The brand new plasmas are nothing like plasmas even 2 years ago. The vast majority of negative info that I hear people say about plasma TVs are straight up myths much as most of the arguments for LCDs are myths. The lifespan of a plasma vs LCD is negligable, you are talking 15 years vs 15.25 years. the power supplies in both put off the same amount of heat, every time I see someone mount a TV above their fireplace the first thing I think of is that the TV will be dead in 2 years regardless of what it is, both sets will die and early death if they are installed incorrectly. I would not compare an experience with a Toshiba plasma to anything Panasonic has built in the last decade, there is a reason that you don't hear of anyone even mentioning Toshiba anymore.