This is one hell of a machine...
<a href="http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=2CyXvy7-wzyX3hC_yFSdtGHvvYuNf51kQ0g=?CatalogCategoryID=Jkw KC0%2eNoZYAAADzjWQnxCh2&ProductID=HGAKC0%2eNjRoAAA DzGUAnxCh6&Dept=cpu" target="_blank">Sony desktop</a>
Now before you start flaming, I know it is no mac; my point here simply is that this is one hell of a deal for the money. Nobody has even come close to this price point.
It is almost temptingg to pick one up purely as a DVD authoring system.
It could use a new video card, but apart from that is should perform as well as any imac.
God, I wish I was able to live with a windows machine!
<img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
Now before you start flaming, I know it is no mac; my point here simply is that this is one hell of a deal for the money. Nobody has even come close to this price point.
It is almost temptingg to pick one up purely as a DVD authoring system.
It could use a new video card, but apart from that is should perform as well as any imac.
God, I wish I was able to live with a windows machine!
<img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
Comments
Intel® 845GL Extreme Graphics
64MB Shared Graphics Memory
Would Apple be able to approach this price point if their chipset included integrated graphics?
<img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
It is almost temptingg to pick one up purely as a DVD authoring system. It could use a new video card, but apart from that is should perform as well as any imac.
This is exactly the problem I see for Apple. The fact is that this cheap Sony will perform better (WAY better) than any iMac. At some point, it gets really difficult to argue against owning a PC that 1) is that cheap, and 2) allows you to do everything you want to do.
I'm sure, though, that whatever DVD authoring software that comes with this machine is crap. Nothing beats Apple's iApps. So, since we get those for free, I guess we can justify the extra price of a Mac that way? <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
<strong>Even that only has a geforce 2 mx that can be had for about $40. Spend $60 on the sony and you could get a geforce 4mx 64mb and still only be about $850!</strong><hr></blockquote>
First, the Sony doesn't have a monitor.
Second, sometimes you can't add a video card to a machine that has shared integrated video. Technically you can, but they don't always work. I'm going to guess that this doesn't even have an AGP slot anyway.
Third, it's cheap, but not THAT cheap. At first glance it's $500 USD cheaper, but it's probably only the typical $200 less when all is said and done. But if you've already got a monitor, or don't plan on playing games on it, or don't want to add a video card, or don't mind bad authoring software...yes, it would be a functional second computer for creating DVDs.
I like the two optical drives, that's a nice option. Oh, and a floppy drive....
You always get what you pay for.
<strong>
But if you've already got a monitor, or don't plan on playing games on it, or don't want to add a video card, or don't mind bad authoring software...yes, it would be a functional second computer for creating DVDs.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
With inexpensive PC's with crap software and high quality Apple software but expensive hardware, it looks like we're caught in a catch-22 situation.
But sometimes I wonder if PC software is "good enough" only because the hardware is so cheap.
but again if you have money to burn and love to spend money to things you love to hate it's a great investment. (wow, it's even infested by microsoft's windows XP, trash it)
I'll also be supprised if it can't handle correctly 16:9 source material, which is a huge shortcomming in the iApps.
[ 02-05-2003: Message edited by: Addison ]</p>
<strong>I'll bet that there software can handle .mpg's from digital cameras. iMovie and Quicktime both loose the audio when handeling these mpeg-1 files. I was supprised to see that iMovie3 didn't resolve this issue.
I'll also be supprised if it can't handle correctly 16:9 source material, which is a huge shortcomming in the iApps.
[ 02-05-2003: Message edited by: Addison ]</strong><hr></blockquote>You bet? Suuuuuuure...
Have you actually tried this software? I haven't seen a single review claiming that free movie-editing tools are polished and mature applications on the PC.
While anamorphic widescreen is great, very few people actually have display devices capable of widescreen mode. Even fewer actually use this mode. While, I always switch my projector over when watching anamorphic DVDs, few home hobiests have camera's capable of providing anamorphic video. Given the relatively small demand for this feature, other features get development priority. Seems perfectly reasonable to me. Isn't it a shame when you're part of a minority that needs a feature which isn't economically viable to provide in free software?
As for the dropped audio... I will speculate that this is a quicktime issue. We will probably see it resolved in a subsequent quicktime release, not an iMovie release.
<strong>It's probably got those crappy 4 pin firewire ports (so no bus powered drives). And their software is no iLife. Yeah, the video graphics suck on it too.
You always get what you pay for.</strong><hr></blockquote>
It does have one 6-pin port, but all-in-all, it's got a Sony premium. I dunno if warpd realizes he can get a better machine from Dell for less...
<img src="graemlins/cancer.gif" border="0" alt="[cancer]" />
<strong>You bet? Suuuuuuure...
While anamorphic widescreen is great, very few people actually have display devices capable of widescreen mode. Even fewer actually use this mode. While, I always switch my projector over when watching anamorphic DVDs, few home hobiests have camera's capable of providing anamorphic video. Given the relatively small demand for this feature, other features get development priority. Seems perfectly reasonable to me. Isn't it a shame when you're part of a minority that needs a feature which isn't economically viable to provide in free software?
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Your have your American blinkers on. We in Europe have anamorhic TV broadcasts, anamorphic TV's and our DV cams record in anamorphic mode.
Look
<a href="http://www.panasonic.co.uk/product/tauflatscreentv/"; target="_blank">here</a> most are widescreen or <a href="http://products.sony.co.uk/pro_subcat.asp?Ire=&Cat=1&ProdLink=1&NewsFeat=1"; target="_blank">even better</a> this site shows you that Sony only has 2 4:3 TV's for sale againts 25+ 16:9 sets.
Apple and those in the US just don't get it. 4:3 is dead and dying.
The muxed mpeg thing bothers me also. I have a ton of mpegs archived on CD (took forever to get them all off the zip disks). I found one program that will split the sound and the video but imovie won't import the pieces and quicktime pro won't save them in a different format. If I could only play movies from quicktime to my zr50 I could convert them all, but I don't think that is possible.
Sure you can get a cheap PC, just goto pricewatch.com and buy the pieces and put it together yourself. If you load FreeBSD it will make a decent server but its no mac.
Turned me off right there...
Sorry Sony but you can't join the "i" club.
That's because they're MUXED. All you need to do is de-mux them and you will have your audio. Go to versiontracker and search for demux, there's a few tools that let you do it.
<strong>I priced out some at dull out of sheer boredom, and keep coming in at around $1150....
<img src="graemlins/cancer.gif" border="0" alt="[cancer]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>
I priced one out, it came to $838 + $100 rebate = $738 shipped with no sales tax for me. Sony = $799 + sales tax. I can take a nice little screenshot if you like.
Dell prices fluctuate a lot as well. For example, the free HDD upgrade expires today, but it'll probably be replaced by something else immediately.
[ 02-05-2003: Message edited by: Eugene ]</p>