I’m thinking about buying a plasma TV, but I keep hearing about short screen life. How long do they last?

I've heard that plasma TV screens begin to fade after as little as 5,000 hours of viewing (seems like a lot, but that is less than 3 years at 5 hours/day), but some claim to last up to 60,000 hours. I also hear about "burn-in", heat production when the TV is on, and high power consumption. What's the truth?