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I would just keep watching for a broken set (other than bad screen) on Ebay, if you have the space to store this one. These TVs use Samsung LCD panels, so you can look for those as well. You could also try checking with Samsung to buy a replacement panel. The catch with buying a new panel for any LCD TV is that the prices keep going down for the new ones, but that won't help the prices for any existing parts, as you found out.
BTW, it seems that Sony has got even worse than in their past... The prices you mentioned mean that they are charging US$1200 for repair of a panel, since you have to return an intact one to them. Back around 1993, I took my car CD player to them for repair of its optical pickup and they gave me a $350 repair estimate because the main board had "water damage". Yes, it had a few spots from a windshield leak, but it worked fine. I got them to (reluctantly) sell me just the optical pickup ($100 by itself back then), and I installed it myself and used the stereo for another six years. All of this makes it hard for me to stay near-neutral in the HD DVD versus Blu-ray "war".
Plan C for you could be to just try selling the TV on Ebay; even the broken-panel ones sell there, I have seen.
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