjust the tint and color.

I've heard of people paying experts lots of money to adjust the color settings to get it perfect.

Just find your manual and adjust the color settings to what the manual says is best, and don't mess with the tint setting unless your ambient light sensor is malfunctioning.

If the ambient light setting was wrong, the brightness levels would be wrong.

At least that you could fix by making sure nothing blocks the sensor, so the colors are all dark because the DVD stack keeps the sensor in shadow.

It isn't universally dark but really messed up.

So start checking the wires on the back of the TV to make sure they are all tight and plugged in right. And if those are fine, try a different HDMI input, because if your gaming looks good but cable box isn't, you need to get that hardware fixed.

And if it all looks bad, have someone come fix the TV's hardware.