What do you think of Sony???

[VJ]

@pace

What brands do you trust most, and do you use the brand as important criteria in purchasing equipment?

Hifi:
Affordable : Onkyo, Marantz, Quadral, B&W, ...
Expensive : Sphinx, Floating systems, Dynaudio, ...
mini systems: JVC, Onkyo, Denon

TV/VCR: Philips

Computer equipment:
mainboard : Shuttle (it never failed me !), MSI (never owned one, just my idea)
videocard : Matrox (what else...? )
soundcard : Turtle Beach (just a thought, I never owned one), Creative Labs
network : 3com (although I like them less since the drivers for the 3c900b combo for linux don't work), now leaning somewhat towards Dlink...
harddisk : IBM (had some bad experiences with WD and Quantum)
SCSI-controller : Adaptec (yeah, the are more expensive, but well supported, and easy to find in Belgium)
CDROM/CDRW : Plextor (although they seem to be abandoning the SCSI devices), now leaning towards LaCie (only manufacturer to offer a 24x speed SCSI burner)
DVD : haven't got one yet, somehow I don't like Pioneer (but that could be a prejudice)
modem : US Robotics
trackball : Kensington
mouse : Kensington, logitech
keyboard : Cherry

Shoes: Mephisto

I do look at the brand of the devices I buy, as well as at reviews and the warranty period. If I have a choice between 5 years or 3 years, I'll probably go for the device manufacturer that offers 5 years (hence my choice for IBM, Kensington, Onkyo Integra, Quadral, ...) Most of the times, that is likely to be the manufacturer receiving better reviews, etc...


Jörg

[windigo]

Sony 32 inch vega and it works flawlessly

Onkyo 6-carasel DVD player makes popping sound but it was line noise (old house) and a

Panamax ac line conditioner has helped lots

Toshiba VCR feels cheap built cheap and I bought it cheap

Sony Surround Speakers and Reciever Not enough oomph and not enough power and alot of distortion from the surrounds

Fujitsu Hard drive has lived through 2 major upgrades since pentium 166 mmx now retired (in my brothers comp)

Plextor cdrom crapped out after 4 years of misuse and abuse

Pioneer dvdrom has fits with magazine cdroms

As for trust

I trust Sony even though I was not impressed with the reciever or surrounds but hey im looking for better right now

Onkyo heard alot about them but the popping noise was a downer till I fixed the prob
Now im looking at their 595 reciever or i might go with Outlaw not sure tho.

I also like warrenties but not that extended crap sales people try to sell you at the store

[Snake-Eyes]

Experiences with Sony products:

27" Sony Trinitron TV: Bought it four years ago, and it's still going strong. Great picture quality.

CD changer: Sony 5 disc carousel (7 series, can't remember the model number). This worked well for me until the day that my wife decided to clean the ht cabinet, and removed the changer from it's shelf, without removing a CD which was still in the player (it wasn't turned on). After that, it refused to recognize when CDs were inserted. The local repairman says the laser aparatus needs replacing, but the cost is more than a new replacement changer.. (chunked..)

VHS VCR- Stereo hi-fi deck, mid-range model: I bought this back at the same time I bought the TV and CD changer (both above), as well as the cassette deck and STR-D1015 reciever (both below). It, like the TV/cassette deck, is still going strong today, though I find myself using it less often, thanks to DVDs. The picture enhancement circuitry in the VCR is actually more effective than that on the TV. Occasionally one of our local stations has a slightly snowy and distorted appearance. Viewing it through the TV tuner (VCR turned off), this is really apparent. Using the VCR to view the same channel, with the picture enhancement feature enabled, the distortion is almost unnoticable, and the snow is completely gone.

Dual Cassette deck (high end consumer model, NOT an ES model, but upper-end regular line): Dolby B/C/HX/S support. Only records on one deck. Dual-auto reverse mechanisms, etc. Still works great, but like the VCR, I don't use it nearly as often any more, now that most of my music is on CD.

HT Receiver (the first one I had): Sony STR-D1015. I bought this, the VCR, TV, and 5 disc CD changer at the same time, about 4 years ago. It was then the top-of-the-line non-ES model. Sport(s) Dolby Prologic, tons of different sound presets (Hall, Theater, etc.). Plenty of inputs, but only 2 standard optical digital connectors, for audio, and only S-Video/RCA connectors for video input. This worked well for me, producing great sound in ProLogic movies and such, and good sound in music sources (not great, but acceptable, especially since I bought it more for HT anyway). Early this year I replaced it with the Sony STR-V444ES (below), and gave it to my parents, since they haven't until now had surround sound in their house . My bother was watching something two weeks ago, and there was a power surge. After power came back normally (it flipped off right after the surge), there was an error message concerning the overload displayed on the front of the receiver, and it refuses to do anything. Nothing my father's found has yet resolved the problem. He's talking to his insurance company about either replacing or repairing it (it may simply be an internal fuse, as I vaguely recall reading something in the documentation about the built-in protection features).

HT Receiver (number 2), Sony STR-V444ES: Dolby Digital/DTS, all the bells and whistles. A nifty two-way remote. I originally ordered the 555ES, but after waiting a month and a half on the backorder, was told that the store in question had no idea on when the next shipment would arrive. Doing more research, I found that the 444 and 555 were basically identical, other than the remotes. The 555 had a really nice programmable touch-screen remote, which was also two-way (it looked a bit like a PDA). While the 444 only had a programmable two-way remote (no touch screen, sized more like most common multi-function remotes). So I changed my order, and got it almost immediately. This receiver, paired with the same JBL speakers I was using with the 1015, provides outstanding sound in both surround sources AND music. I've had no problems with it yet.

DVD carousel, Sony DVP-CX870D: I bought this when I bought the 444ES. So far I'm extremely pleased with it. Everything works as advertised, and it currently houses around 40 DVDs, and I'm in the process of loading my CDs into it (those are harder, since my wife likes to take those with us in the car). The only frustration I had with it was that it is extremely finicky with CD-R/RW material. In fact, I've had luck with only 1 brand of CD-R, and two brands of CD-RW so far. (I like to use these for VCD formatted home video, as well as custom music compilations). This lead to me purchasing the Sony DVP-NS400D (below) primarily just for the playback of things I personally have recorded (I could've got several brands for this, but found the Sony very cheaply at a local source).

DVD, Sony DVP-NS400D: I've played with this with regular DVD material, and it works as well is it's big brother above. It also reads most of my CD-R/RW media also, which is the main reason I bought it. Picture playback quality is good for VCD material (as good as can be expected), and outstanding for DVDs. I haven't had it long enough to judge how durable/reliable it is, but if it's like the others I've had so far, it will probably suit me fine. The only real complaint I have is my own fault, since I didn't consider it when I made the purchase- BOTH DVD players respond to the same signals for things like power-on, off, play, etc. This means I have to position the 400 somewhere out of the line of fire for my carousel, so that I don't end up activating them both at the same time (the 400's signal overrides the carousel's at the receiver, causing it to switch to the 400's video input, lol).

Sony TRV-DC20 miniDV digital camcorder: This replaced a Sharp SlimCam VHS camcorder. The VHS camcorder had excellent quality, but I wanted to be able to digitally edit my videos, something which I tried with the Sharp and found to be more hassle than necessary. Also, I wanted something smaller and lighter, easier to carry around for long periods (especially when shooting things like birthday parties or sports events for my children, where the full-sized VHS quickly became a burden). The Sony filled that bill nicely. As a bonus, image quality seems top-notch, there are plenty of special features (most of which I don't use, since digital effects can only be applied to video output through the analog ports and not the 1394 connection), the ability to use the camcorder as a pass-through/converter for analog sources (VCR with old VHS home videos comes to mind) to DV format (for capture, also works in reverse if I want to put edited video on VHS and not my DV), as well as a megapixel still snapshot mode, which can capture either to tape or to the memory stick (cam came with a 4MB stick, I bought a 64MB stick for normal use- good for over 100 shots in high-res hiQ mode, or 300+ in 640x HiQ mode). So far the camera's been easy to use, and works well for my purposes. I bought this not long after I purchased the 444ES and the 870D (around 6 months ago). I've already made several VCDs, as well as a few WMV format videos using things recorded with it. I actually have used the still mode even more than the camcorder mode. This is extremely useful for me, since I'm in the military, and stationed far enough from home that family gets to see us (and especially my children) once a year now. The ability to take a picture/video, and post it to my personal web server for viewing in just a couple of hours has really proved handy. No complaints for this camcorder at all.

So my experiences with Sony devices is that they can be overpriced compared to other brands, given their features, but they seem to be pretty reliable. The only failures with the Sony stuff I've had so far haven't been because of defects- power surge or user neglect only (thanks Kim ).

[Lizzard[MPE]]

no i don't think i've ever used Sony..

but if anyone is willing to send me some new Sony products i will be sure and test them out for everyone.

[VJ]

Rats, I wish I had come up with that....

Jörg

PS: Windigo: You're right, but I didn't mean to refer to extended warranties...