Most agree Plasma still has the edge picture wise for 40" plus....

Very few LCD can do 'Black levels' to match a good Plasma set, and many mid-priced LCD' suffer motion blur compared to Plas'

LCD tends to be brighter, but this can be used to mask other defects & never had any issues with lack of brightness on Plasmas i've owned. Screen burn on modern, quality Plasma screens now will only happen after a very long period of fixed image (most have built in sensors to reduce)

LCD/Plasma should not be the choice, more importantly check for 1080p, 24fps, 100hz, conectivity & contrast etc...

Buy a issue of What Video & Hi-Def of Which Plasma/LCD before you even think about buying.....will be the best £3.99 you ever spent.
HTH