the ascendance of lcd is mainly a function of the lower manufacturing costs of lcd panels, not the superiority of lcd over plasma technology--in other words, manufacturers will push the more profitable product. lcd's energy efficiency is another factor. however, i've read that plasma's manufacturing costs are lowering, and energy consumption is evening out, so we'd expect to see something of a plasma resurgence. i do agree with bojack on led--it's initially eye-popping and astounding, but can get pretty fatiguiging in real world use. the great technological step-up is probably oled, which is very expensive and still developing, but from what i've seen is pretty amazing.