Sony's Vaio VA all-in-one Media Center PC
By Ryan Block 
posted October 19th 2005 10:25AM
posted October 19th 2005 10:25AM
Sony loves the TV-PC all-in-one combo media boxes,
make no mistake about it. Their latest pending is the US release of the
Vaio V, caled the Vaio VA; it's got a 20-inch widescreen
XBRITE display, dual-layer DVD recorder, and runs Windows Media Center—should set you back about $2,000 when it debuts
later this month. Not too shabby for a cramped dorm room, but we can't really see using this full time the same way we
can't really see using your iMac full time as a media PC without an accompanying TV (yet).
[Via I4U]
nice legs, shame about the face
Sony have been quite quiet about moving to Windows Media Center.. What's happened to Gigapocket?
Amen, to that Anon-S ... I liked the days when Sony had good software development. Hopefully they start to pick that up with their reform plans for the next two fiscal years.
gross. they need to take a design hint from the imac g5.
Sony (and other companies, like Apple) love combo devices because you have to upgrade them as a unit. Look at the display on that thing. When you upgrade, you'll have to get a new one. No swapping out of the PC components only; even if they say that will be possible, you know Sony doesn't even support their own "standards" for very long.
Interesting that the main design goal is to make it look wider than the 20" iMac.
Man, it sure is ugly...
heh. latest imacg5 20" + elgato eyeTV, sh1ts all over this meandering sony cr^p. please...
gigapocket sucked. in fact, sony software sucks! sonic stage sucked. their interfaces are always hard to use and understand. media center runs circles around gigapocket.
Dang... who hit this Vaio with the ugly stick.
Hopefully this is not an indication of what the future will bring from Sony.
:(
At least the new CONNECT player looks decent, though people want to call it an iTunes ripoff. It's a trendy GUI design ... get over it. I understand that looks mean a lot, but seriously, everyone. You guys are all Apple-ma-tized.
HIDEOUS!!
EyeTV + iMac = Nirvana. Period.
Media Center PC? wtf... I already have a dvd player, why should I buy a F@*&KING computer to do the same damn thing?
Personally, VAIO V series looked much better than the VA series. For some reason this design is a bit off sonystyle fashion. They also dropped VAIO Zone which replaced GigaPocket and is a wonderful software application with a beautiful GUI. The JP version of this PC has VAIO ZONE 1.5 and you can also change the plates that come in colors.
VAIO X Digital Living definately rocks!
Agree that Mac with EyeTV is better solution. Add RadioShark (if you really need it - so much is now available via web). Have G5 with dual 30" Cinema HD monitors and EyeTV 500 which is awesome HD combo. Only limitation is conversion to other formats is slow.
^^^ Uh, yes; that'd be the ideal situation; but to compete with baseline models such as this *shudder* thing, the iMac is the best bet.
And for those who have discovered how to transfer non-converted EyeTV files between Macs via AirPort Extreme... life is that much better.