LG were quite good last year, amazing for the money, they just havent moved on this year with plasma, whilst Samsung have really stepped up.
I and many others are hoping Samsung continue improving, if they do Panasonic will have more of a battle on their hands next year. Take a look at the AVForums reviews, more than just opinion, our revbiewers are not only experts in the field but also use top end equipment to test the sets they review and publish the results with great detail. Theres also a TV shootout in the states with some top calibrators and industry experts, this clearly shows at least on black level, how far behind LG are this year. By all means go demo LGs, any set you like, end of the day you need to buy what you like, but technicaly LG just aren't as good this year.
IMO this years best sets are the VT30 and GT30, then Samsung D8000 and then the D6900 and ST30. Just my opinion some may rate the Samsungs higher, especially for the money.