Rising Black....

The 2010 models did rise a bit after 1000hrs. And 1 more rise at about 2000hrs or so.

This thread will not answer which is better (LCD or plasma) as this is only one part of the puzzle.

Brightness? I am assuming you mean contrast (how bright does a white screen go)?

I have seen plasmas go as high as 50ft/L for a window of 100% white while still maintaining good integrity of white. If its a full screen of 100% white, then the 9G Kuros could go to about 18ft/L. I am told that this years Panasonics can go up to 24ft/L (which is bright in my opinion).

LCDs are different as they do not have the ABL (Automatic Brightness Limiter) or APL (Automatic Peak Limiter) that the plasmas have. The highest contrast I could get a LCD to go while maintining integrity of white was about 40ft/L (I believe the new LGs, Samsung and Sony could go higher ~55ft/L but I have not measured them as yet).  The difference is that LCDs that show 40ft/L on windows will show 40ft/L on full screen as well, so LCDs do go brighter (full white) in real life. While it is not necessary to go that high for dim/dark environment and will be uncomfortable to the eye those circumstances, it is good for bright environments....

Posting a picture will not really help, as the monitor that different people use to view it are not calibrated so it will be different.

In real life, 30ft/L of windowed white is plenty bright in a dim environment and 45ft/L windowed white is bright enuf for day environment if ur screen is matte or has a good anti reflective coating.