Repairs

So, my TV is on the fritz, to use a nontechnical term.  The menus appear scrambled, and it won't pick up anything from either the HDMI input or the component inputs (I haven't tried any others).  The "replace lamp" light is on.  So, at a minimum, if all that needs to be done is to replace the lamp, the repair cost will be $150 or so.  But those symptoms do not appear to be a problem that would be caused by a faulty lamp; it sounds like something else inside is broken.  It looks vaguely like a damaged MPEG stream, sort of like if you have a corrupted video file or there's a minor problem with digital cable or satellite TV.  So, I'm wary of spending a fairly large sum of money to probably not fix the problem.  If I have someone come to my house to fix it (it's huge; there's no way it's getting taken anywhere), I imagine that including parts and labor it will cost me at least $500.  That's getting quite a bit closer to the cost of getting a brand new TV than $150 was.  I don't have any major problems with the old one other than the whole it-not-working one; it's a fine TV.  The picture was good, but it's 1080i rather than 1080p, only has one HDMI input, and is otherwise a few years behind the times.  Plus, of course, a new TV would come with a warranty.

I'm at least considering just replacing it, but I'm not sure yet.  I'm fairly certain that I can get a decent deal for being a Microsoft employee; I'll need to see what my options are.  The very popular Sharp Aqueos 52" LCD is $1,300 full retail; I don't think I can justify repairing a four-year-old TV for $500 at that price.