theyve immproved slightly. their biggest drawback is mostly power hungry. anytime u combine high energy, high heat and electornics ur talking short life span. panasonic does really well on plasma's cus they use 50% less energy than other plasma's produce a ton less heat.

and sorry but lcd's are brighter than plasma's. again im comparing good company to good company. please no vizio's or sylvania's.

but in ur defense the lcd's are generally too bright. nearly all professional calibrations have the backlighting and settings toned down