Think my WEGA took a lightning strike... (1 Viewer)

We've had heavy weather in the Midwest recently with lots of lightning.

I think my WEGA may have gotten the worst of it despite having a surge protector on my rig (which now shows all red lights).

I recall one recent incident where the picture jumped during a storm and my sound system was thrown into the off position.

The damage isn't extreme, but there is now a rainbow distortion about one inch from the top of the screen.

It shows in all modes (cable & DVD), but is most visible in 16x9 due to raster consolidation.

It looks like faint rainbow effect about a 1/2 inch thick.

In bright scenes it's fairly visible to the point of being distracting.

My wife thinks repair is an option, what do you guys think?

Repair is probably a good option, did your surge protector have any kind of guarantee...I know Panamax and Monster power products usually guarantee eqipment that gets fried while on their products.

You'll have to get the set serviced. Surge protectors offer no real protection against lightning strikes. Always turn off and unplug valuable electronic devices when a severe thunderstorm approaches. Always.

I don't think it's a premier unit, not sure what I'd have to go through to get anything from them.

Could have been multiple surges over a few moments.

First took out my protector & next my WEGA.

So I can't really blame the equipment (for sure, at least).

It's a 3 year old non-progressive WEGA, I'll just keep using it till I'm ready for a new TV.

Still kinda sucks though...

Do people really unplugged all their electronics during a storm? I've never done this, and over the last 20 years, I think I've lost one VCR that may or may not have been caused by a storm, but that is when I noticed the failure. And I've been through major storms over the years.

Do all TVs and receivers have permanent memory settings? After a quick power outage, I need to set my color temperature (it defaults to WARM) and the zoom mode to Theaterwide 2, but the basic color and tint settings stay the same. I'm not sure if unplugging the system overnight would lose more of the settings.

I've been repairing TVs , etc for 32 years and you'd better believe that I'm up in the middle of the night flipping power strips off and unplugging antenna quick connects from wall plates during storms. I've seen the damage a storm can cause and I don't want to be fixing my own stuff. (Did you ever try to tell an insurance agent that you're the authorized servicer for your own broken set?)

Frank , your set may just be magnetized and several cold turn-on cycles may clear it up on it's own. Keep an eye on it and see if it is getting slowly better , day by day. Waving an old-fashioned degaussing coil around newer sets will do more harm than good , so I wouldn't advise it.

Well here's to hoping...

I was watching cable TV last night and was unable to spot it clearly.

Then we put on a full-screen DVD and I was able to see it a bit more.

It's most visible during 16x9, so I'll keep a lookout.

Steve, I've always had a low opinion of degaussing coils too. Nice to see a professional saying the same thing! And I agree with you about cold-starting that WEGA. It might help (or it might not -- but it's worth a try).

As a side note ...

those of you that like to hook up multiple devices/systems together, make sure to use PROPER surge protection. For instance, my projector has its own surge protector, as does my rack equipment/subwoofer etc. However, I have a system B speaker setup in another room (a sub/satellite system) where that sub is hooked into the mains (power). Needless to say, I had to also protect that sub properly otherwise a nice back door would be opened up that could potentially destroy all of my other equipment in the main HT room.

Protect your cable, phone lines, and every outlet that your devices use, keeping in mind that this may involve multiple rooms like in my situation.

I can vouch for proper surge protection. My home took a direct lightning hit 3 summers ago. I have Panamax surge protectors and they worked properly. My upstairs TV did suffer some magnatization due to the lightning comming in the house. The tech brought out a deguassing coil and fixed it on the spot.
My large WEGA TV did not fair so well. I forgot to surge protect the PS2 and the lightning found the weakest route and fried the main board in my set. Insurance paid for a repair though.
So I can sing the praises for the Panamax from experience.
They work!
We lost all of our phones, our HVAC system and some vinyl siding. Its divine intervention that the house did not catch fire.
Funny note, 2 nightlights were blown 6' from their plug locations.