On today’s episode of You Asked: how to protect your OLED TV from sunlight, fixing HDMI connection issues, and how to play your old VHS tapes on a brand new 4K TV.

How to protect an OLED TV from direct sunlight

@mr.propre1731 asks: hello, thnx for your videos, they are really informative. I`m looking for a tv and I stopped at two variants: samsung s90f and lg B5. since s90 is a bit to much for me I chose B5. then guy at a store said that oleds suffer a lot from direct sunlight. Since I have two large windows in my room and direct sunlight throughout a day from sunrise to sunset I have a question. How can I protect new tv from fading and burning out? Or should I look for mini led instead?

This is a good question and something many people think about when placing a TV in a living room or near windows.

There are lots of different experiences shared online, but to sum it up, yes, OLED panels and direct sunlight are a bad mix. Honestly, any TV and direct sunlight are a bad mix.

Even with blinds drawn, letting in a few lines of sunlight can leave an outline on the screen. In many cases, a pixel refresh has helped fix the issue, but repeated sunlight exposure will almost certainly shorten the lifespan of the TV.

With Mini-LED TVs, you avoid some of the issues related to the organic material in OLED panels, but direct sunlight still adds heat. Heat and electronics are never a good mix.

The best solution here is curtains. Keep as much direct light off the TV as possible. Reducing light in the room also means you may not need to run the TV at maximum brightness to compete with the sun. Lower brightness reduces strain on OLED pixels and, in Mini LED TVs, reduces strain on the backlight, which can dim over time.

It’s also a good idea to familiarize yourself with OLED care features built into the TV. Pixel cleaning, screen move, and logo brightness adjustment are just some of the tools designed to keep OLED panels looking fresh.

Playing VHS tapes on a modern 4K TV

@beverleysimmons7885 asks: Haven’t had a television for over 25 years. I want it to mount on wall and be exceptional picture wise. Cables to go through wall not down wall. 65” Do any of these allow for old vhs kid movies to be hooked up? (Grandkids).

This is a fantastic idea. As a parent, the idea of kids experiencing VHS, both the good and the bad, is genuinely appealing. Given the current state of streaming and physical media, it’s also very timely.

To make this work, you’ll need a composite AV to HDMI converter. This allows you to take the video and audio signal from a VCR and send it to a modern TV.

HDMI didn’t exist during the VCR era, so you won’t find VCRs with HDMI outputs like modern Blu-ray players or game consoles. Even DVD/VCR combo units with HDMI usually only support HDMI for the DVD side. The VCR side still relies on composite outputs: yellow for video, red and white for left and right audio.

LG is a great TV choice, especially because of their upscaling. That said, there’s only so much that can be done when converting VHS content from 480 or 720 resolution up to 4K. Still, it’s worth trying.

With the current landscape of entertainment media, constant acquisitions, and streaming platforms controlling more and more content, physical media feels increasingly fragile. Being locked into subscriptions forever is not an appealing future. That’s why setting this up for the grandkids is such a great idea.

LG TV and Denon receiver HDMI control problems

Jim Shank asks: I have an LG 4K TV and a Denon 5.1 receiver. I use the TV remote to contol both the TV and receiver. Previous to a recent LG system upgrade – although I don’t know if this is responsible – I could turn the TV and the receiver on and off simultaneously using the TV’s remote, but now the receiver will not turn on or off unless I use the receiver’s remote. I can adjust only the volume with the TV remote. Incidentally, I also have a Fire TV Cube connected to the TV, whose remote does turn the two units on and off. Obviously, however, I would prefer to use only one remote. Any suggestions?

The first thing to check is the HDMI settings for external devices. Depending on the TV model, look under the General settings menu for something like External Devices. Within HDMI settings, you may see Simplink, which is LG’s name for HDMI CEC. Make sure this is turned on.

There may also be Universal Control Settings. From there, select the input the receiver is connected to and choose Manage Settings. This can reveal additional options. Some TVs also include standby or power-on settings that affect device control.

If that doesn’t work, the next step is a full power cycle.

Turn everything off: the TV, receiver, audio equipment, and Fire TV Cube. Unplug all devices from the wall so there is no power at all. Wait at least 10 seconds. Then plug everything back in. Power on the TV first, followed by the external devices. Recheck the HDMI settings to make sure everything is configured correctly.

This process resets the HDMI handshake between devices and often restores full remote control functionality.