Does she need to be concerned about burn-in or other screen issues with the newer plamas?
One day, eventually, she very well may experience IR (image retention) with the display, perhaps after having a ticker up on the screen for some hours, while not in film/cinema mode, but a color-inaccurate-but-brighter mode like standard, dynamic, etc. It will "wash out" easily. I have not heard of a Pana plasma burn in story, since, um, before I ever got interested in this hobby. I think they're on their 14th generation already.
I also concur with Panasonic plasmas. Off the top of my head, the last 5-6 TVs that I helped friends and family shop for, all but one were Pana plasma, all the way from 768p 42" to flagship 1080p 65" plasmas. The only exception was because of a $2000 LCD TV that died in less than three years, and the buyer had a Costco-Amex card (good for free 3yr warranty thru Costco). In this case, there were only two options for Pana plasmas, and I did not concur with either choice for her uses. And it was I that pushed for the use of that card and store, because she was pretty distraught over the matter.
I think that SD on a Pana (or Pioneer) plasma looks pretty close to the quality of HD-lite on a LCD TV, from distance (say 4x the display width as viewing distance, as a ballpark guess).
My only trepidation is the possibility of a reflective panel, as opposed to some of the matte panels of LCDs. Obviously, she's not going to care about black detail, so we don't have to worry about black retention or anything like that. I'd look into the quality of the AR (anti reflective) filter of any Pana plasma choice if lighting is a concern.
