Blog Shop Review

Sony VAIO VGX-TP20E/B TP Living Room PC (Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 Processor, 2 GB RAM, 500 GB Hard Drive, Blu Ray Drive, Vista Premium) Black
From Sony
List Price: $1,649.99
Price: $1,595.98 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.  Details

Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com

2 new or used available from $1,562.84

Average customer review:

Customer Reviews

really a 3.5 rating
I’m still in the process of trying to hook it up to my InFocus projector and Sony surround sound system … but I’m an amature so hooking it up should be possible, but so far I’ve not be able to get sound through it yet … but I’m persistent, so will keep trying different combinations till it works. There are no instructions on how to hook it up to a projector (but I guess that is normal).

What isn’t normal though is it not coming with ANY instruction manuel or operating system back up disks. All it had was a small pamphlet on tv hook up and labeling some of the parts. Why no OS Back Up disks? Was this just an oversite, or does this not come with them?

Info comment about previous review
I just checked the specs at the Sony website. The TP25 is described:

TV Tuner : High Definition digital cable tuner with CableCARD(tm)8, ATSC and NTSC support

And the price is $3000

Very Cool Device — But No Digital Cable Support
I really like this product in every way but one.

I bought it to aggregate all of my digital music, pictures, and video with my television in my living room. It does all that and more (e.g. supports internet radio, internet TV, gives up to date sports scores, etc) with one important exception — it is not “digital cable ready”.

What that means is that you will not be able to get this thing to work with a digital cable tuner with a cableCARD. In otherwords, if you are getting digital cable with HD programming, and you plan to replace your set top box with this thing and a cableCARD, it won’t fit the bill. It comes with an antenna that will enable you to receive the standard HD channels over the air (e.g. NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, PBS…). You can also get regular cable through it. But not cableCARD based digital cable. I believe that in order to get cableCARD support, you have to upgrade to the TP25, which is a whopping $3000 (though I’m not 100% sure about that). Oddly, nowhere on the web have I seen this called out–I had to learn it for myself, after ordering a $300 digital cable tuner from Sony, havnig the cable company install a cableCARD in it, only to have the computer tell me “Your computer is not digital cable ready. You will not be able to set it up for use with acableCARD.”

So, if you can’t live without digital cable, look elsewhere. Otherwise, I highly recommend this product.