Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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 key to get to them, and I find that REALLY annoying. Furthermore, it has NO media control keys!!! I guess they figured that users would just use the remote for that, but I hate having to reach for the remote if I'm already typing on the keyboard. It has a touchpad, which is nice, and works reasonably well. I'm probably biased, since I design Bluetooth keyboards, mice, remote controls, game controllers, etc., as part of my job, but I really have to wonder why they didn't go with Bluetooth for this unit. I will soon be replacing this keyboard with a Bluetooth keyboard that has an integrated pointing device.

Remote Control:
The remote works Ok, and is like most of the remotes that come with Media Center PCs. It uses infrared to communicate to the console, which is a problem for me as my XL2 sits behind my TV. Luckily, I was able to steal the USB-attached infrared receiver unit from another HP Media Center PC I have, and it works perfectly with the XL2. The USB cable was long enough to put the receiver unit below the TV where it can "see" the remote signals. Here again, Bluetooth would have been much smarter. Infrared is cheap, but given that the XL2 is positioned as a high-end product, I expect a lot more from it. The remote is not a universal remote, so it can only control the XL2, and nothing else. Hence, I use a Logitech Harmony 880 as my primary remote, as it can control my TV, my audio amp/receiver, and the XL2. I could have used Harmony 890 which has RF capability, but it was rather pricey, and I had the extra USB-attached receiver laying around unused already.

Recording TV:
Ironically, I did not buy the XL2 to record TV, even though it has the ability to watch both standard and HD TV. We do use it to record shows for our kids so that babysitters and grandparents only have to be "trained" on how to use one piece of equipment, i.e. the XL2. We put most of our other shows on a separate DVR from the cable company. The video quality of TV on the XL2 seems a little low, as they seem "noisy". DVDs look great, though, so I'm pretty sure the noise is due to a low-quality TV tuner. We have an extremely strong cable signal at our house (they even had to attenuate it a little when we got a cable modem, as it was too strong), and TV looks fine on every other device we have, so I know it's not the cable company. I imagine video would look a lot better if I used the cable company's tuner and fed composite or component video into the XL2 rather than using the XL2s tuner. I have not actually tried the XL2's ATSC (HD) tuner, since I don't have an antenna, and it has a seperate input connector which I've been too lazy too hook up. We already get HD on cable via the cable box, so I don't really need the ATSC receiver in the XL2.

Away Mode:
The XL2 is supposed to support a new mode in Media Center called "Away Mode". Per the documentation, the XL2 can only automatically wake up and record TV shows if it is in Away mode. As far as I can tell, Away mode's main benefit is that it allows the machine to wake up more quickly. It seems to be just like the "fully awake" mode, except the audio and video are disabled, so it doesn't save nearly as much power as Standby mode. Per the documentation, the XL2 supposedly can't automatically wake up from the Standby state to record TV, which I think is really odd, since I've seen HP Media Center machines which explicitly claim to be able to wake up from Standby as well as Away mode to perform scheduled recording. Away mode is entered by pressing the power button on the XL2 main unit, or by pressing the power button on the remote. At first, I could enter Away mode for a few minutes, and then could exit. However, if I left it in Away Mode for about 10 minutes or more, it would never respond thereafter until I powered it down and re-booted. There would be an orange light on the face of the main unit, indicating a suspended state, but it would not wake up unless I hit the button. Eventually, I tried looking in the BIOS, and found a setting to allow PCI devices to wake the machine. This setting was disabled. After enabling this, Away mode seemed to start working even after being in the mode for >10 minutes. Then I started having another problem. After about 20 minutes, I could wake the machine, but the video would be mostly black, with flashes of color now and then. I finally figured out that the screen-saver was kicking in while in Away mode, and somehow screwing up the graphics card. I disabled the screen-saver, and now Away Mode works as expected. I just need to find another screen saver that displays random photos that is compatible with Away mode, or else nag the maker of the screensaver I was using to fix their product to be aware of Away mode.

Power consumption:
The unit pulls about 200W when it's fully awake, and about 100W in Away mode, so Away mode is not much of a power saver. I'd prefer to leave it in Standby if it could wake up and record, but the documentation indicates it won't work. I may try it anyway to see what happens. Our power bill shot up recently, and we realized that it was probably because we now have a 500W plasma on a lot of the time, and a 200W cable company DVR, and a now a 200W Media Center PC. I had planned to use the XL2 as a server for my music and other media to other PCs in the home, but now I think I will probably by an HP MediaVault server that pulls only about 30W to do this job, and keep the XL2 powered off or in Standby. Being a designer of consumer electronics, I think it is rather irresponsible of the designers of these products not to do a better job of saving power, both for environmental reasons, and because it costs their customers a lot of money to pay for the electricity their products waste.

I've tried to capture our experiences with the major features of the XL2 here. I hope these are helpful to others considering purchasing this unit, or who have already purchased the unit but have not fine-tuned it yet. Overall, I do really like the unit, but since I'm a designer of consumer electronics products myself, there are a lot of things that I believe could have been done much better. There is an XL3 rumored to be on the way to support the Blu Ray disc format. Personally, I am a little leary of buying a hi-def DVD player until the format "war" settles down a bit, and there are more hi-def DVDs in the stores. So, for the moment I'm content with the XL2 and just standard DVDs, since they still look very good on an HDTV or EDTV.htp

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.

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.

I bought this new off Ebay to use as a computer with my 24" Sony monitor only to find it only works off a TV. I'm sadly disappointed to find out I can not use it this way. Now I have to resell it on Ebay and take the loss.

I thought this should be noted for those who want to use it for anything other than a entertainment device for their TV.

I researched the XL2 for about a year before I decided to purchase it. I needed a new computer as well as a new TV, and I decided that getting a HTPC would save me loads of money. What drew me to my purchase of this particular PC were the HDMI and the aesthetics. This PC is beautiful as well as heavy (meaning well built). Everything worked the way it should right out of the box. So far I haven't received any errors. I immediately upgraded to 2GB of RAM and then ran all the updates I could find. I have yet to use HDMI because I am researching what HDTV I will buy, but I did play a couple of DVDs and HD clips on the unit. They performed flawlessly. I have also used the TV tuner to see how that looked and it was fine. The keyboard is pretty basic, but what do you expect? The Logitech DiNovo (although a bit overpriced) will go well with this PC and it is Bluetooth. The remote looks pretty much like all my other Sony remotes in design, so no problems there. My only issue is the graphic card. It seems to be right in the middle as far as power, but should be a higher end card (you have to remove the graphic card to upgrade the RAM) for the price you are paying. I was told that it is more than capable to support VISTA so I am happy about that (the graphic card).
I am a general consumer and not a computer whiz or avid home theater user, so I can't give you any real technical details. I can say that this is a decent computer and it has saved me from needing to buy many separate components. It doesn't have HD-DVD or Blu-Ray support, but it is an older unit. If you want that type of support try the NEW Sony R Master series of VAIO computers, rather than complain about old technology.

My unit arrived on December 22, just in time for Christmas. Its arrival was the best part of the experience, because it was all down hill after that. Problems right out of the box. The video card would not output video through any of the outputs, and the unit keep saying "windows has just recovered from a serious error". Windows would not shut down, and the unit must have crashed 20 times.

I downloaded all of the relevant updates from both Sony support and windows update, and did manage to get a video output. I ripped 3 CD's to the harddrive as a test and it seemed to work OK. SO I loaded another 17 CD's for ripping overnight, and that is when the next serious of problems occurred. The unit ripped only 4 of 17, and I could not get the system to eject. I had to call Sony Support who said to take the cover off to retrieve the CD's. However, I did manage to eject them without taking off the cover.

Problem was the disk changer would no longer read CD's, or DVD's for that matter, which is a critical function in order to view DVD's or play a CD. I reloaded the drivers, still didn't work. I tried numerous other software fixes to no avail. Overall, I spent way too many hours trying to get this unit working properly, and it just wouldn't cooperate. After many frustrating hours wasted I packed it up for shipment back.

There is a restocking fee, but I don't know why I should have to pay it as it's a defective product. Bottom line, this system is a good concept if it worked correctly, but it doesn't. Give it a pass.

I have been a Sony customer for a very long time. This is my third, yes third, computer of theirs and I've bought a long list of other Sony products (camcorder, cameras, PDA, etc...). I was able to get this system for a very good deal from another seller so I purchased it along with an additional changer. My review will focus primarily on the setting up of it and not on the changer itself. I'm very good at computers having owned at least 9 over the last 10 years and currently own 5, including a Mac. I teach/train other on the usage of them and upgrade my own so I know quite a bit on how to set them up. In other words, I'm not a novice.

I currently own another Sony that has a TV tuner in it. I plugged in a coax cable from the wall, uploaded the channel guide and was on my way. No big deal. I recorded television shows all the time from it. I loved it. I decided on this system because I wanted to take advantage of my digital cable package and movie channels. While I know the quality may not be superb, I knew I would be able to get the upper channels. I understood I could either go straight in from the wall to the PC with a coax or go through the box, depending on my cable company. I opted to do the latter. I went through the Media Center set up. That was a b****. It would recognize the remotes (the media center/sony and cable) and then it wouldn't. It couldn't make up its mind. I finally got it to work. With some patience, I realized I would have to use the cable remote to watch TV via the computer. I couldn't use the media remote at all when it came to recording items or changing channels. There went my great idea of recording TV with titles and DVR-like convenience (I could do it but at a great time expense and using both remotes). In the end, I had to hook up an S-video cable because it wouldn't 'recognize' the coax. It gets worse. I went on vacation and came back. Suddenly, Media Center was telling me that it needed to be calibrated. Not Again! I tried to set it up. Same problem with remotes, however, when you test the channels, they wouldn't change with either remote. (Well, the numbers for the Media Center remote changed, but unless the cable box was on, the screen was black.) Unless I had the box on, I saw no TV. Basically, the PC was being used as a makeshift VCR/cable box viewing device. In addition, I could hear nothing going on from the cable box on my surround sound. I could hear anything I did on the PC, but not the cable box.

Like other people, I do want to make this a CD/music storage computer and store my DVD's in the changers. However, I also wanted to record movies from my movie channels so I could watch them at my leisure (my DVR gets a little jam packed at times). I don't know if the issue is the computer or media center, however, the system itself isn't stable. At one point, I can at least change the channels with the cable remote but can't really effectively use it for recording. Then, media center doesn't work and I can't use the remotes (even though both 'pass' the test).

I won't even go into how it keeps losing my wireless signal. That's another horror story. (I have three other computers to test the wireless ability so it isn't my router. :-) )

Depending on what you want to do with the computer will determine on whether or not you should buy it. I will go through and upgrade software per what I've read here. I believe part of the issue is having to go through the S-Video cable (just a theory) but I have no other choice at the moment. If things get worse or better, I'll update my opinion.

Oh, the directions for setting up the computer stink. You kinda have to know your way around cables and cords to know what you're doing. Just a thought.


UPDATE: April 30, 2010---The changer ate my DVDs last night. Retreiving them was rather easy but I shouldn't have to do that. Maybe it's time to sell it on Craig's List in case someone knows how to fix it.

... and I am extremely satisfied with this purchase. Despite the fact that I have researched this item for almost a year, I must admit that I slowly became a bit skeptical of committing to the purchase. But after understanding that the people submitting such low ratings were victims of oversight, lack of CIS courses, and/or faulty equipment, I became more apt to make the purchase [...].

Like many of the customers, the first thing we noticed was the immensity of the size. We were afraid that it would not fit the shelves of our media stand. But in a way it did (we placed the changer on a shelf and the CPU on the top).

Hooking up the system was a breeze. Confusion reared its ugly head only when we could not understand why there was no visual through the AV receiver (which supports HDMI). After a few hours of tweaking and programming, we found that the AV receiver only needed the programming and more time to affiliate with the visual signal.

I have only 2 complaints about this system. The first one has to do with actually getting 5.1 surround sound pushed through the AV receiver (we are only getting 2.1). This complaint leads up to the second one, a manual that is more in-depth.

Overall, I am greatly satisfied with this purchase. Once again, Sony has not disappointed me.

And DVD copying on this system is possible.

If you are looking for a way to get rid of the piles of CDs sitting around, this is not it. If you are looking for a way to download from the iternet and burn DVDs, this is not it. If you are looking for a worthwhile system, that does tons more than a plain old PC could do, this is not it. My expectations were far from met concerning the capabilities of this machine, but perhaps that is my fault for not reading the very fine print. If you do, you will see it does not claim you can burn any dvd, just saved tv shows. Beyond that, it operated about as well as I anticipated a Sony would. My last experience with Sony was a Nike MP3 player that I never managed to get to work. This was slightly better.

We are stationed overseas and wanted a media PC. The only ones available were the Sony and a few versions of HP. Ultimatley we chose the Sony because of its looks, the 200 disc changer (which my husband liked and I hated), and the price. We had a nightmare getting it set up and even once we downloaded the many patches, the settings were very finicky. Our biggest problem was getting the sound system to work. We would test the speakers, all working fine, watch a movie, ok, come back later and it wouldn't work. Mostly we had priblems with our center speaker which provides all of the dialogue.

Once I figured out that you couldn't burn DVDs, I tried to burn a CD. I put a blank CD and the CD I wanted to copy in the changer (store-bought). It showed errors for both. I tried reloading several times, but to no avail. Others had no problem.

Our other big problem was the color and display settings. With the HD cord with DVI adapter (which they recommend) our display settings only let us choose 8 bit color. Since Media Player requires 32 bit, it kept crashing. Finally we switched the cord out for a component cord instead and were finally able to choose 32 bit. The display itself was very large on the screen (very annoying). When we changed cords it was somewhat smaller and we were able to center the picture, but still very big (aka requiring a lot of scrolling). This, I think, is due to the resolution capability of our rear-projection tv, but I had hoped (considering it is a living room system) they would have found a way to compensate for this or at least put a recommended tv capability on the box. If you plan to buy one, I'd have a 1080 with hdmi input optimally.

In the end, we mostly found ourselves downloading from itunes and playing on the internet. Since you can connect an ipod to a tv directly, we didn't need a system to do that. It was very nice to have the internet on the tv, but you could also use MSNtv or the like to get that functionality. Because of the screen display size, I would not consider doing any other applications on the tv.

The remote is useless except with Media Center. We never found a good site for downloading movies via Media Center either. The best sites I found were Itunes and Amazon unbox (which is unfortunately not available outside the US). Both of these require their own player. Once we got everything figured out, we only used media player to play the dvds we loaded into the player.

All in all, a disappointment and source of great frustration. I am returning it today, and really hope they won't give me a hassle.

I bought 3 of the changers to go with this system, If you load it up (200 disks) eventually (3-4 months) the stepping motor will die.

Between the 3 of them I've had them in service 6 times in less than one year. The service guys are good and the warrentee covers it however after my year is up then what. I guess I could buy the 1 yr extended warrentee Sony keeps offering me for $200.00 per unit (ya right!)

Sony has a lot of work to do in QA and test IMO