With the news that Samsung is throwing in the towel on its plasma TV production—it will stop producing them after November—many of us TV fans are already lamenting the loss of what we've long felt is the superior TV technology. The last time I saw this many adults so weepy, I was watching the first 10 minutes of "Up" in the theater with my then-5-year-old, who thought I had popcorn stuck in my eye.

Of course the handwriting's been on the wall for some time now, but the end truly came into view when Panasonic—the leading plasma TV brand—pulled the plug on plasma last year, deciding it was no longer a viable business. So I assumed it was just a matter of time before the last two plasma brands, LG and Samsung, joined the calling-it-quits-on-plasma club. Now Samsung is exiting the market, and while LG has so far been quiet about its plasma plans for 2015, we expect it to come to a similar decision before too long.

Plasma, a requiem

What's the big deal, you might ask? Don't LCD TVs—or LED TVs, if you like to mistakenly call them that—already represent the overwhelming majority of TV sales?

Yes, though frankly I've never been able to understand why, unless you happen to live in a sun-drenched house without any window coverings, where LCD's higher brightness and less reflective screens would be a plus. (Or if you need a TV with a screen smaller than 42 inches.) All those so-called LCD TV features that manufacturers like to brag about, such as local dimming and 120Hz and 240Hz technologies—plasma doesn't need them. They're simply efforts to overcome LCD TVs' inherent weaknesses. And let's not even get into viewing angles.

The best plasmas deliver everything a videophile could want in a TV: great, deep black levels, accurate colors, and unlimited viewing angles. Think that plasmas only appeal to video snobs? We recently brought a bunch of new employees into our TV labs and asked them to pick their favorite two TVs. Out of the 15 TVs playing the same program, every single person picked the only two plasma sets in the room.