Use my product warranty?

[woodjer]

Alright, I think my TV and soundbar are the victims of a power surge/lightning strike. I saw the flash outside and then stuff just kinda went funky. I can get sound through the soundbar when I have stuff plugged in there and routed out to the TV but I get no picture. If I plug things into the HDMI ports on the TV itself, (including the one that the soundbar used), I get picture just fine. At first, I figured that I could just use that until getting things squared away. So I go to relax and watch my new Lord of the Rings blu-ray through my PS3 and I notice that I can't hear Gandalf at all but can hear other characters (Bilbo sounds like he's in a tunnel though) and the score.

I had everything routed through the sound system and turned off the TV speakers before. Assuming I get a new soundbar, would you pursue the TV's sound issue through the warranty even though I doubt I'd use it? On the one hand, I don't want to use the warranty on something that I'm replacing anyway but I also don't know if anything else has gotten messed up that I haven't discovered yet. Thoughts?

Edit: Everything was plugged into a Monster HTS1000 power center too.

[snepp]

Re: Use my product warranty?

So it sounds like the video output from the soundbar is done for.

As for when you plug the PS3 directly into the TV... I'm not familiar with the PS3's audio output, but it sounds like it's sending a full surround output to the TV, but the TV is only outputting in 2-channel mode (so you're missing the center channel, where the majority of the vocals come from). It could be that the TV is fine (pure speculation).

This part isn't helpful, but I'll take the opportunity to throw it out there anyway. Monster products, monster waste of money.

Do you have manufacturer warranties, or would you be trying to get Monster to cover the equipment under their warranty?

[woodjer]

Re: Use my product warranty?

Thanks, snepp. You were spot on. I forgot that I had set the PS3 up for the surround sound. Once I realized that, things worked fine. So you're right...the soundbar was the issue. That's being shipped back to the manufacturer for repairs so hopefully that solves my whole issue.

Everything but the PS3 is less than 7 months old so still within the warranty periods. I'm just thankful that I was able to narrow it down to just a single piece of equipment. I was stressing about having to send my TV in too. The last time I had to do that, I ended up in a 2-1/2 month battle over where my TV was.

As for the Monster thing, I got suckered into it when I bought my first TV several years ago. Had a good convo with the AT&T technician about other things to use so will probably look into those options at some point, too.

Anyway, my crisis has been solved so mods can delete or close this thread if they wish.