I'll second that. Unless there is an IR blocking filter on the camera being used, those LEDs should be bright and nearly white.
OP: Bridging LEDs is typically a bad idea, depending on the circuit. But given the low output (unless they are already destroyed) they might still be ok.
What voltage are these running at and how are they wired? At the typical 1.7 to 1.8v, three of them in series on 5v would need 1ohm or less (really 0, as there is barely enough to light them up). 2 in series is ~75ohm, or twice what you have. Keep in mind that once you step over the ratings, output will decrease and the LED is immediately damaged irreparably. Changing things without understanding the circuit and the specs of the parts in it, is a recipe for disaster.
Thanks for all of the inputs so far.
I followed this video to a "t":
The LEDs are:
CHANZON 5MM IR LED V(F): 1.2-1.5V I(F): 20mA (940NM)
I have 3x in Series w. a single 0.5w 37r resister for each section ... and the one was bridged in the video because I also thought they were not very bright at all and was trying to isolate the issue to the LEDs/Camera/etc ...
I had a standard 5v phone charger on the end but later found a small AC adapter that was like 6v ... (also messed around w. a variable PSU and cranked it up and just felt the resistors get really hot in that test lol)
... then you can see I bridged on of the leds to try and increase brightness (which it did) and then I went as far as to bridge two of them to give me one single IR LED which was a bit brighter.
Doing the math ... it seems for 5v in this scenario that 37r would be appropriate ... but I'm sure I've missed something - or these LEDs are just garbage and I need different ones ...
√(.5/37) = 0.19A ... so ... maybe this would have worked for just 1xLED not 3x in Series ... not sure ... (but again even jumping the other two to make this formula work for 1x IR LED it's still not so bright)
(I have yet to test at night - but will do this also - I am thinking it could work "OK" at night possibly ... )
OK ... so ... back to the drawing board on this LEDS setup it seems ... Feel free to correct my math - I think I'm having trouble calculating the voltage drop in the formula from the IR LED rating...
(Also just thinking of using totally diff IR LEDs)
RE: LEDs burning out - I have a pack of 100 - they don't seem to be burning out - but are obvi not very bright either ... when checking on the camera...
NOTE: I didn't think this through and just purchases what was in the video mentioned as I figured it should all work fine if I had the same parts etc ... but ... I'm obvi doing something wrong. Wonder if it's just due to the tv being bigger than a standard PC monitor and needing a more robust IR setup?