The panel is the glass and electronics layer that actually forms the picture — an LCD panel filters backlight through liquid crystal and colour filters; an OLED panel lights each pixel individually. It is by a wide margin the most expensive component in a TV, which makes an honest repair-vs-replace conversation the most important part of any panel diagnosis.
Physical damage (a crack, a pressure mark from an impact) is unambiguous and usually means panel replacement is the only fix — but many panel-looking symptoms (lines, patches of dead pixels, colour distortion) can actually be a T-Con board or ribbon-cable fault costing a fraction of a panel, which is exactly why proper diagnosis matters before any quote.
Panel replacement is only economical when the part is available and its cost is meaningfully below the price of an equivalent new TV — we say so plainly, and give a straight comparison rather than a sales pitch either way.
Brands we fit and service
The screen panel market splits into hardware built for South African conditions and lookalikes that fail at the first hard season. These are the manufacturers we trust on our installations:
- Samsung
- LG
- Sony
- Hisense
- TCL
See our brand guides for how these manufacturers compare.
When the screen panel goes wrong
These are the failures we're called to most often — each with its symptoms, causes and our fix on the dedicated problems page:
- Cracked or physically damaged screen — A visible crack, spreading ink-like bleed, or a section of the picture permanently black or discoloured after an impact.
- Vertical or horizontal lines on screen — One or more thin coloured or white lines running across the picture, present on every source and every input.
- Dead pixels or a patch of discolouration — A small cluster of pixels stuck black, white or a single colour, or a patch of the screen with a visible discolouration.
- OLED burn-in / image retention — A faint "ghost" of a logo, news ticker or static UI element visible even when different content plays.
Need this fixed or installed?
Our TV Screen Replacement service covers screen panel work — quoted upfront and backed by our 12-month workmanship warranty.