I bought my Samsung LCD monitor from Newegg and they had an 8 dead pixel before return policy. Fortunately I’ve not noticed a single dead pixel so far.

Plasmas look better and still require a bit more special handling/installation, but they’re nowhere near the technological death traps some of these posts have made them seem.

If I have made Plasma screens seem like “technological death traps”, it wasn’t my intention. They’ve come a long way since breathing on them would void your warranty. You can likely get a few years out of the ones around these days, but the point I wanted to make is that an LCD screen is simply easier on the pocketbook all-around, including on maintenance. Plasma screens are really great - better than LCD screens for picture, if not always in features for the price - but an LCD screen is a better buy for people who don’t need/don’t want/can’t afford the “best”.

I bought an acer AL1715 monotior in early 2005 and I lost 2 pixels right away (red in the bottom left, blue in the top right). It’s almost impossible to see them because of the size of the monitor and the colors I typically display.

However, on a larger system I imagine this could be a nuisance. For sure, check to see if the TV you’re getting will offer returns on burned out pixels.

The worst is when it’s just a couple dead pixels in the middle of the friggin screen!! Nothing will bug the hell out of you more than that.

The problem, though, is their longevity is pretty poor,

Not really an issue anymore.  From what I’ve read, most plasmas are rated for 60,000 hours, and will still have about 80% brightness left after 20,000 hours (which works out to 9 years of TV usage of 6 hours per day).  CRTs generally had half brightness lifespans of 25,000 hours, which plasmas should comfortably exceed.

Burn in could still be an issue if you’re watching the NFL draft or having marathon gaming sessions, but in the case of gaming, you should probably be taking breaks every few hours anyway.

I bought a Samsug 4071F back in November from Amazon.  Without a doubt, it has the best picture I’ve ever seen.  No dead pixels.

Full 1080P, 3 HDMI 1.3, 120Hz, VGA input, etc, etc, etc.

Movies look amazing.
HD Satellite looks amazing
360 games look amazing
Regular TV looks - well - ok

Only drawback - fingerprints show up very badly.  Easy to work around if you just use your remote.

I bought a Samsug 4071F back in November from Amazon.  Without a doubt, it has the best picture I’ve ever seen.  No dead pixels.

That would be one of the other models I have been keeping track of. The BRAVIA is just more famous. Just make sure you actually adjust your LCD for best picture - that’s what gets most people on that front. Don’t trust what you see in the stores because you can bet your ass those haven’t been adjusted. Oh - and I think we can put the “dead pixel” issue to rest, since not even the PSP I bought a couple of months ago has one.

I thought plasma “burn in” was one of those things you “fixed” by turning it off for a few seconds and letting the electrical activity in the set discharge completely, or turning it to a channel where there was more movement?