Hi,
..... which eventually course the backlight to turn off.
I think that bit is significant.
If it was JUST a panel or tcon fault, why would the backlights go off?
I would be looking at the inverter.
I have had 3 sets now where the inverter causes interference. On one set it just made a buzzing noise on the sound, on the second it interfered with the IR receiver, and on the third, it caused picture break up on freeview.
So if my hunch is correct, interference from the inverter could be causing picture interference.
What I found an the 3 sets (all different) that had this problem, was backlight intensity was important. In all cases, setting the backlights to full brightness stopped the interference.
So if you have backlight intensity in any of the menu's, set it to full and see if it makes any difference.