Customer Reviews

Sony KDF-E50A10 50-Inch LCD Rear Projection Television

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

This is my first bigscreen, and first hdtv. Previous set was a 36" Toshiba CRT.

I've been sitting on the sideline for 3 or 4 years waiting for prices to drop, and the technology to stabilize. I was sold on dlp, but the color wheel reliability and rainbow problems finally pushed me toward lcd (50" hd plasma was out of my price range). So, I anxiously awaited the arrival of these Sony sets at the brick and mortar stores. These are the first Sony sets I would consider, since they finally decided not to waste the width of the tv on speakers. The hidden speaker design on these sets is brilliant! Neither the height or the width of this set is very impacted by the speakers, which makes this set WAY more comapct than most sets out there.

So, what's the picture quality? Well, after seeing a couple of these sets in person, I was initially very dissappointed. Bad screen door (black lines between pixels) and a very underwhelming picutre. Then, I finally came across one that had a high quality HD feed, and was blown away. Very sharp and colorful (though with red push). So I pulled the trigger and brought it home that day.

When I got it unpacked and set up I did a channel scan and immediately was blown away by the picture quality of 1080i HD on TNT. I watched "Fellowship of the Ring" that night with my jaw on the floor. I am officially addicted to HD! Standard definition is more than acceptable though, and dvd's look great even being upconverted from 480i over component cables. I did not find any stuck pixels or other defects, though I did see one floor model with a block of 3-5 pixels that were stuck. It was not noticeable past 6-8 feet though.

My viewing area has some seating on the sides, with the worst being around 45 degrees off center. The viewing angle on this set is excellent, and the brightness even that far off center is practically the same as straight on.

The highly anticipated feature on this set is the Automatic Iris control which throttles back the light depending on the overall brightness of the scene being displayed. In theory, this allows the tv to produce deeper blacks on dark scenes. Personally I don't think it does a whole lot to automatically improve the PQ, but I like the adjustability that it provides from the menu. I crank the iris open during day viewing, since I have a lot of windows in my room. At night I cut it back to minimum and the black levels are much improved.

HITS
- Great Picture!
- Compact dimensions, and light weight
- Great upconversion of 480i dvd and standard def tv.

MISSES
- Sony deleted their excellent Twinveiw PIP for these models
- Only one HDMI input
- Does not convert all audio to the optical digital output
like the Mitsubishi LCD RPTVs do.

I will not be using this set for gaming, so I can't comment on that aspect.

Why 4 stars? I think it was very cheesy of Sony to delete PIP on a $2k+ tv!

Update:

Sports broadcast in 720p are absolutely amazing on this set. I got pulled into watching a Nascar race just because the picture was so incredible.

12/7/05 Update: I continue to be amazed by this tv. I saw it side by side with the new Sony 50" sxrd set at Sears, and while the sxrd definitely was a slightly better picture, it isn't worth practically 2X the price. Especially in your home, you won't have the 2 sets to compare to each other. I've been over to friends' houses who have hd projection crt, and it just doesn't compare. I'm still sold.

I do have 2-3 stuck pixels that have shown up, and they are all green. The ONLY time you can see them is on a completely black screen (an unused input works), when you're standing less than about 3 feet from the screen, and when you know exactly where to look. You'd have to be the most @nal person on the planet to get annoyed by them.

I have satellite and a progressive DVD connected my new Sony. DVD's look great. It's like being being at the movie theater. The sound is very good. Satellite standard definition is upconverted by the TV. The standard signal picture is good but not as good as my Sony tube TV. This TV is great for HD signals and DVD and is acceptable for standard definition. If you watch mostly standard definition TV I'd get the 42 inch. If you watch DVD's and HDTV then this is the best set for the money right now. The picture and colors are very bright out of the box but has three picture settings that can be customized. The Wide modes for standard TV work well especially the Wide Zoom. Standard TV is very watchable but don't expect a crystal clear picture. HDTV is as good as the more expesive plasma TVs. The TV is very light and can be easily moved. The menu is very useable and you can adjust each input's settings and they are memorized. Overall this is a great TV. Probably the best projection HDTV for viewing standard TV signals and HD and DVD. I spent weeks looking at all of them.

This television was well worth the money. Even though it is an entry level, it was plenty for my viewing space. After purchasing, I used the Avia configuration disk to tune the picture and am nothing but impressed. Out-of-the-box the picture was dissappointing; a little too much red push, too much contrast, too much brightnes, and way too much sharpness - this basically made the picture too washed out with too "hard" of edges. After configuring though, it is phenomenal! The detail is superb for DVD and HD. Even standard cable channels are on the plus side of acceptable. Make sure to use the composite video or HDMI, though. I found the TV through consumer reports, and after researching and reading reviews decided it would be the one for me. Consumer reports ranked it #2 for its class, I trust the Sony name, and most buyers said the problems they were having could be "tuned" out. I'm glad I picked it, and would buy it again. Superb product!

I picked the KDF-E50A10 after comparing it to both Toshiba and Samsung DLP's. The Toshiba DLP's have a bad history with premature bulb burnout and long wait times for replacement. I do not want to deal with that! The Samsung DLP's are great too, but I thought the Sony 3LCD technology expanded the viewable area (side to side) and improved on video game playability. I played an XBOX 360 on a friend's 2nd generation Samsung DLP and it was plagued by a slight timing delay. The pricing for the Sony was great too! I researched prices on www.pricegrabber.com and purchased from Abes of Maine out of New York; everything went great with them.

The Sony was easy to set-up and turned on without a hitch. I was a little disappointed that it only had one HDMI input, but this could easily be solved by purchasing a high-quality HDMI switcher available at www.monoprice.com. I will be buying one of these in the near future so I can easily add other HDMI devices. For now, I have my upscaling DVD player (Denon S-301) hooked up to the HDMI and my Hi-Def Motorola cable box hooked up via component video. They both look outstanding on this television! Inherent in LCD displays is the "screen door effect" which is only visible if you sit really close to the TV. I don't know why somebody would buy a big screen TV and sit 3-feet away, but my couch is about 7-feet away and it looks GREAT.

This television requires a bit of tweaking to look its best. It comes preset from the factory at a "vivid" setting, which is to make it look brighter while on display at a store. When you set it up be sure to change the settings to best suite you viewing environment. There are diagnostic DVD's available along with a great device called SpyderTV to help you tweak it to perfection.

I really like this television and am happy with my purchase decision. Try it!

Overall, I've been very happy with this product. I compared it in the store to the Samsung 50 inch DLP and found the two TV's to be comparable, although I thought the Sony was a little bit brighter.

Bottom line: If you can afford this TV, you need to upgrade to HD on your satellite or cable unless you can settle for over-the-air HD with an outdoor antenna like I do.

I was horrified at first when I set up this TV because the first thing I saw were the local non-HD channels over my satellite system. These were not acceptable--so pixelated, in fact, that it reminded me of watching a overly zoomed windows media movie on a computer monitor. The other standard definition satellite channels look OK. They're definitely brighter than a regular TV, but flaws from an imperfect signal are definitely visible.

I realized I had gotten my money's worth when I hooked up an antenna in my attic to receive over the air HD on my local channels. Some of the programs are absolutely breathtaking, especially PBS HD which has lots of history and nature programs similar to Discovery Channel. (Yeah, someday I'll upgrade my satellite, but one thing at a time.) The "screen door" effect is noticeable looking straight on from 6 feet or less but not too bad at a normal viewing distance as long as there isn't a still, solid background.

DVD's look very good on my new Sony DVD player using component video cables. (By the way, I wound up returning a Sony HDMI upconverting DVD player and exchanging it for a basic one because I could barely tell the difference between HDMI and component hookups on this TV).

The Wega Gate user interface takes some getting used to, and the remote is a bit awkward, but I'm not going to give a TV a bad rating based on usability. My only real complaint is that the optical digital output only seems to work on over-the-air HD channels. When I hooked up the HDMI upconverting DVD player (before returning it), I realized that the optical output did not work for pushing the HDMI audio signal out to my amplifier.

Anyway, I think you'll like this TV. And while I wouldn't add points based on appearance, this TV looks really cool--the slim design and hidden speakers on the bottom make it look nice in a living room without it being the centerpiece.

I did my homework (like many others) for 4 weeks, before deciding on the Sony kdf-e50a10. At first, i purchased the samsung hl-r4667w which had a good picture. i also noticed the sony, which had a slightly better picture and was a little larger 50", but was about another $400.

after taking the samsung home, i realized two things:
1. i like the sharper picture (as opposed to the 'cinema look')
2. DLPs have 2 moving parts (color wheel and fan), while LCD projection has 1 (fan).

-if you will be watching alot of movies (of darker persuasion like tim burton or night scenes) and prefer the cinema look, then the samsung is fine and you save money.
-if you will be watching regular tv, sports or brighter movies (like nemo, etc.) and prefer a brighter, better defined picture, then it may be worthwile to spend the extra money.
-last, because these are all new technologies, i just figured less moving parts are probably better.

i did not give a 5 star because now the 1080Ps are out, and there's no comparison. But for entry-level 720P lcd rptv, the sony kdf-e50a10 is pretty much at the top (especially b/c amazon has them on sale right now for under $2000).

hope this review helped.

The picture on this TV is fantastic and you cannot beat the price. Looks great in both bright and low light. Very clean design, not much casing around the edges of the screen when viewed from the front. Fairly light and easy to move.

Standard definition channels don't look as good as standard tube TV's but I haven't seen a 50"+ HDTV for which that wasn't the case.

Price it out at Best Buy, Circuit City, and similar and collect the best combination of financing and price, they are all willing to match the other (though less likely to match a wholesale or online store's price).

Great picture, HD is brilliant.

Criticisms:
1) The remote is a diaster. Captions take seven or eight keystrokes to turn on or off.
2) There are slightly less pixels than the previous generation WE655. Not a big loss since this actually makes it match the 720p standard. This makes the screen door effect somewhat more noticeable than the WE655, especially with standard definition.

But overall, a great TV. Great blacks for an LCD projection.

As our 'little' 25" regular TV died, we decided to flip the bucks and go all out. After extensive research on the internet and viewing TV's in the store, we settled on this Sony rear-projection. I know what you are thinking. The first thing that comes to mind when you hear rear-projection is those awful giant behemoths from the 80's and 90's, but that isn't so anymore. This TV is a 50", but I can pick it up easily by myself and the picture quality is, like, WOW. It really is like watching TV again for the first time. A few notes though for folks looking to buy a big-screen...1) If you are going to spend the money on one, then also call your cable company and have your cable box swapped out for a hi-def box. There is no reason to buy a hi-def TV if you don't have a hi-def connection. 2) Don't turn away from a rear-projection. There are other types out there that are mucho pricy and the picture isn't that much better, but can cost three times as much. 3) Remember that when you see those TV's in-store, they have perfect pictures because of their digital input, hi-def, wide screen connections. Don't be fooled by this. If the program you are watching was not recorded by a hi-def camera or is not digital (like a VHS tape), then it does not matter how much your TV cost, the picture is going to borderline on crappy. In fact, it will be worse than a regular TV because you are taking a picture and stretching it out to a 50" wide screen. A regular TV screen is more or less square, but when you stretch it out, it looks terrible.
This Sony Grand Wega, however, allows you to adjust for that distortion. The remote control is a bit confusing, but once you read the manual on how to use it, it becomes quite the tool for picture/sound control. As most know who have had big screens in the past, there is one problem. When you move off-center of the picture, the picture begins to fade out. Not so with this TV. Once we got ours hooked up, our hi-def cable box installed and turned on the INHD2 channel...WOW!!!! You could swear that you could reach right into the picture and touch what you are seeing. At around $2000, this TV is worth the money!

Over the weekend a friend invited me to come along to Best Buy to look at HDTVs as he was set on buying one. When we walked in our attention immediately turned to a large-screen TV set in a sofa-seating area. We both thought it was a flat-panel TV, because the image was both bright and sharp and looked great even under the poor lighting conditions at BB (you'll know what I mean if you've ever been inside a BB store). We sat down and flip through a few "channels" (mostly demo videos). We then tried to view the screen from the sides and found the quality still excellent. It was this point that my sharp eyes discovered this was a rear projection TV, not a flat panel. And the one on display was this 50" LCD rear projection Sony TV.

One advantage LCD projection TVs have over LCD TVs is the LCD silicon chip is very small in the projection TV which means it's much cheaper and easier to make. Many LCD TVs, (esp. those from second-tier brands like Philips, Westinghouse or Samsung), suffer the dreaded "dead pixel" problem, whereby some pixels will be stuck on one color (usually green or red). From what I've read, this is not a problem with LCD projection TVs.

If you want a large-screen TV and don't want to pay an arm and a leg for a plasma and don't care to go for the vanity of hanging up your TV on a wall, this Sony is a very good choice. It's the best rear projection TV I've come across, be they LCD-based or DLP-based or CRT-based. I also think it's stylish and looks solid built. If you have the dough, a 50" plasma is also a good choice esp. when you look at the excellent picture quality of sets from Panasonic and Pioneer. Plasma TVs also give you slightly better "cinematic" modes whereby different levels of black are better reproduced. Better, personally, I prefer bright pictures with rich colors when I watch TV and movies, so I think this Sony will please most consumers -- and won't cause too much eye strain after watchign the "Twilight Zone" for 48 hours straight.