The difference is that a plasma tv will play anything an LED will play.
If you are buying LED to follow what others are doing then you got personal problems!
Just bought a $450 42" 720p plasma for a friend and it is spectacular. Anything more than 720p is wasted unless you watch BlueRay movies or video game.
I bought LED because of many reasons, didn't even think what others bought. There are many reasons I discovered in my research, least of all, low energy consumption and costs, longer life, more eco friendly, about 3/4" thick and fits perfectly where I wanted to put it, etc.. Plasma had some advantages, but looking at all the pros and cons, I went LED, and I won't go back, lol. btw, I was leaning on Plasmas over LCD's for my needs, but when I saw the LED side by side with the LCD, it was night and day, the difference was huge.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/lcd-vs-led-vs-plasma.html
Personal problems??? lmao, don't know where you got that from, never said that, in fact I even said I bought BETA which was not what most bought then.
fyi, I was one of the early pioneers to purchase a plasma in the early 90's, Pioneer, commercial industry only and paid about $30,000 then, obviously it was way ahead of it's time , it revolutionized the tube, and had it's applications in the commercial world, ie. TV walls, etc.. that could be cost justified. I've seen it transform over the years to retail use and the costs have been decreasing consistently and quality has improved as well. I thought Plasma's would lead the TV revolution, but LCD entered the market and vaulted to the top now. Are manufacturers behind this? Are they more profitable? Don't know, I only see the sales numbers.