When purchased a few years ago the picture and color was excellent. now it is dim and not sharp,adjusting brightness and contrast does not improve it much

Check 'brightness' and 'contrast' settings in (usually) 'picture' menu. Use a recording (DVD etc.) of a dark scene to adjust the picture. My TV (not Sharp) has several pre-programmed picture settings. If yours has that, maybe one of them will be good. Otherwise, use manual settings.

Hi,

Dear User...

You can adjust the brightness and contrast of your monitor to improve the readability of text and to make digital pictures appear more like they'll look when printed.

To improve the results when adjusting the brightness and contrast settings for your display, use Display Color Calibration. (Display Color Calibration helps you adjust these color settings and others.) For more information about calibrating your display color in Windows, see Calibrate your display.

The way you adjust brightness and contrast varies and depends on your specific display.

• Brightness and contrast buttons on the front of the monitor. Some monitors have brightness and contrast controls on the front and use the standard symbols shown in the following image.

• On-screen menu. You can change the brightness and contrast settings for some displays by using an on-screen menu, and then setting the brightness and contrast in the resulting menu. Many times, you can view the on-screen menu by pressing a button-possibly labeled Menu-on the front of the monitor.

Thanks....

Kindly adjust brightness/contrast/sharpness settings. If there is no improvement, this might require attention by a qualified service technician.

I presume optical lens and mirror are both clean?

This may help you...you can also get an owners manual free on line.


English - 23
Using Automatic Picture Settings
Your TV has Three automatic picture settings ("Dynamic", "Standard", "Movie") that are preset at the factory.
You can activate either Dynamic, Standard, Movie by making a selection from the menu.
1. Press the MENU button to display the menu.
Press the ENTER button, to select "Picture".
2. Press the ENTER button to select "Mode".
Press the ??² or ??¼ buttons to select the "Dynamic", "Standard", "Movie" picture
setting. Press the ENTER button.
?³ Choose Dynamic to increase the clarity and sharpness of the picture.
?³ Choose Standard for the standard factory settings.
?³ Choose Movie for a natural Image without picture enhancements.
3. Press the ??² or ??¼ buttons to select "Contrast", "Brightness", "Sharpness",
"Color", or "Tint(G/R)", then press the ENTER button.
4. Press the ??? or ??? buttons to decrease or increase the value of a particular item.
For example, if you select "Contrast", pressing the ??? button increases it.
Press the ENTER button.
Press the EXIT button to exit.
• When you make changes to Contrast, Brightness, Sharpness, Color, Tint(G/R)
the OSD will be adjusted accordingly.
• When in PC mode, Tint, Sharpness, and Color are not available.
Press the P.MODE button on the remote control repeatedly to select the desired
picture mode.
Picture Control
Move Enter Return
Mode : Dynamic ???
Contrast 1 00
Brightness 50
Sharpness 85
Color 55
Tint G 50 R 50
Balck light 1 00
??¼More
TV Picture
Move Enter Return
Mode : Dynamic
Contrast 1 00
Brightness 50
Sharpness 85
Color 55
Tint G 50 R 50
Balck light 1 0
??¼More
TV Picture
Dynamic
Standard
Movie
Move Enter Return
Mode : Dynamic ???
Contrast 1 00
Brightness 50
Sharpness 85
Color 55
Tint G 50 R 50
Balck light 1 0
??¼More
TV Picture
50
??² Con trast ??¼
Move Adjust Return
English - 24
Adjusting the Color Tone
You can change the color of the entire screen according to your preference.
1. Press the MENU button to display the menu.
Press the ENTER button to select "Picture".
2. Press the ??² or ??¼ button to select "Color Tone", then press the ENT ER button.
3. Press the ??² or ??¼ button to select "Cool2", "Cool1", "Normal", "Warm1",
or "Warm2".
Press the ENTER button.
When the picture mode is set to Dynamic or Standard, Warm1 and Warm2
cannot be selected. Movie mode is only available.
Move Enter Return
??²More
Color Tone : Cool2 ???
Detailed settings ???
Size : 16 : 9 ???
Digital NR : Low ???
Active Color : On ???
DNle : On ???
Reset : OK ???
TV Picture
Move Enter Return
??²More
Color Tone : Cool2
Detailed settings
Size : 16 : 9
Digital NR : Low
Active Color : On
DNle : On
Reset : OK
TV Picture
Cool2
Cool1
Normal
Warm1
Warm2
Activating Backlight
You can adjust the screen brightness by adjusting the LCD backlight brightness. (0~10)
1. Press the MENU button to display the menu.
Press the ENTER button to select "Picture".
2. Press the ??² or ??¼ button to select "Backlight", then press the ENTER button.
3. Press the ??? or ??? button to decrease or increase the valueof the backlight
brightness.
Press the ENTER button.
Press the EXIT button to exit.
Move Enter Return
Mode : Dynamic ???
Contrast 1 00
Brightness 50
Sharpness 85
Color 55
Tint G 50 R 50
Balcklight 1 0
??¼More
TV Picture
5
??² Balcklight
??¼
Move Adjust Return
Move Enter Return
??²More
Color Tone : Cool2
Detailed settings
Size : 16 : 9
Digital NR : Low
Active Color : On
DNle : Off
Reset : OK
TV Picture
OK
Cancel
Resetting the Picture Settings to the Factory Defaults
1. Press the ??² or ??¼ button to select "Reset", then press the ENTER button.
Press the ??² or ??¼ button to select "Cancel" or "OK" then press the ENTER button.
Press the EXIT button to exit.
Each mode can be reset.

yes! those are the screen and focus adjustments. 3 for screen, 3 for focus. try this. go in menu....turn down color, brightness, contrast all they way down. you should then have no picture, but in your case a little red. then go to back of tv and turn those 3 screen adjustments all the way down. slowly turn the screens back up until you get barely a picture. because remember, your brightness and contrast is all the way down. the picture should be dim but seeable and with red, green, blue adjustments, make it a black and white picture. when balanced..... turn up color , brightness, contrast in menu. enjoy!

You can make several adjustments to improve your images such as lightening dark areas, changing the exposure, sharpening blurred edges, and changing the brightness and contrast.

• Exposure adjusts the overall intensity of light in an image.
• Adaptive Lighting improves only the dark areas in an image without affecting the bright areas.
• Brightness adjusts the amount of light in colors ranging from light to dark.
• Contrast adjusts the difference in brightness between light and dark areas of an image.
• Sharpness helps define edges and the smoothness of texture in an image. Use this tool to make a blurred image appear more focused.

Adjusting the image Follow the steps below to make adjustments:

1. Click the View tab and select the image you want to edit by either clicking the image, or by clicking the small box at the bottom left corner of the image. Figure 1: Select the image
2. Click the Edit tab and then click the Advanced tab.
3. On the Advanced tools tab, click Adjust Image .
4. Select an adjustment from the list on the left. Figure 2: Adjusting the brightness
   • The Exposure adjustment is automatically applied when the Adjust Image tool opens. Eight variations of the image are displayed on the left. The current image is displayed in the center. Each image represents a different level of adjustment. When you move the pointer over any of the images on the left, a large version of the image is displayed. Use Preferences to turn this large image preview on or off and to set the timing for the display.
   • If you want to use a different adjustment tool, select Adaptive Lighting , Brightness , Contrast , or Sharpness from the list.
5. Select one of the images on the left.
6. Do one of the following:
   • Click Accept to accept all changes and exit from the Color Toolkit.
   • Click Cancel to discard all changes and exit from the Color Toolkit.
7. If you have finished modifying the image, do one of the following to save your changes:
   • Click Save to overwrite the original image.
   • Click Save As to save the modified image with a different name.

contrast full, brightness, tint, color, in the middle, then adjust sharpness for what suits your eyes, you may turn brightness and color below middle.

The settings is on the remote (menu)