Why Does My Vizio TV Has Sound But No Picture? – Proven Solutions

If your Vizio TV has sound but no picture, then you’re at the right place to find out…

The reason why Vizio TV only produces sound but the screen remains pitch black might have multiple different origins.

The main criteria are whether your Vizio TV is standalone or any video device is currently connected, where the back screen might not be on your television’s side.

Whenever the Vizio TV screen is black but there is sound, power cycle your equipment and unplug all externally connected devices.

This way you would be able to test whether the screen of your Vizio TV is black or only the input (video) source was black.

There is much more to unwrap so let’s continue!

Why My Vizio TV Has No Picture But Sound?

The fundamental reason why a Vizio TV without connected devices would not have a picture, only sound would be due to a misconfiguration with the settings.

This only applies if we put the possibility of a hardware failure aside, and proceed inspecting everything we can fix at home!

• The Vizio TV is currently experiencing a video bug.
• The currently selected video or broadcast is black.
• The HDMI-connected devices’ feed is simply black.
• The HDMI input on your Vizio TV could be worn out.
• The HDMI cable involved in the setup could be faulty.
• The resolution of the connected device is unsupported.

Important: – Test the Raw Vizio TV Picture!

A simple, yet effective solution would be to unplug absolutely all cables (except the power cable) from the Vizio TV.

This will resolve any interference and allow you to test the raw picture without any third-party devices involved.

Is the picture back without any connected devices to the TV?

How to Fix When Vizio TV Has Sound But No Picture?

Tip: If you’re within a Vizio TV application, and the screen is black, first test goes to the home screen, hence stopping any apps, channels, or broadcasts.

1. Power Cycle the Vizio TV

If you’re only able to hear sound on your Vizio TV but the screen is black, the simplest solution would be to perform a power circulation.

This method does not erase any of the content on your Vizio TV, instead, it only discharges the device completely and refreshes all services.

• Turn off and disconnect your Vizio TV from the power outlet for 60 seconds!

This is enough time for the operating system to refresh and hopefully, the picture on your Vizio TV will come back.

In addition, we recommend checking whether the screen goes black within multiple channels or streaming apps or whether the screen is entirely back, even in the menus.

Note: If you can’t navigate through the Vizio TV menus, unplug the TV for at least 10 minutes!

2. Inspect the Vizio Video Input

The most common reason why the Vizio TV would provide sound but the picture would be black is due to a fault in the HDMI connection.

The “fault” might not be an issue, instead a simple mistake on your side, upon connecting your playout devices to the video input of your TV.

There are a few steps to undertake and inspect the video input of your Vizio TV:

1. Unplug the HDMI cable from the TV and from the source.
2. Select another, available Vizio TV HDMI input port for use.
3. Do NOT connect your source to the HDMI-ARC of the TV.
4. Secure the HDMI cable tightly for optimal video transfer.
5. Ensure that the playout (source) device is showing the picture.
6. Select the correct Vizio TV input source as per the HDMI port.

Note: To switch from one TV source to another on a Vizio TV, use the Input remote button and use the up/down arrows to cycle through the inputs.

3. Tweak the Picture Settings

Note: Skip this step if you’re unable to navigate through the Vizio menus due to a black screen!

In case the Vizio TV no picture but has sound only when you’re streaming from a particular app or from a third-party video input device, you need to check the TV settings.

According to the input that your Vizio TV is receiving, sometimes you need to perform some adjustments.

Follow the steps below to configure the Vizio TV picture settings in easy steps:

1. Press the “Menu” button on the Vizio TV remote.
2. Use the arrows to navigate to the Picture option.
3. From there increase, first, increase the brightness.
4. In addition, also increase the backlight LED control.
5. Next, tweak the contrast to improve the picture.
6. Switch to another Picture Mode preset to test with.
7. Avoid selecting the “Energy Saving” picture mode.

When you’re ready go back into the streaming and check whether the picture will be there!

4. Switch Source’s Resolution

When you have a video input device connected to the Vizio TV you might only hear sound when the resolution of the connected device does not match with the TV.

The resolution of your TV cannot be changed and you can only switch the resolution on your connected device.

For example, if you’re using a non-4K HDMI cable and the playout coming from your source is 4K (output), the Vizio TV will only display the back screen.

This is why you need to switch to a lower or respectively higher resolution as per the screen of your Vizio TV and HDMI cable.

Need a 4K-Enabled HDMI Cable?

In case your source device works and the Vizo TV picture is back on a lower resolution, then you might need to upgrade your HDMI cable.

In addition, it’s essential to check whether the Vizio TV does support 4K resolution, and if not, then continue using HD or SD quality.

5. Factory Reset the Vizio TV

The final and ultimate solution for a Vizio TV that only has sound but no picture would be the factory restoration process.

This is the method that erases ALL content from your Vizio TV but also helps with any software-related issues, by providing a fresh start for the Vizio TV OS.

Here’s how to perform a factory reset on your Vizio TV in easy steps:

1. Press the “Menu” button on the Vizio remote control.
2. Go to “System” and enter the “Reset & Admin” menu.
3. Then select the “Reset TV to Factory Defaults” option.
4. Insert the required PIN Code (by default the code is: 0000)
5. To being the restoration, finally, select the “Reset” button.
6. Wait for about 30 seconds or until the Vizio TV restarts.

When the factory reset is over you would notice that your Vizio TV has to be configured from scratch, hence the initial setup must be undertaken.

This takes a little bit of time, but almost certainly the picture of your Vizio TV will be back when you’re ready!

6. Test Vizio TV Backlight

In case the screen of your Vizio TV remains black and only sound comes out, then it’s time to perform a little test.

To check whether the backlight of your Vizio TV is faulty, you need to use the flashlight from your smartphone to shine onto the surface of the TV screen from close up!

If you can see what’s on the TV picture with the flashlight, then the backlight appears to be working so go back to increase the brightness.

In contrast, if you see absolutely nothing when shining with the flashing, this generally means that the backlight of the Vizio TV is faulty.

Other HW-related Vizio TV Faults?

There are quite a few hardware-related factors that might make the screen of your Vizio TV black.

They include the backlight, the T-Con board, the graphics card, or the display itself.

Need More Help?

In case nothing in this guide managed to help and your Vizio TV still only produces sound and no picture, we can’t ignore the possibility of a hardware failure.

The best course of action from here would be to contact Vizio Customer Service and report the issue you’ve been facing!

Tip: Don’t forget to check whether the Vizio TV warranty is still intact!

Quick Recap:

In this guide, we’ve learned why my Vizio TV has sound but no picture and the solution, which involves performing a power cycle and tweaking the picture settings.

In case none of the basic troubleshooting helps, perform a factory reset on the Vizio TV at once! Follow us for more Vizio TV content and solutions!

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