Modern TVs

Is it bad to turn off home theatre equipment and a plasma television by turning the wall switch off?

I have a receiver, cable box, and plasma TV plugged into a cheap surge protector and I've accidently hit the wall switch off a few times that controls the power outlet they are plugged into.

Public Comments

1. Even though today even cable boxes and TVs run an operating system, nothing bad should happen to any of them if you turn the power off.
2. Yes that is bad, it sends a shock to your electronics.
3. If the system is on and you have the sound turned up loud, then you may damage your speakers by sending crazy waveforms to them - you'll hear them crunch before the power goes completely. Other than that you probably won't do too much damage - but it's not a habit I would get into!
4. Some devices need to go through a cool down phase after you shut them off using the device's power switch. If you shut the power off to the device instead, it has no power to run a cool down, or shut down other processes in the normal way. Also some equipment may lose the settings you have configured if they are not connected to an active power supply for a certain period of time. You may have gotten away with shutting the power off to these devices from the light switch before, but don't do it again.