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Does Sony make any good hardware anymore?

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bionic77

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Besides their Playstation hardware, which I find to be pretty good, it seems that Sony has really lost their touch when it comes to everything else. I bought two Sony digital cameras in the past 3 years and really neither one of them could compete with the Canon Powershot line from what I have seen (not to mention I can't use those worthless memorysticks on anything else).

I also bought a Sony digital camera for my sister's wedding, but I promptly returned that after finding a Panasonic camera that was 3CCD for less money and again it was just much higher quality than what Sony had to offer.

Sony is pretty much worthless as far as portable music players are concerned now (Sony continues to make the worst software on the planet).

The only thing left are Sony televisions and my faith is pretty much exhausted in the Sony name now.

Anyone else feel this way or was this something that everyone else already noticed like 10 years ago?
 
I always try to buy Panasonic. They seem to offer similar performance with better features for at least 10-20% less MSRP.

DCX
 
Oh they've definitely lost something which they/Stringer acknowledges and is working to correct... with that being said I hear very little complaints about their WEGA's and my Cybershot camera and Sony bluetooth camcorder give me no problems ever.
 
DarienA said:
Oh they've definitely lost something which they/Stringer acknowledges and is working to correct... with that being said I hear very little complaints about their WEGA's and my Cybershot camera and Sony bluetooth camcorder give me no problems ever.
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There is nothing wrong with Cybershot and they look cool as hell, but Canon's cameras (and probably some other manufacturers) seem to rape Sony when it comes to image quality, which to me is the most important thing when I buy a camera. I found the same thing to be true of Sony's handycams, and I am pretty much blown away by the results I get from my Panasonic camcorder.
 
Their high end stuff is always very good, it's their mid and lower priced stuff which is sometimes shit. I have a Grand Wega LCD HDTV and an ES receiver... wouldn't trade either in for the world.
 
I have no complaints about any of the Sony hardware I have at my house, and I'm not a Sony fanboy. I have TVs, Stereo Equipment, Cameras, DVD players, etc. and not one of them has yet to give me any trouble.
 
When it comes to quality, Sony's non-PlayStation products remain as sturdy and stylish as ever. But other companies, such as Panasonic and Samsung, have caught up style-wise and offer better prices. Sony pretty much offers the worst value for the dollar these days.
 
You and a guy named Deadmeat would get along. He would educate you about what he feels are Sony's "failures," and you could buy him a value meal at McDonalds. Friends forever.
 
CVXFREAK said:
When it comes to quality, Sony's non-PlayStation products remain as sturdy and stylish as ever. But other companies, such as Panasonic and Samsung, have caught up style-wise and offer better prices. Sony pretty much offers the worst value for the dollar these days.
Click to expand...

Actually I think style wise Sony is still ahead of Panasonic and just ahead of Samsung. I am just not impressed with their products as much as I used to be. I have a ton of Sony products myself and while I love some of them (still rocking my 8 year old 29" Trinitron which I still love), it just seems like they have really fallen off from at least what my expectation of them is.

I am always willing to pay a little extra to get the highest quality product available in my price range (and a little extra if it looks nice), but Sony isn't that company anymore. Hopefully they can get back to where they used to be.
 
The only Sony hardware I could really stand behind in terms of quality is my Mini Disc player. Granted I've dropped it enough times to turn it retarded, but it still works - with the occasional hiccup in how the controls function.

I generally prefer Panasonic as well.
 
My ATRAC Discman is breaking down too. Refuses to play a song without lots of skips. I've only owned it for 6 1/2 months. I take good care of the thing too. Piece of shit.
 
I haven't met a portable CD player worth a good god damn, ever. Skipping and the general short lifespan, which directly correlates to the anti-skip functionality, have turned me into a CD hater.

MiniDisk is the perfect non-skip music solution if you don't want to buy an MP3 player.

It's just a damned shame Sony didn't price it accordingly ten years ago and nurture it into the standard it should have become.

MD > CD! :D
 
I don't like MP3 players. They cost a lot of money for space I don't want or need. I might look into the Mini Disc thing because I go to the gym six times daily. With shitty music playing, I need to listen to good music.

I was thinking at least the Discman could last more than just 6 1/2 months. My previous Discman lasted six years and I've dropped that thing dozens of times (on accident) and left it out once for hours in the hot 100+ degree heat.
 
norinrad21 said:
Samsung is the new cool kid on the block.
Click to expand...


I want to believe because they are a lot cheaper, but in the video space they still have an issue with video quality - mostly sharpness and brightness. Color richness is excellent across the board though.
 
They still make the best displays (both TVs and Monitors), which are most expensive, however. Cybershot T line is pretty damn good too, T7 is probably the fanciest camera you can get for 'normal' amounts of money.
 
The Take Out Bandit said:
I haven't met a portable CD player worth a good god damn, ever. Skipping and the general short lifespan, which directly correlates to the anti-skip functionality, have turned me into a CD hater.

MiniDisk is the perfect non-skip music solution if you don't want to buy an MP3 player.

It's just a damned shame Sony didn't price it accordingly ten years ago and nurture it into the standard it should have become.

MD > CD! :D
Click to expand...

I love the MiniDisk hardware... and if I had the money I'd be this close to getting a Hi-MD. They're the only well priced/durable products from Sony these days. Also the discs are literally indestructible. I've had MDs be run over by vehicles and not only work fine but not even have a scratch on them!

Two problems

MP3 incompatibility -- I rip all my songs into extremely high quality VBR. I do not like/want to have to rerip or convert to Atrac 3.

SonicStage is from the 6th level of hell.

Bring out a Hi-MD (or just a regular MD) that natively supports VBR MP3 and I'd be all over that.
 
Their low and mid range stereo/home theatre receivers are among the best. Only SONY stuff I have are a WS WEGA TV from 1999, PS2 and PSP.
 
Marconelly said:
They still make the best displays (both TVs and Monitors), which are most expensive, however. Cybershot T line is pretty damn good too, T7 is probably the fanciest camera you can get for 'normal' amounts of money.
Click to expand...
I agree about Sony monitors but from my experience their cameras are nothing to write home about.
 
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