Sony VAIO VGX-XL2 Digital Living System (Intel Pentium D Processor 920, 1 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive, Optical Drive)

by Sony

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 80.2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000EMUI4M
• Item model number: VGX-XL2
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 15, 2006

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Bring together your computing and entertainment worlds in one package and control it all with one remote with the Sony VAIO VGX-XL2 Digital Living System, which combines a high-end multimedia desktop PC and a 200-disc DVD/CD changer/recorder. Both are designed to fit into a home entertainment rack and the elegant silver and black casings will nicely complement the rest of your home entertainment system. With the VGX-XL2, you can manage all your downloaded digital content--such as music online stores, home movies from your camcorder, and photos from your digital camera--but it offers the added ability to easily organize, sort, and access packaged content from the CDs and DVDs that are sitting on your bookshelves.

The desktop PC portion of the VGX-XL2 is powered by Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (Update Rollup 2), which provides support for Media Center Extender technology built into XBox 360 game consoles, and a robust 2.8 GHz Intel Pentium D 920 dual-core processor for powering through multiple applications simultaneously and without stress. Other PC features include 1 GB of installed DDR-2 RAM (2 GB maximum), 320 GB hard drive (with room for up to three SATA hard drives (RAID 0 ready), an NVidia GeForce 6600 video processor with 128 MB of dedicated video RAM, multi-format/dual layer DVD burner, 54g Wi-Fi LAN, built-in TV tuner, multi-format memory card reader compatible with the most popular digital camera formats, and a wide assortment of pre-loaded Sony multimedia software titles. The 200-disc changer/recorder features multiformat DVD and CD burning capability with dual-layer DVD+R support.

Multimedia Features
With the XL1 Digital Living system, you can consolidate your music library by backing up your music CDs to your hard drive to be stored along with all of your downloaded music. With the touch of a few buttons, you can automatically and sequentially record up to 200 audio CDs from the media changer to the hard drive along with available album covers and track information. You can also record a series of television show episodes to the hard drive and easily transfer them to blank DVDs stored in the changer. The system alerts you to how many discs are needed and you can burn a whole season of your favorite TV program to DVDs to take on your next road trip.

Discs inserted into the 200-disc changer/recorder are automatically detected by the PC which downloads (over a wired or wireless network) available metadata on each one, including jewel case covers and artist information. For movies, an in-depth synopsis is also downloaded in addition to the star, director, producer details and more. All of this information is easily sorted and accessed using the included wireless keyboard or remote control.

Sony's SonicStage Mastering Studio software allows you to record music off of vinyl or tapes by utilizing the Studio's 24bit/96kHz processing technology, producing crisp digital quality sound. Also included are four different effects that allow you to enhance the sounds in the original recordings or to add new effects for remixing. Sony's DVgate Plus software allows you to import video footage from several sources and edit it, giving you the freedom to create your own video masterpiece.

Desktop Basics

• Hard Drive:: This entertainment-centric desktop is loaded with a gigantic 320 GB (7200 RPM) hard drive--which is about as large as you'll find in any multimedia desktop PC.
  
• Processor:: The 2.8 GHz Intel Pentium D 920 dual-core processor is near the top of the speed spectrum for this processor class (as of March 2006). An Intel dual-core processor delivers additional computing resources and help expand the PC's capabilities by providing higher throughput and simultaneous computing. You'll be able to perform multiple tasks such as digital rendering and gaming all while running virus scan or other background tasks seamlessly. Each core has 2 MB of L2 cache onboard (for a whopping 4 MB total), and the two cores share an 800MHz front-side bus.

  A hyperthreading processor helps a PC run several demanding applications at the same time. This technology enables the processor to execute two threads (parts of a program) in parallel, boosting performance during key high-drain procedures. This results in more efficient software performance, such as faster reaction times in gaming applications, and enhanced multitasking.
  

• Memory:: The VGX-XL2 comes with 1 GB of installed PC-4200 DDR RAM, with a very fast 533 MHz speed. This is a good start, but seems small in comparison to the capabilities of this machine. You'll want to max out the 2 GB capacity (which is a bit small for such a multimedia powerhouse) for your 3D gaming and video-editing needs.
  
• CD/DVD Drive:: Offering the latest in DVD writing technology, the VGX-XL2's changer/recorder has a multi-format DVD/CD drive that's compatible with both DVD+ and DVD- disc formats as well as dual-layer DVD+R discs, which can store up to 8.5 GB of data. For DVD-RW discs, it has a 16x write/6x rewrite speed, while for DVD+RW discs it has a 16x write/8x rewrite speed. For dual-layer DVD+R, it has a 4x write speed. For CDs, it has a 40x write/24x rewrite speed.

  The PC portion of the VGX-XL2 also includes a multi-format, dual layer DVD burner. For DVD-RW discs, it has an 8x write/6x rewrite speed, while for DVD+RW discs it has an 8x write/rewrite speed. For dual-layer DVD+R, it has a 4x write speed. For CDs, it has a 24x write/24x rewrite speed.
  

• Keyboard, Mouse, and Accessories:: It comes with a wireless Vaio keyboard and remote control (but no mouse). It also comes with an IR blaster for controlling a cable or satellite TV box and a wireless antenna.

Video and Audio
This desktop comes installed with NVidia GeForce 6600 video/graphics card, which offers 128 MB of dedicated video RAM, which is a bit small for such a video and multimedia PC. The GeForce 6600 features Nvidia's TurboCache technology, which is designed to increase notebook performance without increasing the size or draining the battery. NVIDIA PureVideo technology delivers smooth HD video in all formats for superb picture clarity.

The integrated TV tuner features Sony's Giga Pocket MPEG2 Realtime Encoder Board with composite video/audio, S-Video, and RF coaxial (VHF/UHF) inputs. It offers a very good range of video connections, including HDMI, DVI-D (via HDMI to DVI-D adapter), and component video outputs and gold-plated composite and S-Video inputs on the front (for connecting to a digital video camcorder).

Connectivity and Expansion Slots
For expansion, the VGX-XL2 has three half-height 3.5-inch bays (two occupied), two PCI slots (one occupied), and one x16 PCI Express slot (occupied by graphics card). It also has an integrated 54g wireless LAN that's compatible with 802.11b and 802.11g networks (requires 802.11b or 802.11g compatible access point). It comes with the following external connectors:

• 4 USB 2.0 ports (2 front, 2 back) for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
• 3 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) ports for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals (2 6-pin in rear, 1 4-pin in front)
• 1 microphone, 1 headphone
• 2 infrared transmitter out
• Multi-format memory card reader on the front, compatible with Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro/Duo, CompactFlash (Type I and II), MicroDrive, SmartMedia, MultiMedia Card, Secure Digital, and XD Picture Card

It also has an integrated 56K modem (V.90) and an RJ-45 LAN network port for a 10/100 Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems. The changer/recorder offers two FireWire (i.Link) ports.

Preloaded System and Software
The pre-installed Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (Update Rollup 2) is essentially Windows XP Professional Edition with a variety of tools to help you to create, organize, and enjoy digital media ranging from music to home movies to photo slide shows. The Update Rollup 2 upgrade offers support for the Windows Media Center Extender technology built into XBox 360 game consoles, which lets you access entertainment from your Media Center PC--whether it's live and recorded TV and movies, music, photos or Online Spotlight--on any TV in the house

It also comes loaded with a bevy of Sony multimedia software: Click to DVD (DVD creation), SonicStage (digital music), Vaio Media (network file sharing), DVgate Plus (digital video), and Image Converter (for PSP transfer). Other pre-loaded software includes Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition, Quicken 2005 New User Edition, Microsoft Works 8.0 (with word processing, spreadsheet, and calendar), Norton Internet Security (with 90-day subscription), Intervideo WinDVD, Roxio DigitalMedia SE, and SpySubtract.

Dimensions and Weight
Combined, the desktop PC and 200-disc changer/recorder measure 17 x 13.8 x 19.5 inches (WxHxD) and weigh approximately 86 pounds.

What's in the Box
This VGX-XL2 package contains the desktop PC and 200-disc changer recorder components, IR remote control (with batteries), IR blaster, wireless keyboard, HDMI cable, FireWire cable, S/PDIF optical cable, HDMI/DVD-D adapter, Mini-DVD disc adapter, wireless antenna, power cords, and printed operating instructions. It is backed by a 1-year limited hardware warranty.

Product Description

Includes: remote control, wireless keyboard, HDMI cable, Firewire cable, S/PDIF optical cable, HDMI-DVI adapter, Mini DVD adapter, wireless antenna, 6 AA batteries, 2 power cords, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 with Service Pack 2, Photoshop Elements, Premiere Standard, Works 8.0, & more. Sony VAIO(R) Digital Living System - The Sony VAIO(R) Digital Living System consists enables you to easily control nearly every aspect of your home entertainment from the comfort of your sofa. It features a powerful desktop computer, with an Intel Pentium D Processor 920 (2.8 GHz), and a 200 disc CD/DVD changers. You get the ability to manage and enjoy your digital photos, audio CDs & digital music, standard & high definition TV content, movies from the Internet, DVDs, camcorder footage and much more! Double Layer DVD Writer - (write speeds) up to 4x DL DVD+R, 8x DVD-R, 8x DVD+R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 24x CD-R, & 24x CD-RW NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT x16 PCI Express graphics card with 128MB of DDR SDRAM Sound Reality technology with DSD (Direct Stream Digital) support Integrated 802.11b/g Wi-Fi Adapter Video Outputs - HDMI, DVI-D (through HDMI to DVI-D adapter), & Component (YPbPr) Video Inputs - Gold plated Composite & 3 S-Video (1 front / 2 back) Audio Outputs - 2 S/PDIF Optical & Coaxial & Gold Plated Line Out (Left/Right) Audio Inputs - S/PDIF Optical & Gold Plated Line In (Left/Right/Front/Back) TV Tuner - Giga Pocket MPEG2 Realtime Encoder Board with 1 ATSC over-the-air High Definition tuner, Composite A/V, S-Video, Coaxial (VHF/UHF) inputs Multimedia Card Reader - Memory Stick, Memory Stick(R) PRO/Duo, Compact Flash Type I/II, SD/MMC, SmartMedia, & xD Picture Card Ports - 10/100/1000 Gigabit, 4 USB 2.0 (2 front), 3 Firewire (2 6-pin back / 1 4-pin front), Mic In, Headphone Out, 2 Infrared Transmitter Out Slots - 1 x16 PCI Express (occupied), 2 PCI (occupied) Bays - 3 3.5 half-height (1 av

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The good, the bad, and the ugly, January 13, 2007

By 

Robert W. Hulvey "Rob Hulvey" (Redondo Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony VAIO VGX-XL2 Digital Living System (Intel Pentium D Processor 920, 1 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive, Optical Drive) (Personal Computers)

I had been looking at the XL1 for a while, then heard about the XL2, so waited and bought the XL2 almost as soon as it came out, so probably overpaid for it, but it has earned its keep by taming our collection of DVDs and CDs. We have 2 small children, and no one seems to want to put the DVDs back in their cases, so they would sit in piles around the DVD player, getting scratched and knocked in the floor. I also wanted to get our CDs out of the house and reclaim the space they were taking up for other purposes, plus get them all ripped so that I could put them on my iPod and also play them anywhere in the house. Finally, we had bought a 50" plasma, and I really wanted to have a living room computer to connect to it to view family photos, listen to music, watch videos of the kids, and browse the web.

Overall, I love the unit, as it did all the things that I bought it for, but it has not been without its share of problems. My CDs are all ripped and out of the house, our DVDs are under control, and we have a screen-saver that kicks in and displays family photos at random, which is very nice. I am typing this right now via the unit using the plasma as a monitor.

I'll try to touch on some of the features and issues we've had here.

CPU
You would think that dual Pentium D 920 2.8GHz processors would make this unit pretty fast, but there are many times when I find it to be pretty sluggish. Web-response is pretty zippy, but it's really slow just after booting, which I believe is due to a myriad of background programs that run at boot time. I haven't had time to dig into what might be causing this, though I do know there is a Media Center Connect program which takes up a lot of CPU time at boot time. The other thing that bothers me is that I bought a Sanyo VPC-HD1A camera which generates MP4 hi-def videos. QuickTime, which is the only player of which I'm aware that can play this format, cannot seem to decode these videos on the XL2. In fact, the only PC in my house that is able to decode these smoothly is an HP Pavilion Media Center Edition desktop PC I have which contains a dual core AMD Athlon X2 4200+. I'm very disappointed that the XL2 can't play the HD MP4s, as I'd really like to watch them on the plasma.

DVD changer:
It's a little loud and clunky, but we put it inside the entertainment cabinet, and we don't mind it. The basic usage model for the unit is that you rip all your CDs to the hard drive just after you buy it, and then you can fill it up with your DVDs and leave them there. I'll address ripping CDs and playing DVDs separately. One other problem I've had with the DVD Changer is that sometimes the XL2 PC unit does not detect it, particularly after the main unit has crashed. To recover, I've had to power down the CPU, and then turn off the changer, wait about 15 seconds, then turn on the changer, wait until it stops whirring, then power on the CPU again. The changer seems to just go "out to lunch" if the main unit crashes. Given that it runs Windows, you can expect it to crash now and then. To be fair, this is a pretty complex device, with lots of drivers from lots of different vendors, and any one of them could be the culprit. Still, since my old CD changers and DVD players have never crashed, it shows that PC-based AV equipment has a ways to go to match the historic reliability of non-PC-based equipment. (Interestingly, my DVR/cable box is Linux based, and even it crashes and/or reboots now and then.)

Ripping CDs:
Ripping CDs is a little tedious, as it requires several steps, but overall it still beats the heck out of ripping them 1 by 1. First you have to load the CDs. Luckily, the changer does have a "speed load" feature, which can be enabled by double clicking (not too fast; hit the button for about half second, wait a second, then hit for another half second) the LOAD button. It will then take a CD, and spin to the next empty slot to accept the next CD. It will repeat this process until you wait about 10 seconds without inserting a CD, and then it will timeout. It's still tedious, but sure better than doing them 1 by 1. After the CDs are put in, the software has to first load each one, identify it, and download artwork, album name, and song titles from the internet. This takes about 20 seconds per CD. So, for example, if you put in 100 CDs, you have to wait 30 minutes before starting the ripping. Once that is complete, then you can begin ripping the CDs. Finally, once that's done, you have to eject the copied CDs. There is an "Eject Copied CDs" feature in the software, which makes this fairly easy, assuming you remember to do it right after ripping. I have forgotten to do it right away once or twice, and then I have to go back and manually eject, which is a pain. If you want to eject ALL disks, there is a "speed eject" feature similar to the "speed load". It's also good to note that Media Center will generally rip the CDs into the format that is chosen under the Media Player. So, you have to exit the Media Center, and start Media Player to choose these options before ripping, and then re-start Media Center. I personally ripped all my CDs (about 400) into "WMA lossless" format, which took up 150GB of space. That's probably overkill for most people, but I wanted to be able to import my files into iTunes to play on my iPod, and wanted to get the best possible quality. By using "lossless" format, I can be fairly sure that iTunes is making the same quality of files that it would make if it ripped the CDs itself. (I read about this trick on a forum somewhere.)

Playing DVDs:
DVDs can be loaded in the same way that CDs are loaded, so the "speed load" and "speed eject" features are just as useful. The same "20 second per disk" applies for DVDs as well. One really annoying thing about the XL2 is that it will not play a copyrighted DVD to the component outputs unless the screen resolution is set to a fairly low level (800x600, I think). This forces you to leave the XL2 in a lower resolution mode, which then affects the appearance of the Windows desktop. This is supposedly to thwart hi-quality DVD copies from being made. This can be remedied by using HDMI to connect the XL2 to the TV. If you must use the component outputs, then you can get software such as "DVD Region+CSS Free" which can allow DVD playback at the higher resolutions even on the component outputs. However, I had problems with this interfering with the automatic recognition of CDs and DVDs in the changer. I eventually found that I had to disable RegionFree before inserting the disks, and then re-enable it after the automatic detection and catlogging completed, which was a bit of a pain. RegionFree does have other nice features like skipping the FBI warnings and previews, and disabling any navigation limitations that the DVD may have. Since I switched to HDMI, I disabled RegionFree for the time being until I have more time to figure out why it messes up the recognition functions. I might also try a different brand of software to see if it improves things, since I'd still like to be able to skip the warnings and trailers.

Recording to DVD:
Ironically, though we thought this was a pretty cool feature when we were contemplating the purchase of the unit, we've never used it. You cannot copy DVD with this feature, but you can put in blank DVDs and back-up recorded TV to the DVDs if you want. Again, we've never actually used this feature, as we just don't record enough TV on the unit, and the TV that is recorded seems a bit noisy ("staticky"). For the few series that we would like to actually watch over and over, we would rather just buy them at retail, as many shows come in widescreen format and with extras, and in much higher quality.

Video outputs:
I also noticed that the XL2 seemed to have some noise on the component video outputs. With my cable box, and using the same cables, I noticed no difference in quality between component and HDMI, so I have the cable box connected via component to make room for the XL2 on the HDMI port of the TV. Still, it's disconcerting that the component ports on the XL2 are so noisy. It looks clearly like some digital noise, as I see diagonal lines across the screen, especially when using Media Center where the background is mostly blue. I should also note that, when I first hooked up HDMI to the TV, the XL2 was already powered up, and nothing came out on the TV screen. I had to power down and restart (not just reboot) the machine before the XL2 seemed to recognize that there was an HDMI cable connected. It may be best to connect the HDMI cable while the XL2 is powered down, then boot it up (that's probably what the instructions say, but who reads those? :-). Also, I would NOT recommend trying to change the video drivers to newer ones from Nvidia. I tried it, but had lots of problems, and then restored the original drivers. I think the HDMI port is an XL2-specific feature that is not present on most of other GeForce 6600 graphics cards, so it may not even be supported properly by the generic drivers that Nvidia provides.

Using the XL2 for computing on the TV:
I currently use a 1240x692 mode with my 1080i plasma (1366x768 native resolution, I believe). With the icons set to large, it's fairly readable at about 10 to 12 feet. Sony provides a tool called Liquid Surf which allows web-pages to be magnified. Optionally, you can uninstall Liquid Surf, and upgrade to Internet Explorer 7, which has a similar feature. I find I can read most things at 100%, but some sites use small print that requires 125% or 150% to read easily.

Keyboard:
I hate the keyboard. It's usable, but it barely has enough range to make it 10 to 12 feet across my living room. It also has things like Home, End, PageUp, PageDown doubled up with other keys so that you have to use the Fn... Read more ›

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Media PC, August 9, 2006

By 

Shervin Farivar "SDF" (Costa Mesa, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sony VAIO VGX-XL2 Digital Living System (Intel Pentium D Processor 920, 1 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive, Optical Drive) (Personal Computers)

I did a lot of research before I purchased this unit. I wanted a Media PC that would fit in my stereo rack that would actually look like my other components. My final two choices were this sony and the HP. I chose the Sony because it has HDMI (I like having the sound transfered over Digital) output, which none of the other Media PCs have out there and the processor was a dual core, which means it's more up to date than other units I looked at.

The setup was real easy, although when I connected it to my TV it didn't like it. I had to update the video driver before it worked correctly, I started by using the component cable. My TV supports 1080P natively, so the picture looks great. The 200 Disk changer works flawlessly and pretty easily. The keyboard that comes with it is allright, I wish it were a bluetooth keyboard, but I guess we can't have it all. The Remote is okay as well, It's not very ergonomic, it's a standard Media PC remote with some minor Sony Tweaks, it's not a sony remote by any means. Since I don't have an ethernet port near my TV, I have to use the wireless G that's built into the unit; This sony has one of the strongest receivers I've seen in a wireless network card.

The only think I don't like about this unit is that it doesn't really have room for expantion. It seems that all the PCI slots are being used by the two tunner cars that are in the unit. I haven't dared to open it to see if maybe one of them can be removed. Also it's kind of pricy, but my experience with the new VAIO PCs has been that they are very reliable. I also think that they could have used a higher end graphics card like a 7600 series or above nVidia.

Overall, I'd recommend it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Do Not Buy This Item, December 23, 2006

By 

Lisa Noon "IBMr" (Boca Raton, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony VAIO VGX-XL2 Digital Living System (Intel Pentium D Processor 920, 1 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive, Optical Drive) (Personal Computers)

Was excited by the specs. Install was a mess - video driver issues right off the bat. NVIDIA 6600 GeForce card - their website says no HDMI support, nonetheless it's installed in this box. Sony Tech Support was no help, in fact they gave all their Digital Living System support people three days off over Christmas. The carousel is not bad - I managed to rip 450 CDs and 100 DVDs. When I went to attach a USB 2.0 HDD to back it all up I found out the USB drivers were bad. Machine crashed while I was trying to fix that, and when it came back up the wireless keyboard/mouse were no longer working. I had to reformat the drive to get past that and yes - lost all of the music. Have to say even if it worked I'm not all that keen on having Windows manage my HDTV. Watching HD through a Window is ugly. There's a 15% restocking fee which is close to $400 - so be very careful. This item needs alot of technical attention. Unless you have a guru in your house you're in for an ugly experience.