If you want to buy a thin, hang-on-the-wall type of TV, don't buy a plasma set now. Plasma is just an interim technology until they get the kinks worked out of manufacturing large LCD sets.

Plasma sets only have a rated life of 25,000 to 30,000 hours. Once it burns out, it is done; throw it away. An LCD set actually has fluorescent backlighting bulbs that are rated for 50,000 to 75,000 hours. The cool thing is that when these bulbs burn out, they can be replaced!

A static image on a plasma set can burn-in in as little as 15 minutes. What if you watched CNN all the time with the crawl at the bottom of the screen. You would get a nice band burned in along the bottom. Or how about watching a football game with the little score box at the top of the screen for three hours.

LCD's sets use half as much electricity and generate half as much heat as plasma sets.

The higher your altitude, the more power a plasma set requires. This extra current causes an annoying buzzing sound. They also have internal cooling fans that will kick on if it gets hot enough. These cause extra noise too. Altitude will start to have this effect at 6,500 feet.

The things that they still have to work in order for LCD to overtake plasma are:

contrast
color saturation
viewing angle
cost