SONY quality???????

SONY Quality - any good these days?

  • yes

    Votes: 19 59.4%
  • no

    Votes: 13 40.6%

  • Total voters
    32
  • Poll closed .
R

RFCally

Guest
"SONY"
the word itself stands for Quality-Quality-Quality........or so I thought.
When I was several years younger my Uncle bought a SONY TV. 20 Years down the line its still going strong..its teak shiny exterior....never needed a repair.
Thought to myself "when I grow up...I'm gonna get a SONY, its the bees knees!"
Jump time to circa 2004.......I've got an 36FS70 TV [£2074] with a high pitched whine when DRC 100Hz is switched on. I've got a DVP-S725D [£499] top of the range DVD player with a knackered laser which likes some discs but not others packed in a box in the loft (at £90 its too expensive to repair as cheaper models now have superior features). Finally my VTX-S750U Digibox threw its legs up in the air last week and its cost me £94 for a refurb because they don't manufacture them any more. Like I said......"Qual.ty........"

Anybody else got this crock o'{swear word removed-please read the rules regarding this,lynx} to deal with?:thumbsdow
 
4 1/4 year old TV ok
5 year old DVD ok
4 1/4 year old amp ok
22 year old VCR ok
15 year old vcr OK
 
Originally posted by RFCally
"SONY"
the word itself stands for Quality-Quality-Quality........or so I thought.
When I was several years younger my Uncle bought a SONY TV. 20 Years down the line its still going strong..its teak shiny exterior....never needed a repair.
Thought to myself "when I grow up...I'm gonna get a SONY, its the bees knees!"
Jump time to circa 2004.......I've got an 36FS70 TV [£2074] with a high pitched whine when DRC 100Hz is switched on. I've got a DVP-S725D [£499] top of the range DVD player with a knackered laser which likes some discs but not others packed in a box in the loft (at £90 its too expensive to repair as cheaper models now have superior features). Finally my VTX-S750U Digibox threw its legs up in the air last week and its cost me £94 for a refurb because they don't manufacture them any more. Like I said......"Qual.ty........"

Anybody else got this crock o'{swear word removed-please read the rules regarding this,lynx} to deal with?:thumbsdow

I have the 36NX200 that I got online last year for £1750 including delivery. Why did you pay £300 more for a tv that doesn't have freeview built in? Mine has and it has a modem and cam slot that will work with top up tv.

[mod : bad language and insults removed - this is a discussion forum, not somewhere to insult each other]
 
I agree with you.

My new KD 28DX50U has some minor but annoying geometry problems. The sound quality is also poor - in fact slightly worse than the 7 year old set it replaced.

I also get some faint banding on dark backgrounds when watching IDTV.

However I would say the picture is excellent.

The problem is that 95% of the public wouldn't notice the above problems, hence Sony and other manufacturers can ship imperfect sets without losing any money. This means they can go easier on the quality. Quality costs money, so therefore they save money.

I bet the minor problems I notice affect most of the sets; they are probably things they couldn't engineer out of the product without spending a lot of money on better components, so they just ship them like that anyway.

Neil
 
Okay, I know that the Trinitron screen is amazing, but what about Sony and the Plasma and the LCD? Is there any real advantage in a disposable world? And the SONY TAX -- the extra money needed to get a Sony? Is it worth it any more?
 
What an uncouth and illiterate reply by Stevey! Perhaps he'll learn better manners when he moves into his teens...Cally, the truth is that quality is hard to find nowadays in any walk of life. I think you've been unlucky though as Sony is at the more reliable end of the market. I hope your complaints are being properly dealt with by the people you bought your gear from.
 
I'm more than happy with my KV32FQ80 , Geometry is 95% perfect and I have no motion smear ,colour problems etc . I even don't have this Red bleed problem I hear other people talking about.

I have two DRC and Refresh modes to choose from and it's just the job for watching football .

The set looks Great , feels sturdy ,has four scart sockets , a memory stick reader ,PIP(dynamic) ,POP etc etc etc .

Other than the fact it cost a bit more than I wanted to pay (£1300 online with Comet JAN last year), I realy can't complain .

:D :D :D
 
Sony 14" colour TV : Ok apart from ifffy on/off switch (there was a recall to fix this but I never bothered)
Sony MD deck : perfect
Sony TRV(something) camcorder : perfect
Sony VPL10HT projector : perfect


You've got to remember that the vast majority of consumer goods are bought by people who are not AV fanatics as we are. They will not be anywhere near as fussy.

And since all the manufacturers are always in a price/features war, somethings got to give somewhere to let them cut costs. A Philips TV I bought for £1800 a few years ago, I can buy an equivalent one now for about half that price.
 
IMHO Sony domestic kit is, and has been for a few years, no better or worse than any of the major makes. At one time a premium price on Sony sets was justified but its difficult to see the justification any more.
Build quality and particularly set-up quality have become an issue.
The quality of soldering in Sony sets has been a problem for many years, out of box failures are often dry-joint related and older sets fail with solder problems.
One area which has always driven the cost of Sony repairs up over the years is the use of their own components, often no better or worse than industry standard parts but usually totally non standard. Its not quite as bad as it was, they used to produce mundane components such as resistors and capacitors in non standard values.
Sony realized some years back that the average viewer is not fussy, and the quality of sets reflects that.
I spend my working life with Sony Professional/Broadcast kit which is fabulously well put together. It would be great if some monitors could be produced some way between domestic and professional, but it isn't going to happen.
 
Originally posted by Bernard Barnett
What an uncouth and illiterate reply by Stevey! Perhaps he'll learn better manners when he moves into his teens...Cally, the truth is that quality is hard to find nowadays in any walk of life. I think you've been unlucky though as Sony is at the more reliable end of the market. I hope your complaints are being properly dealt with by the people you bought your gear from.

I am already a teen and more of a man than you would ever be.
 
Stevey, your headed for the door with the kind of posts you've demonstrated here. Treat other forum members with respect and use restraint in your language or you will be banned.

Bernard Barnett - you know how to wind someone up. Best if you avoid this kind of response when you're dealing with someone like Stevey.
 
When I bought The 36FS70 back in Sept 2000 it was priced at £2500 in most retail shops. The price I paid was the best on the internet at the time. I didn't bother with any onboard decoder because I already had a Digibox which is wired to all rooms in the house.
 
I think it's unfair to pick on Sony when, in order to survive in today's competitive market, equipment has to be produced down to a price.

I'm old enough to remember the introduction of Colour TV.

A standing (true) joke at the time, was that the TV cost the same (£350) as the van that delivered it!

My first VCR in 1978 cost £750. You can now buy 15 (much better specified) VCR's for that amount, even ignoring inflation.

I'm afraid it's the old adage:

You get what you pay for.
 
As with Martin's reply....

22yr old V-FET power amp...still going strong as my reserve 100W/channel power amp
20 yr old VCR...OK
15 yr old TV...Ok
5,4 and 2yr old CD Walkmans...all Ok after my kids have abused them.

Sony Clie PDA....tough as old boots and beautifully made.

No complaints here.
 
Originally posted by Tight Git
My first VCR in 1978 cost £750

And the remote control was attached by a 12' cord plugged into the front panel :D
 
And 21 year old 14" tv still works but 13 Y/O 25" TV has a dodgy tuner (hence DTVA plugged in)

My ancient Sony video camera has a worn out picture tube - worn out - not broken despite it falling 3 foot onto a concrete floor , getting wet, being carried on a motor bike and generally being used hard - its recorder is sittong next to the PC for capture reasons - long live the SLF1UB

As to £100 modern vcrs - they are not worth an 1/8 of my 950.

Ok in my life I have bought 3 TVs all Sony all still work - the portable has outlasted 6 or 7 cheapies my parents have bought through the years.
 
Sony are just trading on their name and peoples ignorance, it's frustrating to see a good company let their standards drop.
 
our first Sony was a 32" widscreen which can bee seen here . i bought it from argos at £835.

7 months down the line, the RF tuner started to play, one week it would produce fuzzy pics, next week all fine, viscious cycle.
engineers took it away, installed new tuner and same problem returned.
the call op at the engineers said that it was unecomical to fix.

my dads 28" Panasonic tv lasted him about 15 years before it gave up the ghost.

im off to Costco 2day to buy a sony fx68 for £822. if i see anything better than i will buy that
 
I voted yes to the poll because I believe Sony is better than many manufacturers. I do believe in individual good and bad models from the same manufactuers though. I've seen Sony tvs on display that have well setup geometry only to see the same set elsewhere with poorish geometry too. Nowadays getting a good tv isn't about brand its about getting the right model and making sure you get a good example of it by kicking up a fuss if you don't.

A friend has a Sony and if I remember rightly its a KX28DX40 (only from memory, so may not be real model no.) A nice enough set with builit in digital tuner (ondigital era). The Currys salesman sold it to him as 100hz but its only 50hz I believe. He paid getting on £800-900 for it a couple years ago. Its beautifully styled with decent case construction. The picture is good but not as good with RGB as a cheap Sharp 28" widescreen. Tuner and s-video pictures are much better though. Its a nice tv but the price difference compared to other brands isn't warranted and I don't think the difference between Trinitron and conventional sets really exists now with regards picture quality or resolution.
 
Recent purchases:-

TV Sony KD-32DX150 -pretty pleased overall, a few niggles etc but nothing I can't live with, -no TV is perfect. Monstrously heavy (65Kg -better build quality/more copper windings perhaps?)

VCR Sony SLV-SE730. Very dissapointing. Poor picture quality on playback. Instantly aware that you are watching video rather than live. Picture wobbles slightly, colours pastel, sharpness awful. Wish I had chosen something else.

Previous Sony VCR was better!
"Still think Sony make good products on the whole. so I vote 'Yes"
 
VCR Sony SLV-SE730. Very dissapointing. Poor picture quality on playback. Instantly aware that you are watching video rather than live. Picture wobbles slightly, colours pastel, sharpness awful. Wish I had chosen something else.

SO you think your Samsung VCR is not very good!

Well it is Vhs - so what do you expect - Sony only sell them because people are silly enough to buy them.

Buy a Sony DVD recorder- now they are good:smashin:
 
Originally posted by MartinImber
SO you think your Samsung VCR is not very good!

Well it is Vhs - so what do you expect - Sony only sell them because people are silly enough to buy them.

Buy a Sony DVD recorder- now they are good:smashin:


Yeah ..your right. I wish nowI had bought a DVD recorder instead of seperate crappy VCR and seperate DVD (bit more expensive but wuld have been worth it)

Still I shall know for next time!:thumbsdow
 
Yeah ..your right. I wish nowI had bought a DVD recorder instead of seperate crappy VCR and seperate DVD (bit more expensive but wuld have been worth it)

To be honest Sony VCR quality is all over the place.

The kit from 1970s to 1990 had similar build quality to their broadcast kit, but as soon as they gave up and went Vhs the quality plumetted.

I will have to come out now and mention something unmentionable. "I was given a Sony Vhs deck"

It is rubbish, over complex, unreliable and a poor performer - it has been in for repair twice and it was hardly used (never used now).

Now this cost my dad about £600 to £700 in the mid 90s and the quality inside is not good - very plasticy.

Now since then or even then they were getting Samsung to build Vhs for them rather than dirty their own hands.

I admit to being VERY scathing of Vhs but if you insist on VHs get an early Panasonic or JVC S-Vhs deck before build quality plummeted (my dads 1st much better than 2nd).

Now to my 2 working Sony Vcrs - the portable is 21 years old and works fine, the SLHF950 is superbly constructed, cost £800 and feels like it was worth every penny.

Now you may wonder why the 950 - best production UK Beta deck ever is not over complex - the controls are simple and well layed out, the manual explains it all well and you do not have to go through an awfull menu just to turn off the tape counter.

My dad has just purchased the £600 Sony DVD recorder and that is nice!
 

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