# TV dying? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 24, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-dying/265893 "2004-09-24T16:41:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GreyWanderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@GreyWanderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreyWanderer)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-dying/265893/1 "2004-09-24T16:41:48Z")
I’m wondering if my 6 year old 29 inch TV may be dying. When a certain commercial shows it starts flickering a lot, and the sound dies too. I wonder if it is because that commercial has a white background with only a little text on it. I’ve seen that in a very old TV. Once there was a lot of white on the screen it would start flickering. Does anyone know what causes this? If it’s a sign of the TV dying, or if it can be remedied somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-dying/265893/2 "2004-09-24T17:20:33Z")
My WAG would be that you have the contrast and/or brightness set way too high. When they are set to high white causes weird things to happen to the picture. Try lowering their settings and see what happens. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-dying/265893/3 "2004-09-24T17:28:35Z")
My old TV did that too. It lasted a long time, and for all I know it’s still in working order (I left it in England)