I hope they fixed all their problems. Vizio plasma TVs were notorious for failures. We had a 42 inch Vizio fail on us, two days after the warranty expired. Luckily, Costco honored it with a full refund even though expired. We then found out thousands of others had problems. We bought a Panasonic 42 inch and its been great.
We have two Vizio LCDs which have done incredibly well, especially for the money. I have always steered clear of plasma for the very reasons you describe.