live view

The lcd can only show 230,000 pixels vs 14.600.000 pixels what the sensor have so why use them all, it will only heat up the sensor more.

The only problem is that when you zoom in it doesn't increase in the amount of pixels, read this link

Liveview was the first thing I turned off in the camera when I got it.
The liveview implementation is terrible in the K20D.
AF takes a century to complete and you can't even zoom in to a true 1:1 magnification, it only has digital zoom on the allready low resolution image.
Using it for focus checking is next to impossible.

Liveview in the K20D is clearly a demand from the marketing dept. and not something the engineers gave a lot of thought.

And, just about all manufacturers claim the number of SUBpixels of the LCD display and not the number of pixels.
Normally a pixel in a LCD panel has three subpixels (red, green and blue).
Camera manufacturers have a nasty habit of using the number of subpixels (marketing dept. again)

So 230000 subpixels accounts for 76666 pixels which, not surprisingly, is very close to the total amount of pixels a 320x240 screen has (76800).

See this link: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond300/page3.asp

Live View on my K20d was the single most disappointing thing about the camera for me!

I tried it once and never again.

that also counts for the sensor but those have 2 greens, 1 blue & 1 red
but that's a bit harder to calculate because the processor mix the information of the surounding pixels together so I don't know how we should proceed from this point, any suggestions?

That is true, but the output is 14600000 pixels because of the interpolation. The big difference is that a CCD or CMOS does not have subpixels, a image sensor is only able to detect light (in other words it can only "see" gray values). Because of the Bayer pattern filter that is attached to the sensor individual pixels detect red, green or blue light.
The colour information is calculated by the processor because it knows which pixel has a green, red or blue filter attached.

depends on how you see it really.
the information coming out from the sensor has subpixels because every pixel only records 1/3th of the light; red, green or blue only after it comes out of the processor that aplies interpolation you cant speak of subpixels anymore.
interpolation isn't 100% acurate and since there are more green pixels (more info about the colour green) than red or blue ones, it will be the sharps. have you ever tried to make photos from just red, green or blue objects you will see a diffrence in resolution.

Currently I am fighting against myself not to buy a K20D, the extra crop factor qnd higher ISO over my K10D would be nice but they are not really THAT important to me at the moment.
Had the Liveview been implimented properly and given 1:1 zoom for focus I would have bought one a while ago for macro use.

Me, too, probably!
Andy

Looks like I will dissapointed when I try the LiveView feature on the K20D...It sounds like it is far from what I had imagined it would be like.

Fortunately it's something i'm not giving much weight to - If I did, i'd go but a Sony. There are MANY more reasons to have the K20D.

Hi, "Live view" "video" Ok if you want the "Gimmicks", personally I just want a good camera that does what a good camera should, take good images, That is why I opted for the Pentax cameras my K20 and K200, I have tried other makes including Canon-Nikon, They just did not suit for one reason or another nothing too bad but Pentax suits my pocket , Quality at a sensible price.
Just a thought for any one who uses a washing machine (I am Married :cry the new machines have loads of settings and you use just two or three. Most photograpers I know mainly use "Apature priority", "studio portrait" work is mainly in manual mode
If I want “live view” I would use a compact also “video” a Camcorder! Some of these "do it all" "Jack of all trades" cameras are usually master of none.
Or they cost the earth to buy, just for the "posers"
Give me a good honest camera anyday.
Not for getting I can use lenses dating back many years, at very little cost and of course the very latest SDM* ones.

If you want video, then a Pentax compact will shoot fun videos of quality probably a bit better than YouTube. Serious videos need a proper video camera IMHO.

I've used LiveView just because it is there, it wasn't even on my list of things to check when buying my K20d.

I must admit, it is ok in a few test/mucking around situations, but to use it in the real world? I've not tried.

I've also changed the switch (On/Off/Liveview) to take a reference shot rather than display the Liveview function.

Of course, this is my personal preference, some may actually like it.