October 19, 2005 We are all a sum of our experiences. So when Sony researched its product offerings for the living room of the early majority, it obviously decided that when the TV and PC merge, people arrive the convergence point from two main perspectives – people who are TV people first and PC people second, and vice verca. Both represent convergence at its simplest – Sony’s new VAIO VA TV-PC combines a fully-featured computer with an LCD TV running on a 20-inch display. Sony’s new VAIO XL1 DLS combines home theatre functionality with the brains of a PC.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• View all
  

The VAIO VA TV-PC

With the VAIO VA TV-PC you can do the normal PC thing, record your favourite TV programs with personal video recording, watch DVDs and TV, and the whole experience is enhanced with Sony's Sound Reality technology and a 2.1 channel speaker system. For archiving, there’s a DVD+R Double Layer/DVD+RW drive that records up to 8.5 GB of home videos, music or digital photos on one Double Layer disc. The keyboard tucks nicely underneath the screen in its own nacelle when you’re doing non-keyboard activities and there’s a handheld remote control for such occasions. It’s not for everyone, but it does offer design, performance and entertainment to even the smallest of spaces.

The new TV-PC sports a 20-inch display with Sony's original XBRITE LCD technology. You can watch live TV or record your favourite programs with personal video recording supported by Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. As a PC, the VA series provides powerful computing performance and it also offers room to grow with an open bay that can accept an additional hard drive. All of this is packed into a silver and black chassis with a floating display and easily accessible optical and flash memory drives, front and centre.

The VA also comes with Sony's own Click to DVD mastering software for creating professional quality DVDs. With the onboard DVD+R Double Layer/DVD+RW drive you can create or record up to 8.5 GB of home videos, music or digital photos on one Double Layer disc. SonicStage, Sony's music management software, allows you to customize your musical environment and integration with Sony's Connect online music store to purchase tunes.

The VA PC also helps to turn analog content into digital content. Sonic Stage Mastering Studio gives you the tools to master your own recordings or convert old LPs and cassettes to digital music. The units A/V and S-Video ports connect directly to your VCR or analog camcorder to help convert home movies to slick DVDs.

A multitude of analog audio and video inputs, a multi-card flash memory reader, i.LINK (IEEE 1394) and multiple USB ports make file transfer easy and flexible. Integrated 802.11 b/g wireless LAN provides Internet connectivity while limiting cable clutter.

The VA TV-PC will be available later this month for about US$2,000.

Pre-orders begin online today

The VAIO XL1 Digital Living System

Sony's entrant into the digital living room category manages personal and downloaded multimedia content as well as pre-packaged audio CDs and DVD movies, all accessed via a remote control.

Sony's Digital Living System is comprised of two sleek components: a high-end multimedia PC and a 200-disc media changer/recorder. Both are designed to fit into a home entertainment rack and the elegant silver and black casings are designed to complement the home entertainment system. The PC connects to a television via an HDMI cable, the emerging standard for digital connectivity, to output high-definition video and multi-channel digital audio in a single connection.

Close collaboration with Microsoft and tight integration with the Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 operating system ensure unique functionality only when using the XL1 system's disc changer. Discs inserted into the changer 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 has innovated once again by introducing a product that is a monumental step forward in defining the way consumers enjoy digital entertainment," said Mike Abary, vice president of VAIO product marketing for Sony Electronics in the U.S. "With the XL1, users can still manage all their meaningful entertainment content such as downloaded music, home movies and personal photos. But the really groundbreaking functionality is the additional ability to easily organize, sort, and access packaged content -- all of the DVD movies and audio CDs that have been traditionally relegated to a bookshelf."

The XL1 Digital Living system enables a consolidation of your music library by backing up your music CDs to your hard drive to be stored along with all 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.

In addition to being the ultimate home A/V entertainment center, the XL1 system is a powerful PC delivering robust performance for running multiple applications simultaneously. With its Intel Pentium D dual-core processor, ample DDR2 memory, PCI-E graphics and room for up to three SATA hard drives (RAID ready), the VAIO XL1 system is well-equipped to tackle your most demanding tasks. Internal PC components are liquid-cooled to ensure quiet operation worthy of a living room. Advancements such as Sony's Sound Reality technology boost audio performance for high-quality digital sound.

Web browsing has been especially designed for an engaging living room experience. With the touch of the remote, you can quickly expand your favorite web pages for comfortable reading from your couch.

The Digital Living System will be sold as a package and will be available next month for about US$2,300.

Pre-orders begin online today