Are white orb-like spots fairly common on LED displays?

[Speedster911]

Okay, so I'm posting here as it didn't make sense to post it under Computers and Technology. I figured some of you might have ran into the issue of bright white 1/2 inch spots on your TV or monitor after gaming on it for a while, so posted here.

Anyhoo, please take a look at the screen shot as it's not letting me post MP4 vid clips. There's a bright white penlight-like spot on the TV that's more visible against brighter and pure white backgrounds. So every time I look up at the sky while racing or flying or going over a light grey racetrack e.g. or a beautiful sunset in MSFS 24, I see it.

This TV went in for a warranty claim in March '25 for the exact issue: multiple bright white spots. They replaced the backlight as I was told realigning and fixing the individual LED light deflector lens in place is not something they do.

Well, here we are about 5 months later and it's the same episode all over again. It's kinda hard to ignore and takes away from the pleasure of admiring breathtaking skies in games and movies or, say, bright green/blue oceans. The lighter the background, the more noticeable it is.

I don't want to send it to TCL again as it's out of warranty but not sure if I should just live with it or bother getting the lens reattached to get rid of the white orb.

Will more spots pop up? Should I just let it ride and learn to live with these silly issues which I now know plague nearly all kinds of LED screens, even those from premium brands?

Oh, there's three spots just like this on my used PC LED monitor and one on my Nokia phone screen which I happen to catch after running a white screen test on YT.

 

[sesselpupser]

Wrong forum but I guess a mod will see to that. This is a fairly common issue with LCDs, as you say, but they shouldn't appear that quickly - you didn't say how old the TV is but the warranty would only be a few years I guess? - unless there's a manufacturing fault or the screen is either overheating (by not being given enough ventilation or being used in ambient temperatures beyond the manufacturer's rating) or being run for extremely long periods of time.

As for what to do about it, I'm an AV engineer for a national group of museums so I'm responsible for installing a LOT of screens, so I know what to look out for and my own TV has a problem with the backlight, I can see it every time I watch anything and it bugs the hell out of me. However, buying screens at scale has also made me sensitive to sustainability and it would be irresponsible of me to throw an otherwise good TV in the bin (even if most of it would be recycled) just for that problem.

You've probably already clocked that the problem is within the LCD module and that the LCD module is like 80% of the cost of the entire unit so replacing parts yourself is pointless (unless you can somehow find a faulty one with a good LCD on eBay or something), so unless you have insurance and accidentally throw a controller through the screen you're probably better off at least trying to get used to it.

 

[Speedster911]

Wrong forum but I guess a mod will see to that. This is a fairly common issue with LCDs, as you say, but they shouldn't appear that quickly - you didn't say how old the TV is but the warranty would only be a few years I guess? - unless there's a manufacturing fault or the screen is either overheating (by not being given enough ventilation or being used in ambient temperatures beyond the manufacturer's rating) or being run for extremely long periods of time.

As for what to do about it, I'm an AV engineer for a national group of museums so I'm responsible for installing a LOT of screens, so I know what to look out for and my own TV has a problem with the backlight, I can see it every time I watch anything and it bugs the hell out of me. However, buying screens at scale has also made me sensitive to sustainability and it would be irresponsible of me to throw an otherwise good TV in the bin (even if most of it would be recycled) just for that problem.

You've probably already clocked that the problem is within the LCD module and that the LCD module is like 80% of the cost of the entire unit so replacing parts yourself is pointless (unless you can somehow find a faulty one with a good LCD on eBay or something), so unless you have insurance and accidentally throw a controller through the screen you're probably better off at least trying to get used to it.

Thanks for the response man. Yes, I'm just going to let it ride and get used to it. It's not terribly noticeable but dear God when you're admiring a beautiful sunset in Flight Simulator 2024, the orb just pops up and says " hey lookie here, I'm almost as bright as that sun"... Annoying...

But I guess you get used to these things as TVs today are very cheaply made.

I got this in 2023, March I believe and had to claim warranty in March 2025 to get rid of 3 or 4 white spots. 4-5 months following warranty repairs, another white spot popped up even though they said they had replaced the backlight when it was returned to me in March 2025.

It is what it is. I'm trying not to sweat it but I kinda miss the days when it looked flawless. Oh well, I'm not alone at least, lots of folks dealing with the same issue. I just need to take my mind off it i guess and try not to get too attached to these TV screens and gaming in general. This was my first ever 4k/HDR screen by the way and not really happy with the trouble I had to put up with these past 2 years.

It's the reflector lens btw. Some say I'm better off leaving it as-is including a former and presently employed TCL technician. I'd have to send it out to the warranty centre again and this time they will charge me - so, no thanks.

It's just a TV screen. Maybe I should break away from gaming or something. These TV issues are endless and everyone gets them I suppose. Almost everyone.