Surprises me too. I bought a 50-inch Panny plasma about 4 months ago and couldn't be happier with it. I agree with a previous poster who talked about the "break-in" time. I waited about 200hrs before calibrating mine, but the picture now is outstanding. Most of my buddies have LCD's and my tv blows their's out of the water. You can't compare the brightness of your tv to the ones in any store, they turn the brightness up so high.
If you are looking for a "bright" tv, LCD or LED might be what you are looking for. However, if you want truer colors and deeper blacks, you gotta stick with plasma. Obviously, this is all my opinion. Good luck!
Jarrod
PS- I highly recommend the TC-P50S1, that's my model, like I said before... I LOVE it. You'd pick up 4 inches in screen size for about $200-300 more.