Sony VAIO VGC-RA304

Sony snubs Bill Gates with its own media savvy centre.

The mean and moody-looking VAIO RA304 is Sony's Windows Media Centre killer. The big gun from the Far East has cocked a snook at Bill Gates' software, stuffing its PCs with VAIO Zone - its own media centre package.

Not surprisingly, VAIO Zone works in a very similar way to Media Centre. Using either the remote control or the mouse, you can bring up a menu system that sits on top of Windows. The menu - which uses large text - gives you speedy access to submenus allowing playback of photo, music and video files stored on the PC. There's also a built-in analogue tuner that enables you to watch and record TV.

Unfortunately, Sony's software isn't quite as flexible as Microsoft's. For example, updating video codecs in Media Centre is easy, but not possible with VAIO Zone, so at present you can't watch DivX and XviD movies unless you close Zone and hop back into Media Player. And compared to Media Centre, which can be set up in a few minutes, Sony's system requires a fair bit of fiddling to get it working smoothly.
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But that's not to say that this computer is unworthy of your attention. For one thing, it looks incredibly cool, from the tower itself (which features a big hole through the middle) right down to the cordless keyboard and mouse. We haven't yet seen a tower-based media PC anywhere near as sexy.

Equally impressive is the inclusion of a Network Media Receiver, a device which can connect the RA304 (via Ethernet or Wi-Fi) to your television and audio system. This enables you to use the PC as a media server, streaming audio, video and photo content to your living room. Okay, so it's not a particularly new idea, but with Microsoft's version (the Windows Media Centre Extender) still unreleased in the UK, Sony has stolen a march, albeit a small one, on its rival. There's also a bonus in the form of HDTV compatibility, with the RA304's component video output able to transmit streamed Hi-Def content to any HD-capable telly.

So would the VAIO be worth buying over a Media Centre PC? Probably not. The fact remains that, for the moment anyway, Sony's software just isn't as good as Microsoft's.