In the previous entry, we mentioned that TV parts are not universal across TV models as it is with computer parts. As it turns out, there are actually some exceptions to that rule but they are generally very few and far in between and only pertaining to certain types of circuit boards. We'll be covering them here and we'll break them down by the type of TV below:

LCD TV's

• T-Con Boards
• Backlight Inverter Boards
• Power Supply Boards

LED & OLED's TV's 

• T-Con Boards
• LED Drivers
• Backlight Inverter Boards
• Power Supply Boards

LCD's, LED's, and OLED's are generally considered in the same category so far as TV technologies are concerned. The only main difference between these three technologies is in the backlighting and the amount of energy they consume. LCD's use thin, tube-like lamp filaments that provides backlighting to the TV while LED's use chiclet-sized lamp filaments and OLED's don't use any additional lighting source but rather, similar to a Plasma TV, uses electrical current to "light up" a TV panel. LCD's consume more energy to power a TV and hence, burn hotter relative to LED's and OLED's over longer periods of time but compared to Plasma TV's, they are still, relatively speaking, more energy efficient. 

You might be wondering why Plasma TV's aren't listed in the above. That's mainly because for the most part, each of the respective TV brands made their own parts that's unique to their brand. The rare exception, if it ever occurred, would be the Power Supplies for certain LG, Vizio, (Yes! Vizio's used to make Plasma TV's, if only briefly), and Philips TV's that could be used interchangeably but only if the connectors and voltage specifications were the same despite the fact that the board's physical appearance looks very different from the original.

Now, don't get us wrong. We are not saying that the exceptions above are true across ALL brands. It's usually only true for certain select brands and not necessarily the no-name brands either. But IF there were any TV's that shared boards interchangeably across "some" common brands, the above bullet points were the most common one's between the respective TV technologies. 

Suffice it to say, it wouldn't be surprising if your Sony Bravia TV shares the same T-Con Board with a lesser known brand, such as Insignia--which is a Bestbuy house brand. Similarly, it also shouldn't be surprising if you own Vizio's flagship model TV that uses a particular Backlight Inverter Board or LED Driver that happens to be shared with an LG TV of similar specs and size. The interesting thing to note here is that if you've ever opened up a modern day flat panel TV, any TV (of the LCD, LED, Plasma variety, not necessarily rear/front projection [aka DLP] TV's), you might notice that the vast majority of the parts carries the Samsung or LG/Philips insignia stamped on the boards themselves, but again, only on the above list of items. It is rare to see an LG part, say, a Main Board inside a Vizio TV, for instance. Given that, I think it goes without saying who are the dominant players in today's electronics industry--or at least, who has the most market share out of all of the TV manufacturers. 

Food for thought.