TV Static Screensaver (No Signal)
This is a free TV static screensaver that fills your screen with analog snow and a NO SIGNAL caption, like a television tuned to a dead channel. It runs in your browser with nothing to download, and you press ESC at any time to exit. A rolling brightness band and scanlines complete the off-air look.
How the TV Offline screensaver works
Every frame, the screensaver fills a small offscreen buffer with fresh random noise — by default each pixel is a random shade of grey — and then scales it up without smoothing so it fills the screen as crunchy analog snow. The colorNoise toggle swaps the grey for full random RGB, giving the rainbow static of a colour set.
A NO SIGNAL caption sits in a boxed plate in the centre, and you can replace that text with your own. A soft white rolling band of brightness sweeps slowly down the picture, recreating the vertical roll of a mistuned analog TV.
Optional colour bars can be drawn as a faint strip across the top, and a scanlines overlay lays thin dark lines down the screen for that authentic CRT texture.
A worked example
With the defaults — text NO SIGNAL, colorNoise off, bars off and scanlines on — you get grey analog snow, a centred NO SIGNAL plate, a slow rolling band and faint CRT lines. Turn colorNoise on for full-colour RGB static, switch bars on to add a faint colour-bar strip at the top, or change the text to something like WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK.
Settings & tips
- Toggle Colour Noise on for rainbow RGB static, or leave it off for classic black-and-white snow.
- Type your own message into the Text field to replace NO SIGNAL with anything you like.
- Turn on the Colour Bars option to add a faint test-bar strip across the top of the static.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a TV static screensaver?
- It is a screensaver that shows analog snow and a NO SIGNAL caption, like an old television tuned to a dead channel. It also adds a rolling brightness band and scanlines for the off-air look.
- Is the TV static screensaver free?
- Yes. It is completely free and runs in your browser with no download, account or install required.
- How do I exit the TV static screensaver?
- Press the ESC key to exit at any time. Any mouse movement or key press also returns you to the page.
- Can I change the NO SIGNAL text?
- Yes. Type into the Text control to replace NO SIGNAL with your own caption, such as a be-right-back message.
- Can I make the static colourful instead of grey?
- Yes. Turn on the Colour Noise toggle and the snow becomes full random RGB, like static on an old colour television.