It's amazing what a good TV repair shop will do actually - a friend had a quote from a large retailer's repair company (Mastercare) of £160 to replace a laptop power supply, the original was BER. He was going to pay it (his parents ran a Chinese restuarant and sent him large amounts of money at university) but I told him to take it to the tiny local TV repair shop to see what they thought. We went back a couple of hours later to be told it was the driver IC and they could repair it in a couple of days for £35.

This was a few years back - these days I would probably find a new compatible part online.

Gareth