Not surprisingly, Sony has discontinued the sale of the Vaio VGX-XL3, which was a flawed but great looking media center with CableCard support. Presumably this is because of poor sales but I also think that the VGX-XL3 was already obsolete. Priced at almost $2,700, it only had one digital cable tuner and a video card not yet ready for high definition video.
I saw a VGX-XL3 at the Sony store in Tyson’s Corner. It was hidden from view and was not even connected. To me, it should have been hooked up to a Bravia to both show off the TV and to sell the media centers.
Basically, the system was too expensive and under-powered. For a cheaper price, you could get a better performing media center with 2 tuners from VelocityMicro PCs or even from Dell. The only thing going for the VGX-XL3 was the case, which was really nice and would fit into any living room.
Hopefully, Sony will release an improved version in the future.
Via Chris Lanier and TvSquad.
Mon, Oct 1, 2007
CableCard, Digital Cable Tuners, Vista Media Center