Are you stuck trying to stop your TV from flickering when watching Disney Plus?
Welcome to the club! Every day, thousands of users report having the same issue, and given how many factors can contribute to it, I’m honestly not surprised.
I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for you to be going through this. After all, paying a monthly subscription you’re not able to enjoy must feel like throwing money in the bin.
But don’t worry, you’ve come to the right place. I’m here to help you figure things out.
Below, you’ll find a list of 7 simple fixes you can try to get everything back to normal. I’m sure one of them will hit the nail on the head.
These are:
Keep reading to leave this inconvenience in the rearview mirror!
Before looking at any potential connection or server issues, I want us to make sure that your HDMI cable is unscathed. Ever since their invention, these cables have been the all-in-one solution to audio and video signal transmission on TVs.
These days, they can be found in all prices, lengths, and materials. And while they’re built to last, they’re sadly not indestructible.
In fact, apparently unimportant things, such as keeping your HDMI cable tangled or pressed between the back of your TV and the wall at a sharp angle, are more than enough to do it in.
Normally, if the damage is total, you’ll get nothing on your display. But if it’s only partial, it could explain why your TV is flickering when watching Disney Plus.
Solution: If you happen to have a spare HDMI cable for testing, connect it to your TV’s port and see what happens.
If the flickering’s gone while using the new connection, there’s your answer. Throw away the old, damaged one and stick with the replacement.
You may not know this, but every piece of content within Disney Plus has its own ID and space on its servers. This is why sometimes you might have trouble streaming a particular title, but be able to seamlessly enjoy another.
Before considering anything else as a potential culprit, it would be a good idea to try and isolate the issue.
Solution: Navigate back and forth between different titles on the platform and see what happens.
Sometimes doing this can get rid of any bugs or corrupted files that might have been preventing the show you were originally watching from working properly.
If your TV does not flicker on other shows, you’ll have to be patient and wait for your favorite one to go back to normal.
Yet another reason why your TV might be flickering when watching Disney Plus is a system failure. Sometimes, a bug or a corrupted file could get in the way of how your TV works and cause it to flicker on your favorite platforms.
In this scenario, your best bet will be to factory reset it.
Now, before you do this, it’s important that we make sure you’re having this problem on every other available platform out there and not just Disney Plus.
Solution: Try streaming on other platforms and see if the problem persists. If so, we can continue with the factory resetting process.
Please bear in mind that doing this will delete all your user preferences, saved apps, and preset configurations, so due diligence is required.
There are tens of different TV manufacturers out there, so I’d advise going on Google and searching for “How to factory reset my <Your TV’s Make and Model Go Here>”. You should be able to find a set of detailed instructions to follow.
To locate your TV’s model, check the back of the unit and look for a label that reads “Model:”.
Here’s how you can go about this on a Samsung Smart TV to give you a general idea:
Once you’ve done that, simply wait until the process is completed, download your apps again, and try streaming your favorite content. If this was the issue, everything should now be back to normal.
Next, I want us to make sure that your connection is not compromised.
Although Internet service drops have decreased dramatically over the last decade, they still happen now and then. A fact I’m sure you’re already aware of.
What makes diagnosing a bad connection so tricky is that sometimes, even when you have one, you won’t be completely cut off from the Internet. In certain cases, you might still be able to do some light browsing or chatting while also having your TV flicker when watching Disney Plus.
How come? Because each activity has very different requirements.
Texting your family about your day via WhatsApp will never be as demanding on your network as streaming your favorite content on Full HD or 4K resolutions.
So, before throwing your TV in the bin, make sure you have a strong and stable connection.
Solution: Give your provider a call and ask them if they’re having coverage issues in your area. If they tell you everything is fine on their side of the fence, you’ll likely have to reset your modem and see if that works.
Don’t worry if you’ve never done it before, it’s a lot simpler than it sounds!
Here’s what you have to do:
Having ruled out a bad connection, the next thing I want us to take a look at is the status of the platform’s servers.
As you may know, these are responsible for storing important information and providing millions of Disney plus subscribers with the service they expect for the price they pay every month.
Given how essential they are to their everyday operations, streaming companies have put a lot of work into designing them to be as resistant as possible. And while I’m not telling you that they’ll break just for looking at them, I’d be lying if I said that they’ve managed to make them failproof.
In fact, apparently unimportant things, such as a coding bug, a bad hard drive, or even minor hacking can greatly compromise the platform’s functionality and its features.
The telltale signs of these events are slow loading times, login difficulties, out-of-sync audio/video/subtitles, and of course… flickering on your TV.
Solution: Not a lot of people know this, but you can check the real-time status of your favorite platforms’ servers in a matter of seconds.
Don’t believe me? Try this!
The taller the spikes, the more likely you are to be experiencing issues
Unfortunately, if the platform’s servers are, in fact, down, there’s little to nothing you can do.
That being said, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. The IT department at Disney Plus is highly capable, and to our knowledge, there’s never been an instance where the service wasn’t fully restored within 24 hours.
Next, I want us to make sure that your TV or favorite streaming device is compatible with Disney Plus.
Most of the time when devices are too new or too old, streaming companies don’t support them. This does not mean they never will, it’s just that sometimes it takes a while to get things set up.
“But isn’t it just like flipping a switch?”. Great question! No, it isn’t.
Believe it or not, making Disney Plus compatible with a new device or TV is really complex and requires tons of man-hours and thousands of lines of coding.
There are so many things that can go wrong when introducing the platform to a new device, that programmers need to make sure to try and cover most of them.
Solution: The first thing you want to do is identify what your streaming device is. If you have a Smart TV, you likely stream from within it, but if you have a regular one, you’re probably using a Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, or even casting from your phone.
Please refer to Disney Plus’ list of supported devices and look for yours there. Don’t get discouraged if you can’t find it. Unless your streaming device is +10 years old, it will eventually be supported.
You might think that keeping your favorite apps slightly outdated is not a big deal. And while it’s not a federal crime, it can definitely be the source of several technical difficulties down the line.
With every new release, app developers try to keep as much backward compatibility as they can, but it’s not always possible. Using an older version of the platform’s software on a fully updated streaming system could explain why your TV is flickering when watching Disney Plus.
And while automatic updating should make this no concern of yours, sometimes network interruptions, background process crashes, or even strict device privacy settings could get in the way of this and leave the pending downloads stuck in Limbo.
In that scenario, you’ll have to go in and take care of things manually.
Solution: Just as I said before, there are hundreds of different TV and streaming device manufacturers out there, so guiding you through the process of updating your apps within each one would take me hours.
And while I don’t mind it, I’m sure you’ve got a very busy day!
Go to Google and search for “How to update apps on <Your Device’s Or TV’s Name And Model Go Here”.
Here’s how to go about this on a Roku to give your a general idea:
Having your TV constantly flickering when watching Disney Plus can quickly become annoying. Streaming should be a stress-free, uncomplicated experience, but instead, you’re getting a series of inconveniences that often leave you frustrated and confused.
What a disaster!
Fortunately, as I hope you’ve learned in this piece, addressing most of the causes behind this situation is fairly simple and rarely ever time-consuming.
In most cases, simple actions, like keeping your TV and streaming devices fully updated, and double-checking that the platform is not experiencing server downtime, should do the trick.
Thank you so much for sticking with me all the way to the end. If you found this article helpful, you’ll be glad to know that we upload new content weekly. Make sure to check out all our other wonderful resources below and become a Tech Detective yourself!
Best of luck to you.
Detective Anderson is a grizzled veteran of policing the internet’s cyber-streets. After decades of experience busting illegal floppy disk rings and underground dial-up connections, Anderson has now been placed in charge of the more modern Tech Detective team.
