Why Is Hulu So Dark On My TV And Other Streaming Devices?

While watching Hulu TV shows and movies or during and after commercial breaks, you may have encountered an issue where the screen goes so dark on your Smart TV, Roku TV player, iPhone, or other streaming devices and wondered what caused this issue.

Below, we’ll explain this issue in detail and also discuss a few solutions to fix this annoying dim screen.

Why is Hulu so dark on my TV?

No Ads plan subscription.
Glitching device or Hulu app.
Outdated device software.
Outaded Hulu app.
Unstable network connection.
Corrupt user session.
Active adaptive brightness or Power Saving mode.
Corrupt Hulu app cache, browser cache, or app installation files.

How do I fix the darkness on Hulu?

1. Opt Out of No Ads Plan

If you have chosen a “With Ads” plan with your Hulu subscription, the screen may go black or dim during or after an ad break. Usually, the screen turns normal after the commercials, but you can fix this by switching to a “No Ads” plan. Here’s how:

Open your PC or mobile device browser and head to your Hulu account page.
Go to “Your Subscriptions.”
Select “Manage Plan.”
Toggle on the “No Ads” Plan.

If the issue persists, the ads overlay screen might be stuck when you leave a TV show or movie on pause for a longer period. To resolve this, go back to the Hulu program menu and restart the program rather than pausing and resuming it.

2. Force Close Hulu App

Sometimes, Hulu can temporarily glitch, causing the screen to go black. So try force closing the app on your device with these steps:

Press the “Home” button on your supplied Smart TV remote.
Head to “Settings.”
Open “Apps.”
Select “Hulu.”
Select “Force Stop” and relaunch the Hulu app to see if this fixes the issue.

3. Sign In and Out Of Hulu Account

A corrupt user session on the Hulu app can often make the screen go dim, but you can easily resolve this problem by signing in and out of your account on your TV. Here’s how:

Open Hulu “Settings.”
Scroll to the left to open the navigation bar and select “Log Out.”
Confirm on the prompt.
Select “Log Out of Hulu.”
Select “Log In,” sign into your account, and verify everything is working fine now.

4. Restart and Reset the TV

You can also restart your TV device to fix the temporary glitches causing Hulu to keep dimming.

However, if the problem persists after rebooting the TV, reset it with these steps:

Press the “Home” button and head to “Settings” > “All Settings” > “General.”
Select “Reset.”
Enter your 4-digit PIN, which is usually 0000 by default.
Select “Reset.”
Press “OK,” wait for the TV to restart, open Hulu and confirm that the black screen issue is no more.

Note: The options for resetting Smart TV other than Samsung might differ slightly, but the Reset feature is usually under “Settings” > “General” or “Settings” > “System.”

After resetting the streaming device, reinstall the Hulu app and check if the screen dims this time.

5. Turn Off Adaptative Brightness and Power Saving Mode

Active Adaptive Brightness and Power Saving feature on your Smart TV dims and mimics a dark screen while watching Hulu content.

Therefore, you need to disable both features to fix the issue. Here’s a method for the Samsung TV:

Head to TV “Settings.”
Choose “All Settings.”
Select “General & Privacy.”
Select “Power and Energy Saving” or “Eco Solution.”
Toggle off “Eco Sensor.”
Go one step back, choose “Power Saving,” and turn it off.

6. Clear Hulu Cache Data

The Hulu app cache may get corrupted over time, resulting in a dark screen after ads or during streaming. To fix this, clear the Hulu app cache on your TV this way:

Open device “Settings.”
Go to “Apps.”
Select “Hulu.”
Select “Clear Data.”

Relaunch the Hulu app and verify that the dark screen issue is fixed.

7. Update Hulu App and Smart TV

An outdated Hulu app is equally responsible for a glitching black screen popping up on your device. Your best bet here is to update the Hulu app in the following way:

Open Play Store/App Store/TV App Store.
Search “Hulu.”
Tap “Update.”

If your Smart TV does not support updating Hulu through the Google Play Store, simply update the TV software in this way:

Press the “Home” button on the remote and head to the “Settings” menu.
Select “General/Support/System.”
Choose “Software Update.”
Select “Check for Updates.”
Wait for the process to complete, restart your TV, launch Hulu, and verify you are no longer experiencing the dim screen.

8. Reinstall Hulu

If the problem persists, the Hulu app installation files might be corrupted and need reinstalling. To do this:

Press the Home button on the remote and go to “Settings” > “Apps.”
Select Hulu.
Select the “Delete” option.
Open TV’s App Store, search for Hulu, and install it.

Why is Hulu so dark on Roku TV?

Slow internet speed.
Corrupt Hulu app cache.
Incorrect brightness settings on Roku.
Gtliching Roku TV software/firmware.

To fix this, try these solutions:

1. Check Internet Speed

Hulu requires at least 3 Mbps to stream regular shows and 16 Mbps for 4k content. The Hulu screen may go dark if your internet connection cannot provide this bandwidth.

To fix this, reboot your router to get the internet speed back to an acceptable range; otherwise, contact your internet service provider and ask them to restore bandwidth from the backend.

2. Force Close the App and Clear the Cache

The next fix to resolve Hulu’s dark screen is simply force-closing the app and clearing the corrupt cache with these steps:

Press the “Home” button on the remote while you are on the Roku’s main screen.
Move to the right.
Highlight and select “Hulu.”
Select “Close.”
To clear the Hulu app cache, head back to the Home screen and grab the remote again.
Press “Home” 5 times and press “Up.”
Press “Rewind” 2 times and “Fast Forward” two times.

3. Adjust Brightness Settings

Press the “Home” button on the remote while you are on the Roku’s main screen.
Move to the right.
Select “Settings.”
Select “TV Picture Settings.”
Choose “TV Brightness.”
Select “Brighter,” run a Hulu show, and verify the fix.

4. Factory Reset Roku

Using the remote, open Roku’s “Settings” menu from the Home screen.
Select “System.”
Select “Advanced System Settings.”
Choose “Factory Reset.”
Select “Factory reset everything.”
Type in the code on the prompt and wait for the process to complete.

Next, go to the Roku Channel Store from the Home screen, select Hulu, choose “Add Channel,” and see if the screen goes dark.

Note: Press the * button on the Roku remote to prevent it from auto-dimming the screen while watching Hulu. It is possible you are facing the issue due to hardware problems, so contact Roku support for further troubleshooting.

Why is Hulu so dark on my iPhone and Android?

If Hulu is too dark on your iPhone or Android, it usually happens when the app glitches or its cache is corrupt. Other reasons for the Hulu dark screen are a corrupt user session, device software, or Hulu app installation files.

Here are a few methods to troubleshoot this issue quickly on your iPhone or Android device:

1. Log out and Into the Hulu App on iPhone and Android

Open the Hulu app.
Tap your Profile icon.
Tap “Log out of Hulu.”
Tap “Log In,” sign into your Hulu account, and verify the fix.

2. Reset iPhone or Android

iPhone:

Open “Settings.”
Select “General.”
Tap “Transfer or Reset iPhone.”
Tap “Reset.”
Select “Erase All Content and Settings.”

Android:

Open “Settings.”
Type “Reset” in the search bar and tap “Factory reset.“
Tap “Reset device.”
Enter the passcode if prompted.
Tap “Reset all.”

3. Clear Hulu App Cache

iPhone:

To clear the Hulu app cache on an iOS device, offload it by going to “Settings” > “General” > “iPhone/iPad Storage” > “Hulu” > “Offload App.”

Android:

Open “Settings.”
Type “Apps.“
Tap “Hulu.”
Select “Storage.”
Tap “Clear Data.”
Tap “Clear Cache,” relaunch the Hulu app, and hopefully, the screen won’t get dark this time.

4. Reinstall Hulu on iPhone/Android

iPhone:

Tap & hold the Hulu app from the Home screen and select “Remove App.”
Tap “Delete App.”
Open the App Store.
Search Hulu.
Tap “GET.”

Android:

Open device “Settings.”
Go to “Apps.”
Select “Hulu.”
Select “Uninstall.”
Open Play Store.
Search Hulu.
Tap “Install.”

Takeaway

In this article, we’ve discussed why is Hulu so dark on your Smart TV, Roku TV, iPhone, and other streaming devices. We’ve also discussed how to make the screen brighter for better viewing.

We hope you can now watch and enjoy your favorite shows and movies with a brighter Smart TV screen. If all else fails, Hulu service might be experiencing an outage and should resume shortly.