While certainly no expert I do have an opinion.IMO plasma's are still a very good buy for the money. Burn in is not a problem these days and the tv will last for a long time with no problems...there is always a possibility for any tv to not work properly as is well discussed on the home theater forums.
I have a 50" LG plasma...50PC3D to be exact. It is only a 720p/1080i but I can not see the difference compared to a 1080p and generally no one can...again according to HT forums. My LG is nearly a year old and is watched for approx 6 hours, on anyway, daily with absolutely no problems whatsoever. I got it at Best Buy on an unadvertised sale for $1800...a very good price last year.
According to reviews and forums the top picture plasma is the Pioneer Elite. Panasonic is also very highly rated and usually second to the Pioneer. LG is somewhere in the middle of the pack or maybe a bit higher but when I compared mine to the Panny I saw no picture difference and could not afford the Pioneer.
LCD's are much better than they have been. Ghosting is not a big problem on quality tv's but like any tv if you buy the "bargain/off brand" model you are going to get low quality picture.
Angle viewing is generally not a big deal unless you have a lot of people watching tv at one time then it's "oh well" do the best you can.
LCD's are probably costing less to produce than plasmas and are probably the wave of the future until the next technology replaces it. They are getting better and better with each generation and will continue to improve.
Buy the tv that has the best picture to your eyes. You can't go wrong with any good quality plasma or lcd just stay away from the "bargain" brands.
Other types, dlp, etc. are still popular tvs and in some ways have a better picture than plasma's or lcd's but there are trade offs...size and mounting are the biggest, rear projection tv's are deeper than the plasma's/lcd's and you can not wall mount them. They are less costly and you can get a larger tv for the money so if room size is not an issue you can get a great tv at a very good price. But rear projection tv's are an older technology that is being superceded by the plasma and lcd's.
There are some problems with some of the rear projection tv's but generally they don't always occur. Sony had a big problem with the "green blob" on some models and dlp's can cause a "rainbow effect" that is troublesome to some viewers but it related to the individual's vision of the tv rather than a tv problem. These and other problems and high points to all tv's can be found and read adnauseum on the HT forums.
Were I to do it again and had the choice between a plasma or lcd I would not hesitate to buy the plasma as I think it still has the best attributes compared to a lcd though it is close. I would still buy the LG over the others though if money were not an issue I would buy the Pioneer Elite in a heart beat.
Good luck and keep us informed.
Here are a few of my favorite links on the subject.
http://www.avguide.com/index.php?src=Google&adgroup=HomeTheater_Magazine
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/index.php?
http://www.highdefforum.com/index.php
http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/
