a digital study of Colour

I've been doing some programming lately (coding an application to load onto my camera that makes the camera capable of taking high dynamic range photos natively), but writing this application has made me notice a few things about the colour, light intensity and tone of a digital image. There are some things I have taken for granted really about working with coloured images in photoshop, never really having dealt with the nitty gritty details of image enhancements that I'm forced to learn all about now. I feel like sharing a couple of these interesting insights, however obvious they seem to be.

First off, lets explore how important the varying levels of brightness is to a photo. Take, for example, this following image.

(Image credit of Alexiuss @ http://alexiuss.deviantart.com/art/Seasonscape-69489448)

It's a lovely image, but lets see what happens to the image when we remove the varying levels of brightness (or shading I guess you could call it); we're just going to leave behind the colour hues.

We are left now with a colorful, but rather confusing, image made up of several main colors: cyan, green, yellow, red, magenta, and blue. White represents an area lacking colour. Even though a coloured image in principal requires three times more information than a black and white image, all that added information provides relatively little use on it own it seems.

Next, lets look at the opposite effect; turning a coloured image into a black and white (gray scale) image. The thing is, how do you do this? If there are three colour channels in a coloured image, (Red, Green, and Blue,) how best do you combine them to make just one black and white channel?


First up, it seemed logical to me to just average all three RGB colour channels to make the black and white image: the above is the outcome. Overall, I was pleased with this first result, but after reading up some more on the behaviour of light, color and human perception, I realized that the ideal method might not be just so simple.

One thing to realize is that the human eye sees different luminosities for each of the three main RGB colours. In the above image, the ratios 0.3 : 0.6 : 0.1 were used to combine (add up) the RGB channels to make just one whole channel. The idea is, the human eye sees green as being 6 times as bright as blue and twice as bright as red. But is this even the best method?


The above image was produced by squaring each of the RGB colour channels, adding up the results, and then rooting that sum. I actually really liked this result; it makes some sense that the brightness of a color might not be linear in nature, but even if that is not the case, visually I found this result the most appealing.


Lastly, I wanted to see how my paint application defined brightness to see if I could duplicate how it might produce a black and white image from a colored image. Its method was actually performed by taking the lowest and highest valued channel (per coloured pixel) of the three RGB channels and just averaging them-- completely ignoring the third colour channel! The above is the result.

In the end, I have tested 4 different methods of producing a black and white image from a coloured image- and there are probably a dozen more other ways yet unmentioned here. I wish I could say there was 'a best' method, but it appears that it all comes down to personal preference. Some of the methods may be considered more accurate, numerically or perceptually, and other ways may just look nicer. In the end, it may not really matter, as the end results of the different methods were all still very similar. Can you see the differences?

For something that seemed at first so simple, I'm amazed to find that working with coloured images at the nitty gritty level becomes quite the chore. My headaches do not end there however, as modifying and combining the dynamic ranges of multiple images introduces new challenges as well. It turns out that just averaging two identical photos (with just different exposures) produces pretty decent results! It may not be the best method of producing an HDR image, but it sure is easy. (bonus: simply averaging the images also seems to reduce image noise!)

How to get Skype for the iPhone in Canada

It seems every country was able to download and install Skype for the iPhone as of today... except for Canada. Apparently it was due to some patent-licencing issues.. I really wanted Skype though since I have unlimited incoming calls on my iPhone, but no long distance features and limited outgoing minutes; Skype-out would be a great way for me to save some money.

Well, there is hope, Canada!

Steps involved:

1) Visit http://www.tunecore.com/freealbum and get a free iTunes promo code. If the link no longer works, Google is your friend when it comes to finding other valid US iTunes promo codes.
2) In iTunes, select from the Menu, Store > View My Account and login.
3) Select Change Country and follow the instructions.
4) You will want to select US as the country and instead of using a Credit Card, just enter the promo code. The new address you enter needs to be US-based; Beverly Hills, 90210 is popular.
5) When done, you can use the US iTunes App store (since your account is now set to US) to install Skype to your iPhone. (Syncing Apps with iTunes can be a pain bit of a pain in the butt, so if you are having problems with the syncing process, keep playing with it until you get it to work.)
6) Skype should now be installed on your iPhone, but with your iTunes set for US, using your iPhone App store could be a problem. So, once Skype is installed, just repeat the above steps to change your Country setting in iTunes back to Canada.
7) If you do not have a Credit card, or wish not to enter a Credit card number, Dose.ca provides free promo codes that will allow you to bypass this step. American promo codes may not work.
8) Now that your iTunes account is set back to Canadian, everything should be back to normal, except Skype will now be loaded on your iPhone.
9) ENJOY!

If you are having problems with my above method, check out this site, as it offers a slightly different method that should also work.

[Update: Skype calls over 3G are disabled for some annoying reason, so only calls over WiFi seem to work. $4/month for skype versus $40/month for a cellular voice plan... I feel like I'm being scammed. gah!]

Lenovo T400 - Trial Outdoors

It has been a long winter up here in Canada and with the warm, sunny weather now approaching, computer users attempt to migrate outside with their laptops to soak up some much needed Vitamin D. One problem though -- not all notebooks displays are readable in bright light.

I wanted to try out my Lenovo Thinkpad T400 notebook outside today, as the weather was finally somewhat warm and the sun was shining. I bought the T400 a few months ago in hopes of the screen being usable outside in direct sunlight, but I was unable to actually test it until now.

When customizing a Thinkpad at Lenovo.com, there often are a few choices for display types. Some options include LED backlighting, some include high resolution displays and most recently, Lenovo has started offering an ultra bright 680-nit display option for the T400 that is designed for outdoor use it would seem.

The display my Thinkpad uses is the LED-backit 1440 by 900 resolution display option, which is bright, but not 680-nit bright.


I started my test outside with the T400 in the early afternoon on a sunny March day here in Toronto. One thing I quickly noticed was that in direct sunlight, reading black on white text was quite easy, even with the backlight turned off; this was in part due to the transflection properties of the display. Without the backlight on, the whites had a yellow tint to it, whereas with the backlight set to full, there was more of a slight blue tint to the whites. Also, shadows (with the backlight off) quickly lowered the contrast, making it harder to read, while with the backlight set to full, shadows had less of an effect.

Despite having some added problems with having the backlight off, in direct sunlight text was still readable with the backlight off and I was able to greatly increase the battery life of the notebook because of it.

On an overcast day, or when there are shadows present, turning on the backlight to full works well to bring out more accurate colors and to make text even more readable. Text was still not as easy to read as it is when indoors, but it was workable. I was able to write up an article for work, while sitting in the sun at a park with my iPhone providing me a tethered Internet connection. I will need to try this all on the beach sometime. :-)


Anyways, as for reflections, since the screen was matted, I did not see any real reflections at all. (unlike on the new glossy Macbook displays). Other than reduced contrast, my eyes did not need to fight or become strained trying to see the display. There was one problem, easily fixed, but during the late afternoon, when the soon was nearing the horizon, there was a blurry bright reflection of the sun. Adjusting the screen's angle or shifting the notebook a bit to another angle fixed that issue.

As a conclusion, I would say the matted LED backlit 1440x900 LCD display on the Lenovo T400 is fully adequate for working on a document outside in the direct sun. It even has some transflective properties that allow a user to turn off the backlight completely and still see the screen. Watching a dark movie or dealing with dim images may be troublesome however.

The incredible battery life of the T400 allowed me to spend virtually the entire day working outside, which is a plus as well. Purchasing the new 600-nit option displays for the T400 would be even better for working outdoors I am sure. I'm very pleased, but as you can tell from the images, contrast is still greatly lowered.

One last thing,
I will try to add more photos of other notebooks under direct sunlight conditions to help give everyone an idea of what are good outdoor displays and what are not. If any readers have a photo of their notebook out in the sun however, send it my way and I will add it to the site, along with all the others I get.

punkrawker@gmail.com


[Update: A reader had a few questions for me that I may not of made clear in this article. So, I am attaching below my response, in case anyone else has similar questions. ]


When I bought my T400, Lenovo offered a different selection of LCD panels for the T400. There was the WXGA, WXGA+ and WXGA+ /w LED BL. I notice that Lenovo seems to change what is offered quite often; sometimes do to a shortage of a specific type. In some cases, it is just the price that goes up or down for an option, but at other times, the option is removed. I paid about $80 for my screen upgrade; while there were some weeks the same upgrade cost $150- it does not seem like Lenovo.com Canada offers this option at the moment.

The current offerings at Lenovo Canada are:
WXGA
WXGA+
WXGA HN + backlit.
(none of these really seem that great to me)


I bought the WXGA+ /w LED BL. From what I can tell, my display has a 300:1 contrast and 250 nits of brightness. It really seems quite bright compared to older Thinkpads.

This T400 review also had the same panel that I have it seems.
http://www.buy.com/articles/loc/64230/channeltype/2/channelid/127/subtype/1/2004569.html
There opinion on the 250nit display outdoors was "it is perfectly serviceable outside." I tend to agree; even on the sunniest of days, things are quite usable/readable. However, with the 250nit display, in direct sunlight the contrast of the screen seemed to be become lower, so I would say if you plan on working outdoors a lot, an even brighter screen could be a better choice. A brighter screen = easier to view outside. The pictures in my article are of the 250nit LED display in sunlight.

The 250 nit display that my T400 has is currently not offered at this time at Lenovo.com Canada, but it might become available in the future. If you can get the WXGA+ /w LED BL 250nit display upgrade (for under $100, preferably), I'd say it is a great option for people who only occasionally plan to use their notebooks outdoors. It is still looks bright and more than bright enough for indoor use. The viewing angles are not that super great however.


Their is currently a WXGA HN (high nit?) /w LED BL being offered now at Lenovo.com Canada --- I assume this is the 680 nit option as mentioned in this article. http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Lenovo-ThinkPad-Laptop-Toughens-Up-Against-Panasonic-Dell/
"The Lenovo ThinkPad T400, which has a retail price starting at $1,350, includes an optional 680-nit "high brightness" panel designed to provide extra visibility even in bright ambient conditions, such as light shining directly on the screen. "

As for a higher resolution version of this display, someone on the Internet said "at least for one day, there was yet another option (priced at $150, if I recall correctly) for a 14.1" WXGA+ (1440x900) "High Nit" with LED backlighting." The HN high resolution LCD display might of sold out already. If you wait, it might become available again in the future. And then again, Maybe not. It seems like the best choice for a LCD Panel if you can get it.

Heavy outdoor users will want to grab the HN (680nit?) LED BL option, as it will make working outside more pleasurable. If you can get it with the WXGA+ resolution, that would probably be preferred. You might have to wait and see if it becomes available though. I can't really suggest anyone get the WXGA low-resolution display, but for a lot of people that resolution is fine to use. If that is the only option available, it might be the best choice though. If it were me, I'd wait and see what other options become available.


I have also seen a "Wide Viewing Angle" display option appear at Lenovo.com at one time or another; I dont know how it differs exactly from other screens, but the display I have does not have great viewing angles. It seems however that the HN display options have Wide viewing angles (which is great). " , Lenovo is equipping the ThinkPad T400 laptop with an optional high brightness, wide angle screen, making it nearly four times brighter than previous ThinkPad laptop screens." - Lenovo PR. Im unsure exactly if this is a fact yet tho and im not sure what exactly is considered wide angle.

As for the Non-LED BL displays (CCFL), I would not recommend getting one of these. They tend to be not as bright as the LED BL displays, and these backlights often tend to burn out after like 5 years of use. The LED BL options also seem to provide for better battery life comparably.


If it were me at the moment looking to buy a new T400, I would wait for better options to become available. I like having a high resolution display, but I also like my display being LED backlit. Since I don't work outside that much, the WXGA+ 250-nit LED BL option works fine for me, but a brighter screen with better viewing angles would be preferred. The WXGA+ HN /w LED BL option would probably be the best option, if you can find that offer.


I do not know for sure if you can buy a Thinkpad in the US and have the warranty be valid in Canada. According to this discussion however, http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=90585, a USA warranty is valid in Canada. If you can order from the US, it seems like that may indeed be a great way of getting the display type you want, while not having to wait for Lenovo Canada to start offering it.

(At the time of this writing, Lenovo USA only offers CCFL displays and the WXGA HN LED display. The same as Canada, so ordering from the US at this time may not actualy help out much)

(disclaimer: This article contains opinions and it may also contain factual errors. Please inform me of any errors, so I can correct them. If you do not agree with my opinion on something, please leave a comment below to share your own opinion. thank you.)

Review: Lenovo S10

Here is my initial review of the Lenovo IdeaPad S10 netbook* that I recently bought and had the day to play around with.


System Specifications:
10-inch display (matte)
512 MB RAM (2 GB Max?)
80 GB HDD
Intel Atom 270 1.6 GHz processor.
Intel GMA 950 graphics
Webcam
SD Card Reader
3-cell battery
Black
Windows XP Home SP3

Price paid: $329 (CAD) + tax & shipping
I ordered the S10 from NCIX Canada on sale; Lenovo Canada charges $429 ($399 on sale) for a slightly more upgraded S10e model. I'm definitely happy with the price that I paid, but a 6-cell version would have been preferred.

Performance:

Futuremark's Peacekeeper Browser Benchmark:
Internet Explorer 7.0 score = 64
(for comparison, an AMD Athlon 64 3800+ scored 162 and an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 scored 447)

It made some sense to test the browser performance of the S10. A score of 64 is pretty low, but surfing the net still seemed to be responsive... most of the time. There were a few webpages, including Engadget, that seemed to cause a few seconds of unresponsiveness to the system as a whole while the page loaded. Switching to a faster browser, increasing the amount of memory from 512 MB to 2 GB (the max?) and installing anti-advertisement software to fend off the flash-based ads should help things out.

SuperPi 1.5 Mod (http://www.xtremesystems.com/pi/)
1 M = 1 minute, 34 seconds
(for comparison, a Lenovo Thinkpad T400 with an Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4 GHz scored 20 seconds)

YouTube HD Video Playback
I loaded up a YouTube HD video clip of the new Transformers 2 trailer (720p) for a test; playback was set to fullscreen and quality was set to high. The display of the S10 is not actually 720p, rather 1024 x 600.

The Intel Atom 270 processor is not actually a dual-core chip, but rather it just has hyper-threading capabilities that make it seem like it is a dual-core. As you can see from the CPU Usage History though, at no point was the video putting a full strain on the system, but it got close at times. As it stands, low-bit rate 720p video should run just fine on the S10.

Considering how the S10 has no Blu-ray drive, no DVI or HDMI output, and that it has a limited screen resolution, being able to handle 1080p video is not something most users will need to worry about with this system.

Windows XP Startup
I didn't bother to time it, but bootup speed with the 80 GB 5400 RPM hard drive seemed quick. There was very little useless bloatware pre-loaded on the system, but a Norton AV Trial was pre-installed, which I didn't care much for. I uninstalled it and Windows booted up a tad faster afterwards. Windows XP does still feel faster than Vista.

System Build Quality and Design
I was very pleased with the system quality of the Lenovo S10. It felt very solid, even more solid than the Lenovo Thinkpad T400 that I use regularly. My T400 actually felt a bit flimsy in comparison, but the S10 was kinda heavy too... it felt *solid*.

The S10 was also a very attractive looking netbook in my opinion; classy, yet business looking. The black color worked well and although black is kinda boring, the small size of the system kept it still looking quite interesting

(A cat, a Lenovo T400 and the Lenovo S10)

As expected, the keyboard did feel kinda small, but it was fine for writing short emails with. I would not want to write a long article with it; I actually quickly gave up on writing this article on it. The keys were large enough to hit properly, but there was very little spacing in between the keys. I'm sure if you spent some time learning how to type on it, it would become easy to use. The fact I switch between so many computers here though, it is annoying to have to re-adjust to a new style of keyboard every time.

[Update:] Compared to other netbooks, the S10 has a relatively spacious keyboard I'd say. After using it a bit more, I'm finding it easier to write on, but it still feels somewhat cramped and I'm still making more mistakes with it than on a normal size keyboard. I do have large hands though.

It seems a bit pointless to hook up a dedicated USB keyboard to the S10, as why would you then not just bring a full size notebook with you or just use a desktop PC instead, but a dedicated keyboard would make typing on the system a lot better.
(I'd take a notebook over a netbook or desktop if I could only have one, but casual users may prefer a netbook, so having a USB keyboard could still be sensible I guess)

I felt that the right shift key was in an odd place, and that the tab button was a bit small, but considering the size of the keyboard it all made sense, so it didn't bother me much. Also, the Home, End and F12 keys are function keys.

The touchpad was small, but it was fine to use- not really any more annoying to use than a regular notebook touchpad. There was a scrolling area along the side, which I was glad to have.

The left and right buttons were firm and recessed (flush until pressed), which made them a bit hard to click actually, but for short-term use it was not annoying. I would want a mouse with me if I was going to be doing any serious work on the system. [Update: After a while, I got more accustomed to the buttons; they do not seem so annoying anymore to me.]

I wish there was a Trackpoint nub also, but I figure that would of made the keyboard smaller and even harder to type on. Those red nubs surprisingly take up a lot of keyboard space

The display, when shut, did not have any latch holding it locked in place. Instead, the hinge was firm, which kept the display in place. It was actually a bit tricky to open the notebook, considering the force it took and the lack of grip provided. When opened, the display opened up to about the same angle as a Macbook, which is a perfect angle for typical use. Still, if you want to use the S10 on a desk stand or something, this limited angle could be a problem.

The display itself is matted and had decent viewing angles; not quite 178-degrees or anything, but it was better than some TN displays that I've used lately. I could vary my viewing angle from the ideal position somewhat without seeing much noticeable contrast difference; there was some though; mostly with the vertical.

The max brightness level was good, more than enough for easy indoor use, and I would imagine it would be okay to use in the shade outside. In direct sunlight, well, its readable I'm betting, but I wouldn't recommend it. A bright screen was easier to read with.

The size of the 10-inch screen was as expected; what size you decide on is really personal preference. The point of a netbook is to have something small and cheap, but having too small a netbook could also result in having an unusably small keyboard. The bevel around the screen and keyboard was relatively thin I felt, so that's good.

Thanks to the decent resolution of the display, 1024 by 600, webpages did not feel too crap. There were some programs that could have used more vertical space, such as in Google Documents, but it wasn't too bad. I quickly got use to the screen size and found it didn't feel too small for most things. It might depend on your eye-sight though I guess.

The colors and clarity of the display were all acceptable to me; no serious complaints about the screen here.

The Webcam worked fine and the aim was pretty decent. It was relatively crisp and with moderately lit indoor lighting things seemed well exposed. The webcam really made me look even uglier than normal though; from how it appeared it was because the webcam was angled up at my face due to it being on my lap, rather than being at eye level, and because it brought out my pale skin colors too accurately. Who knows for sure though; maybe I'm just that ugly. For obvious reasons, I don't feel like including a snapshot, but regardless, the webcam itself seemed to be without any real fault. Nothing spectacular about it I guess, but it was better than some others that I have used.

Update: I did notice that there was some lag delay in the webcam video feed and that the frame rate was not super amazing, especially when using the webcam in low light conditions, but that is pretty normal for webcams. Still, I'm pleased with the webcam.

Update 2: Okay. okay. I've included a still from the default webcam feed. This was taken late at night with a couple lamps lighting the room. The room had low to moderate lighting. The image is unaltered; there is some strong noise removal present it seems.

(Webcam still)

The S10 does have an integrated microphone and speakers; I didn't test the microphone, but the speakers were as expected. Listening to my online voice mail, with the volume set to full, things came through fine. Not exactly full of bass, but they should be fine for basic use. Loud enough I'd say. You might want to carry a pair of headphones with you if you plan on listening to music or watching a movie.

The S10 included a few other nifty design features, such as a dedicated button for launching the system's recovery tools and a button that turns off the wireless connectivity. There was also an expansion slot, which is unique among netbooks, but most users will never realize a use for it. There was only 2 USB ports though, instead of the typical three; one of each side of the netbook. Overall, I was pleased with the design of the S10 and all the design features it offers.

Battery Life
The S10 comes loaded with a simple** power management tool. Not quite as fully featured as the versions on Thinkpads, but it worked well regardless. It lets a user quickly switch between performance, balanced, and power saving modes.

On balanced mode, the screen's brightness was near fully brightness, which was great, and the system seemed speedy still. Battery life seemed to last about 3 hours (some are saying a bit less) of typical use, but it varies of course depending on what you are doing.

On power savings mode, the audio, wireless and brightness level became disabled or reduced. Really, the power saving mode was unusable for me. It definitely would increase battery life if you were focused on just writing a document though.

[**Update: The power management tool actually turns out to be pretty powerful on the S10. It was not a very intuitive process, but to gain access to the real "advanced" power options, you need to double click one of the power scheme buttons in the Lenovo Power management application. The Lenovo PM software disables the Windows power management manager, which is fine with me, but can also be frustrating if you don't know how to access to the advanced options.]

When the power got low, the system dimmed the display to save power it seemed. Problem is, when I plugged in the power cord after this happened, the display still remained dim; no biggie. The battery charged up to 90% very quickly.

Software
As for included software, there was no backup CD included, unsurprisingly, but there was a backup image of the Windows installation on a hidden partition. There were actually 3 partitions on the 80 GB drive, two of which were dedicated for system backups and drivers.

In total, about half of the 80 GB drive was taken up by the backup partitions it appears, leaving less than 30 GB of free space on the main system C: partition. There was a lot of free space on the backup drive D: partition; no idea why though; it seemed to contain just some drivers and some backup files.

You could format the entire 80 GB drive, but the default install was actually rather clean I thought and without a CD drive, reinstalling Windows could possible be a big pain. I would need to try to be sure though. You might get away with just deleting the D: partition for more free space; but I dont know how important the D: drive is yet.

Ive been asked about this partition thing a lot, so I will double check the numbers I posted and report back when I figure it all out for sure. I don't think I am mistaken, but just to be sure, Check out this review; they are equally confused by the partition on the S10.

[Update: Hidden partition = ~3.5GB of 15GB used, NTFS ; Drive C = ~7 GB of 30 GB used, FAT32 ; Drive D = ~1 GB of 30 GB used, NTFS]

There was not a lot of other software pre-loaded on the S10; just some trial antivirus software, drivers and associated basic apps, and some Lenovo backup/restoration software.

Conclusion
I have not yet got a full feeling for the Lenovo S10, but my first impression from the device is a good one. If you are looking for a small, solid notebook that is capable of basic tasks, the S10 is a great choice.

The three things I liked about the S10 the most included;
-System failures can quickly be repaired thanks to the hidden system partitions and dedicated recovery button.
-The included expansion card slot
-The solid design that I have come to expect from Lenovo

Three things I didn't like;
-The trackpad buttons were fully recessed, making them harder to click with my fat thumb than normal.
-The fact that the backup partitions took up nearly 40 GB of hard drive space.
-I can't really fault Lenovo for this, as there is a 6-cell option available apparently, but the 3-cell battery can't offer a full day of mobile unwired use.


Disclaimer: This article, along with others on this site, may contain opinions and/or factual claims that may be unintentionally wrong. I'm not perfect, but I try to be. *I don't know if the term netbook is legit to use these days anymore, but until the situation is clarified, I assume it is still fair use.

Canada Computers' Daily Deal Forecast

For those in Canada, here is a sneak peak of some of the upcoming daily deals heading to Canada Computers; a popular computer store up here in the cold great north. It beats having to check the site daily.

Courts Can Access Private Facebook Profiles

The use of Facebook in the courtroom is a hot, topical issue that is currently generating a lot of buzz among lawyers. In Canada, private Facebook profiles can now be ordered to be produced in court for use in personal injury insurance litigation.

OH noes! Your insurance company is taking you to court over your disability claim and you got to pretend now that you're actually sick. No worries, just walk with a limp for the rest of the week and yelp in pain when anyone touches you - easy.. right? Well, not so fast...

You vaguely remember last month when you and your friends spent a week at the cottage, drinking beer and jet skiing without a care in the world? Well, all those private photos you uploaded to Facebook to share with only your friends will be coming back to haunt you; even if your Facebook privacy is set to maximum protection.

Courts in Canada can now demand to have access to your Facebook profile. What may be even scarier is that Facebook is known for not actually deleting photos, links, comments or profiles, even if you thought they were deleted-- Facebook really often justs 'hides' them on you, so you think things are deleted, but not so to a clever lawyer.

Even if you are able to delete everything on your own profile, what is to say your drinking buddies have done the same on their Facebook profiles?

Facebook is a scary place indeed.

Source

Panasonic PZ800 50-inch Plasma Quick Review

I like to review new electronics I buy, even if they are not exactly new to the market. Enter the Panasonic 50PZ800 plasma television, which I picked up yesterday from The Brick (here in Canada) for $1999 (CAD).

Pricing and Purchase
The MSRP for this television is $2999 CAD (or $2499 USD). The reason for the substantial discount on this television for me mostly was because the TV was a "3-month" old floor model. The sale tag price of the TV had $500 off intially (being a floor model and all), but the rep took off another $300 after a little bit of haggling. There was a store-wide clearance sale going on also, which probably helped allow the sale rep to be more flexible on the price.

At $2200, the TV was equal to the original price that the store bought the TV for from the manufacture. When the sales team was packing up the TV though, they noticed when the power was off that there were some small nicks on the display. It looked like someone punched the display with their wedding ring or something. They alerted us to this, as you couldnt tell when the display was on... the sales rep contacted the store manager though, who authorized a further $200 of the sale price, because of the damage. So, in the end, we only paid $1999 + tax + extended warranty. yes, we got a discounted extended warranty and we can exchange it for store credit in 4 years if we do not ever use it. Sounds great to me!

I was happy with my experience shopping at The Brick. They let me use their store's computer to check and compare online pricing, which they would price match if needed, and the TVs were setup in a sensible way that made comparing image quality easy. TVs are one of those things you have to see in person I find, to get a true sense of what looks good. Futureshop said they could not give us a discounted price when we asked for one, but all of a sudden they did start making lower offers when we started heading for the door. Tricky bastards. The $100-off offers they made sucked though and their extended warranties were much more expensive than what we paid at The Brick.

Pioneer vs Panasonic
I looked at Pioneer also, which Futureshop had on sale for $2999 and BB had for @3499, but The Brick did not carry. The Pioneer did look like it had really good black levels. There seemed to be a bit of choppiness in high action scenes, but that might of been simply been due to a 24 FPS input source. Who knows. The Panasonic PZ800 did not seem to have as good black levels as the Pioneer, but they both still were great. I went with Panasonic, as it was a better price, and there were some things about it that I liked, even if it didnt have as good a black level.

Nice Features of the Panasonic PZ800
The PZ800 comes with a unique THX-certified pre-calibrated image setting. This was a really nice feature for me, as I can just press a button and know Im getting a near-perfect image, without needing to calibrate the display myself. Things look natural, not-washed-out and moderately bright. For movies, this setting is awesome.

There is a Game-mode image setting, which increases the brightness and makes colors more vibrant. With movies and TV, I found this setting washed out the whites and over-saturated the colors, but it did make things BRIGHT. When I hooked up my laptop to the TV via VGA (which is another really nice feature, as my laptop does not have DVI or HDMI) things went pretty well. However, when I loaded up a computer game, with the THX setting the game seemed dark and murky. The Game-mode image setting though really did make things easier to see and made the game more pleasant. Nice. When going back to watching movies, the THX mode was remembered. double nice!

The Panasonic PZ80, PX80 and PZ75 do not have the THX or VGA PC input features I dont think. The VGA PC input though is limited to 1366 x 768 resolution i think, which was expected. The HDMI PC input though is full HD.

Black Levels
The black levels on the TV are great, although when there is a very dark scene with not much contrast, i notice that the black levels seem suddenly less-black. When there is some contrast on the screen though, when is like 99% of the time, the blacks look very black. I look forward to the days when blacks are truly 'black', but this screen does it pretty damn well still.

Sound
I thought at first that I might need to get a separate sound system for the TV, but after plugging the TV in a loading up a movie, it immediately became apparent to me that I could totally do without a big surround system. The TV has hidden in it some speakers that work quite well, and even have some bass to them. Things get pretty loud, but the bass does gets weak when the volume gets 'loud'. I'm not a big fan of surround sound systems anyways, too messy. The sound does sometimes seem to have a virtual surround sound effect, which is pretty neat. Overally, I was pleasantly suprised by the sound of this TV, and will likely not buy a separate sound system.

LCD vs Plasma
Its just my personal opinion, but I prefer Plasma over LCD. The LCDs look sharp and bright, but they also look more pixelated, flickery, and less natural. Also, the black levels on many of the LCDs I saw were pretty crappy. The actual image quality of the PZ800 is fabulous. I can't find any ways to fault it other than unrealistically wishing it had even better black levels THIS PLASMA LOOKS GREAT.

DVDs and HD material.
I don't have a Bluray player yet, but I might get one eventually. As it stands, I will be mostly watching OTA ATSC channels and DVDs. I hooked up my noname DVD player to the TV via composite, which is realize is crap, but even still things were pretty great. Sitting about 8-feet back, I watched Alien vs Predator on DVD, and was thrilled with the way things looked. I could tell it wasn't HD material from 8-feet away, but there was nothing about the image quality that bothered me.

The dark scenes in AvP were not a problem for the TV at all, and the action went by without any noticable flicker. I noticed some rainbow effect or something like that for a split second, but it was during a high contrast, black and white scene, with a lot of movement. It didnt bother me, but it was interesting that I noticed it.

As for HD sources, I hooked the TV up to my roof antenna, and was able to pull in about a dozen HD sources with the ATSC tuner. NTSC sources i also pulled in fine. The reception on the TV was great, better than any other I have used so far. Im in the Toronto area, and Im getting the New York WNED PBS HD and NY FOX 29 HD with no problem. The 1080i HD ATSC sources LOOK GREAT. Stunning. I can only imagine what Bluray might look like. From 8-feet away, i can tell a difference between SD and HD sources, as HD sources are more crisp, but both look GREAT. SD sources have no pixelization and other than looking a bit softer, they still are pleasing to watch.

In moments of high action, the ATSC HD sources do seem to have a bit of motion blur or flicker, but this might be to the limited frame rates of the source. I quickly stop noticing it after a moment, like the flicker I intially notice when at the movie theatre. It really does have less flicker than a lot of the TVs i looked at it.

The TV does show relfections and finger prints, but when the TV is on it is easy not to notice them. light scratches do not show when the TV is on.

Conclusion
Pros: Great picture, good black levels, good integrated sound system, useful THX image mode, Frameless edge-to-edge glossy display (easy to clean), simple but easy to use remote control, good OTA reception, PC VGA input

Cons: remote control is not back lit, dark levels did not seem as good as the pioneer's, SDHX card slot can only display photos--> cannot play movies it seems.

@ $2999, this TV seems a bit on the pricey side, but it is good competition for the Pioneer Plasma. After using the TV, I would find it hard to pick the Pioneer instead now if the two TVs were the same price. For the $1999 I paid for this TV, I feel like it was a great deal and I am very happy with the purchase -- even if there is a few scratches on the display. $2700 or less seems like a good price for this TV, IMO. The display is an absolute delight to watch and I really have to be picky to find any faults. It may not have Youtube or Divx support, but it does the important things VERY WELL.

Cheers.