TV(Panasonic TH-42PZ85u) Fried??

chugot9218

Honorable
May 8, 2012
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About a week ago we had a pretty bad lightning storm and there was a large lightning strike very close to my house. At the time, we were watching TV on my Panasonic Plasma and although there was no flash of power in the house, the picture on the TV froze and the cable box reset, flashing a single (.) and then it came up with 8888 on the display and then finally displayed the time (like it was operating correctly). I assume the cable has a problem and turn off and turn on the power strip (containing my TV, cable box, an xbox, a ps3, and a modem/router which are all working fine, besides the TV obviously) and the cable box seems ready to go. I turn on my TV, and the cable box immediately resets to the flashing period and then the 8888 and no display shows on the TV. At this point I also realize that the TV is not even displaying the channel/input indicator, it looks like the backlight is on but there is no other picture. Also the power button does not seem to have much affect after turning it on, I push it and a random amount of time later it turns off but the backlight is still on, and I have to kill the power to turn it off.

All the equipment was plugged into the power strip but the cable input from the house into the cable box was not routed through a power strip. I have confirmed that the coaxial cable output of the cable box works on a standard analog TV, but when I tried to plug the HDMI out of the cable box into my monitor I receive no input and the cable box resets to the flashing period and 8888 before showing the time. Is it possible that only the "HDMI portion" of the cable box fried and in turn burnt out my TV? Plugging the cable directly from the wall into my analog TV works fine, so it does not seem like the line itself was affected, but it does not seem to work through the cable boxes' HDMI, unless it would not display on my monitor for any reason.

I have more or less come to the conclusion that my TV is fried (from what I read it sounds like the main board), but I do not intend to repair it my self and I assume the cost of repair would be better spent towards a new TV, but does anyone have any advice or opinion on the matter? Do you think I have any possible course of action through/against the cable company? Or is it worth trying to sell, basically any information will be appreciated.
 

jcoultas98

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Feb 19, 2009
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Unfortunately, there's not much recourse going after the cable company. If you were using a monster, or panamax surge protector, they often will pay for your Homeowners Insurance. If you weren't using one of those, you can always make a claim on your homeowner's insurance.