I hear ya. I think Plasmas are on the chopping block these days. Everyone wants THIN, and you can only get the paper thin sets out of the LCD technology. I was looking at a Mac Air the other day, and can't believe how thin that computer is, especially the LCD. Really amazing.
We may be talking about two different issues of the LCD televisions. I guess my point is that, in my experience, I've never run into a perfect LCD screen, no matter what flaw it might have from bleed to clouding, to flashlight/spotlighting. I've had two Sony's, two Samsungs, 1 LG, and a Toshiba. All were in the upper echelon of offering in terms of quality, and every one had some kind of anomaly. I did try and exchange the Samsung after the second one, and they told me to go fly a kite. The tech said that I actually had a 'good' one from the many that he had seen.
So I've learned to accept the technology for what it is, within my personal tolerance, and move on.