Re: lcd or plasma?
Samsung gets its panels made from some chinese or korean panel makers so dont get that.
pixel luminosity is bound to go down over the course of time, as a designer, we tend to be very conservative and keep a feedback mechanism in designs to pump up the forward current when the pixel luminosity decreases over the course of time, and I am sure these companies do the same. So it might look like over time your TV isnt going any dimmer, its just that it compensates and pumps more dutycycle into the pixels, but eventually the screen will crap out. Thats why you should get the extended warranty if you are buying something for over a grand. Just to ship this screen alone on the one year manufacturers warranty will cost you half the cost of the extended warranty!
Another thing, do not get LCDs or plasma's unless you have high def programming. Your analog channels, particularly GEO and ARY wont look as good as they would on a nice CRT, but the high def will blow your minds away!
Sharps 42" 1080 with the vyper drive mode is really good and is reasonably priced. Gaming people shouldn't get plasmas due to the burn out factor.