Mitch4t, I am not in the position to state whether plasma have high fail rate in general but just stating some known facts. My CRT TV is still going strong after almost 20 years of service.
NEC plasma is the 2nd biggest plasma house on earth and manufacture their own glass. Mine was made in Japan, the land of rising sun with tight QC, but still failed prematurely. NEC did not offer any explanation why it failed so quickly, but they are confident their products are well built and offer 3 year warranty on their newer plasma.
Rear projection is not any better. My Sony GW-IV RP went from 3 dead pixel to >10 in one year and I only watch about 3~4 hours of TV a week. Called up Sony and they replaced the light engine, but that does not guarantee pixel count will not grow again. LCD panel used in PR is also known to have other issue due to the organic substrate. Newer LCD (not sure which version) avoided it. DLP can also fail from fatigue.
NEC plasma is the 2nd biggest plasma house on earth and manufacture their own glass. Mine was made in Japan, the land of rising sun with tight QC, but still failed prematurely. NEC did not offer any explanation why it failed so quickly, but they are confident their products are well built and offer 3 year warranty on their newer plasma.
Rear projection is not any better. My Sony GW-IV RP went from 3 dead pixel to >10 in one year and I only watch about 3~4 hours of TV a week. Called up Sony and they replaced the light engine, but that does not guarantee pixel count will not grow again. LCD panel used in PR is also known to have other issue due to the organic substrate. Newer LCD (not sure which version) avoided it. DLP can also fail from fatigue.