cmack, When I first saw plasma I was not overwhelmed - I have since seen plasma displays that would make me quite happy. This is only going to get better as the product evolves. When the Samsung's and Goldstar's come out with a viable consumer grade plasma then the bigger guys are going to run for the tall grass pricewise.

Input? I think RF and probably IEEE 802.11b will slowly undercut IR, at least for control functions. There is some experimentation with short range omnidirectional infrared but it still has to "see".