I hate Sony.

[johnboxall]

My expensive Sony hifi system I bought a while back had its MiniDisc deck die shortly after. They didn't replace it under warranty, they sent the damn thing off for repairs... and it kept on dying. The clear plasic face plate on the radio deck slid off, because the bonding glue started to melt over the years. The CD deck died after a black-out. The only thing that works now is the power amp, but even that shows signs of trouble after a cold power-up.

It still sounds bloody good though, which is the only reason why it hasn't made it to the trash yet.

Ah MiniDisc - you too. We had the hifi component (-520?),  three MD walkmen and a car unit I brought from Japan. The VFD in the component deck died a few months out of the extended warranty, however a Sony repair agent in the Gold Coast fixed it for us gratis. In 2003 we were broken into and someone nicked the walkmen (suckers!). Then the VFD went super-dim on the hifi receiver. As it was eight years old they wouldn't fix it. Again - great sound but useless interface now. Gave it away.

No more Sony for us.

[poorchava]

Sony used to make good stuf... My parents bought 2 Trinitron TV sets (15" and 22" i think) around 1990 or so. After 22 years both of those are still perfectly functional (only colours are kinda bleak). Neither of those has ever even blown a fuse, and they even survived huge storm-related power surge which has fried many VCRs, radios, tvs, computers etc in the neighborhood. Good stuff, indestructible.

Now they produce engineered-failure shit. I don't really want to buy anything from them.

[Fallingwater]

Sony manager says the Vita is selling OK and free-to-play games aren't a problem; apparently the world's general indifference to Sony's new portable and tendency to spend hours upon hours on Armor Games are a product of our imagination.

Sony live in denial. The fact that they haven't yet folded amazes me every time articles like this come out.

[naimis]

Just as a follow-up, I ordered a replacement drive chassis (a plate with the optical block and spin motor on it) off ebay the evening I posted that message.  It arrived yesterday, I installed it, and it worked.

I'll give points to Sony for making such a modular design (the original "fat" model was rather more difficult to mess with), but I would have preferred to get a bit more life out of the thing than I did.  I'd bet if I plugged in my first CD player (made around 1985, though I haven't used it in years), it would still work just fine.

[M. András]

we have 2 expensive sony lcd/led tv at home 1 of them almost 3 years old still working fine other is made in the 2nd quarter of this year, an older model was passed down to my sister  almost 6 years old no sign of any failure. in the kitchen there is a 26" cheapy category sony it was in service in the firtst 4 months of owning it they said replaced 1 of the main bords in it due to some fw or hardware issue. the thing lost all digital inputs+ if it passed the boot screen just shut itself down or locked up on the boot screen. 4+ years old sony hifi desktop MD players cd players dvd/bluray everything works fine. none of them were the cheap category from their product line. i dont admire them but they make good products but only for the higher end line. for the cheap stuffs just like every other manufacturer has things which fail after a year or even before. we had a 55cm huge tv lasted 24 years then the screen died. but unfortunatly those times are long gone when they used to make things for a lifetime. and not for buy another one cos no parts available

[SeanB]

I will say that most of the older optical blocks for CD and DVD ( as well as many BD players ) are made by Sony. They have a depressingly high failure rate as well. Rest of the player works, but you need a new KSS210 optical block to get it working as the laser diode inside has lost emission and now is just a red led.

[TheWelly888]

I stumbled on this via Reddit and thought of this thread.

Apparently Sony is a major insurance company in Japan and the profits from that is the only thing keeping Sony alive.

http://www.newser.com/story/168597/sony-most-successful-at-selling-insurance.html

[wholder]

Yeah.  The Sony brand used to mean quality and fine engineering.  But, now it's just another import brand to me.

Wayne

[c4757p]

Yeah.  The Sony brand used to mean quality and fine engineering.

When? It's meant overpriced crap for quite a while now.

[Hydrawerk]

Well, you hate Sony... And I like Panasonic. I have some their products in working condition. And they manufacture this good Panasonic KX-TU311 PDBE mobile telephone for old people. https://plus.google.com/photos/106264218831814439783/albums/5911701814832704273

[V3r50n]

Mate, I had the same problem. But instead of complaining I went on eBay and bought a blu ray module and installed it into the ps3. It's only like 25 bucks.

Ya that fix is better than a lot of the fixes you would have to do if you bought a xbox. It is a consumable market now and if it never breaks then that would defeat the purpose of the "consumable" part.

[MrProsser]

I have an old PS3 and I use it a lot. I constantly worry I will wake up and find it is toast. It is my entertainment lifeline these days.