Note: The KDF-E50A10 was setup in Sears on the showfloor, with moderate lighting conditions and receiving an HD signal.
First, I would like to point out the set looks gorgeous, externally. The thin black bezel around the screen makes the picture look larger than 50" and the silver speakers on the bottom add style, while not going too elegant.
As for the picture quality, it was definitely an improvement over the WE655 from 2004. The first thing I noticed was that black levels have significantly improved, although not as good as a direct view CRT. Most importantly, I was happy to see that black hues actually looked black rather than navy blue. Finally, black levels are acceptable on 3LCD rear projection technology, and are on par with DLP, if not better. This is not an exaggeration -- I'm being completely honest. Overall, contrast is quite good. I can't really complain in this area, other than the fact that it's not as good as CRT. I would say the black levels are on par with plasma. What was very impressive was that full black screen looked totally black, with absolutely no light leakage to be found. I couldn't believe it. I also went into the menu and played around with the iris. On a scale of 0 - 5, the default setting is 2, which is just right. If you move it toward zero, the screen dims, whereas moving the notch toward 5, the screen brightens up and causes blacks to look horrible. Adjusting the iris doesn't technically make black blacker, but it rather adjusts the light output. It is preferable to leave it at 2, which creates the best black level that the set is capable of. I'm not sure if there is an auto iris function.
Thankfully, the screen door effect was far less bothersome than last year's model. I was viewing this set from about 10 feet away, and SDE is a non-issue at that distance. Moreover, the silk screen effect was very minimal in the A10, finally making it a non-issue in 3LCD technology. Sure, SDE and SSE existed, but you really have to focus on it to see it. It's not an obstruction to normal viewing as it was on the WE655.
Another notable quality is the brightness uniformity. Whether the screen was totally black, white, or full of imagery, light was evenly dispersed among the screen. This, I believe, is an improvement over the WE655 as well.
Colors were vibrant, though I'm not sure I would call them lifelike. The CRT sets had true-to-life hues, while the 3LCD seemed to be slightly on the cool side of hues. For example, there was a man wearing a red shirt, and it had an orange tint to it on the 3LCD, while it looked realistically red on the CRT direct view set. Compared to the DLP right next to it (Toshiba), however, colors looked more natural. DLP had a severe orange/green tinge to the overall picture.
The A10 does a fantastic job at handling fast motion. I saw sports scenes, with baseball players throwing balls, cars speeding on a raceway, a first person view zooming through a highway, and there was absolutely no motion smearing. Perhaps it was extant, but it's virtually a non-issue. I was very happy to realize this, since I am looking for an HDTV for extensive video game use. I did see a red logo slide across full black screen, and it looked blurry, but I think that may be attributable to frame rate, rather than the LCD pixels themselves. Other than that, motion was essentially on par with a CRT.
Viewing angle is a non-issue as well, especially on the horizontal axis. Even at 170 degrees, you can easily make out the entire picture. Vertically, if you view the screen from about a 45 degree angle below the screen, you can still make out the entire picture, although the top part of the screen will fade somewhat.
Pixellation (or posterization) was not a problem on this set either. I realized that CRTs can suffer from this problem, too, but it's a rare occurence. This type of artifacting usually occurs on plasmas.
After about a half hour of critical viewing of the A10, I can honestly say that Sony is offering a great picture for a great price. 3LCD rear projection is coming quite close to the point where it can be compared to CRT direct view. The differences are minimal than ever now. Response time is on par, and contrast is in between that of the WE655 and a Sony CRT. This is certainly a significant leap in performance in LCD projection technology. In fact, LCD RPTV is even better than direct view LCD, which had horrendous smearing and no better black levels. The KDF-E50A10 is a winner in it's arena, and should definitely give DLP a run for its money.
Heck that could be my X360 launch funds right there 
