I'm boring, it would be safe old black for me

I have to admit the difference is pretty obvious to me. Good that my K-7 video is at 720p the output struggles to compare with my camcorder, not that it's bad, it's just not at the standard of a dedicated tool. What I would say is that to my eye the step from standard definition to HD ready seems bigger than the step from HD ready to full HD.
Where I believe D-SLRs really score is the flexibility of the different lenses and the artistic avenues this opens up.

With regard to broadcast HD, I understood transmission was 1080i and 720p, at least it is from Sky HD :
The subject of screen size / viewing distance, HD ready verses full HD and LCD verses Plasma is a whole major new discussion, so I won't get into that one

However I do agree with you on HD editing. I do a reasonable amount myself at full HD resolution from my HDR-SR11 camcorder. Editing can be a time consuming and PC taxing business even on a quad core machine with plenty of RAM. Hey ho, all good fun though

Well 'full' HD movie capture is actually not correct, for that it would have to be capable of 1080P rather than 720P (1920 x 1080 verses 1280 x 720).
Still not to be sniffed at however

And I'll chip in with this group review http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q408enthusiastgroup/ but I expect you have already seen it

With regard to the focal lengths, no she's quite happy with it. For the use it is put to wide angle (24mm equiv.) to short zoom is ideal.

The 16-50 certainly isn't at it's best wide open but I would have another go for comparison when conditions are more closely matched.

Perhaps a new collaboration with Samsung?

Great little camera, I bought one for my wife a couple of months back. Build is excellent, it's nice and compact and the 3" screen is superb. As you mentioned it has a fast f/2 2.8 lens and I believe strikes the right balance between wide angle, zoom and optical quality. Also given the relatively small sensor size higher ISO performance is really quite impressive.
I also looked at the G9/10 but concluded the LX-3 was a better tool for her/our general needs. We've also bought the neat retro leather case for it. It's a fine little camera, she loves it and I have to say I'd be happy with too (I do use it occasionally)

Very impressive again from Pentax, that looks like a killer spec for an entry level D-SLR.
Looks like they are continuing on with the K-m body which fine because it's a well put together quality design.

Ouch, that is bright