I did a lot of research and came to exactly the opposite conclusion. Plasma is a dying technology. I'm not going to get into the reasons why it's dying, but it is. Fewer manufacturers are making plasma units and the ones who are still making them are making fewer.
The reason you are seeing fewer and fewer of these things made is because the technology has matured and as such, prices have fallen and the margins aren't that great. These companies are in the business to make money first and foremost, not necessarily to get you the best bang for your buck. As such, you don't see many plasmas on the shelf anymore.
Any plasma you find on the shelf today will provide you as good or better colors and black levels, and a faster refresh rate than even the most top of the line 240Hz LED LCD. It will also look fantastic from every angle, where an LCD fades if you are sitting off center. And it will do all this at a fraction of the cost of a similar LCD. All these new LCD bells and whistles they keep coming out with and charging an arm and a leg for still haven't caught up to the abilities a plasma had years and years ago.
The disadvantages of the plasma such as heat, power consumption, and image burn in have been resolved over the last few years, and are now on par with an LCD. Keep in mind, an LCD will also burn out after a time and while it doesn't have burn in so to say, you can have a similar problem known as "image retention".
The only issue that plasma really falls down on is screen glare. If you have a lot of natural light in the room that you can't block out, this could cause you some issues. But if this thing is going in your man cave in the basement, plasma all the way.
If you decide plasma is the right thing for you, Panasonic and look no further. For LCD I would look at Samsung and Sony. I used to hear lots of good things about Sharp Aquos (stay away from the cheap Sharp line), but it sounds like Sharp build quality has fallen off the last couple years.