I've had the same 27in. Magnavox television for 4 or 5 years now, and it just seems recently the picture changed. I have played with the settings, but can not get the picture to be light enough. Trouble is, anything that should be remotely dark turns almost black. I have the brightness turned up quite high, but when people are in shadows the one side of their face will be normal, the other will be almost black. I have been into the menu on both the tv and dvd player(JVC 511).

Any ideas?

I have seen the same problem on other Magnavox TVs, and I think it is due to age. If you can enter the service menu, you might be able to boost the brightness beyond what is allowed in the picture menu, or is it possible there is something on the yoke? At any rate, it wouldn't be easy to boost the brightness, contrast, black level, picture level, etc. The problem will get worse with time. You should probably start thinking about a new TV, it's just too bad your current one died so young.

Thanks for the quick answer. How do I get into the service menu? The only picture options I have in the normal menu is brightness, color, tint, and picture(I could be mistaken)

For mine, I could access it by pressing 0 6 2 5 9 6 MENU while the TV was off. However, all of the values were in hexidecimal and I couldn't decipher them without the service manual. Your TV might use an easier, newer system. Again, this is tricky stuf you're dealing with, but as a last resort before the trash heap, it usually can't hurt. Look for some service menu FAQ's so you'll know what you're doing. It can't hurt to access the service menu -- only when you're changing the values.

Your "picture" setting will have more of an impact on the black level of your set than the "brightness" setting. Check to make sure that isn't set too low.

Also be careful playing with the service menu. Be sure to write down the original settings before you change them.

Well, I have faith I may be able to change it in the settings, but I'm still a little leary. Do you think I should go ahead and take it to a magnavox service center? How much are they gonna charge me?

If you do take it in take it to a place that gives a FREE estimate if you can find one.

You don't want to find out that it needs $300 worth of repair, then decide to buy a new one instead of repair, but still have to pay the repair shop $50 just for looking at it.