BIOS: Technology Means Business

Sony’s brand-new VA1 is a different proposition. The latest all-in-one entertainment VAIO is designed for versatility and convenience anywhere in the home.

With just one mains plug and a wireless keyboard with built-in touchpad, plus a wireless mouse and remote, the VA1 can be used anywhere in your home or office without hassle and unsightly cables.

The screen’s true 16:9 aspect ratio also means that widescreen movies fill the 20-inch display area, avoiding dead space above and below the picture.

Sony’s X-black LCD screen enhancement should boosts the contrast too, and also help to ensure that black really is black. The extra-vivid colours are rendered even more lifelike by double lamp illumination which gives the VA1 its exceptionally bright display, says Sony.

The VA1 isn’t too shabby in terms of specifications, but gamers and high-end video editor will have to look elsewhere. A 2.8GHz Pentium D 820 processor runs the show, while a 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X700 graphics chip takes care of the visuals. The VA1’s hybrid TV tuner lets you watch both analogue and digital TV with built-in Freeview rather than just analogue channels.

The VA1 is also supplied with Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Centre Edition for simplified access to media features as well as full PC functionality. And there’s a 250GB hard disk for storing everything from programs to pictures and music, and double layer DVD±RW for recording up to 4 hours of DVD-quality TV in one go. You can even upgrade the VA1, with easy access to space for a second hard disk and slots for adding more memory.

‘The VA1 represents the next stage of the entertainment PC concept,’ says Adam Coomber, Product Manager for VAIO Consumer Products at Sony UK. ‘By this I mean dual core power, cutting edge digital AV features and seamless PC/entertainment integration. All this is wrapped up in the design and quality that is fundamental to VAIO.’

Like many good ideas, dual-core processing is a relatively simple concept. Chip manufacturers have taken advantage of the latest manufacturing technology to fit two complete processing cores - each with its own Level 2 cache - onto a single die. Software can be written to take full advantage of the twin cores by dividing itself up into specific tasks which are assigned to each processor.

This is much more efficient than simply throwing everything at one core, and results in sharply increased performance. There’s every indication that the industry will continue to develop multi-core technology as it provides a very efficient and cost-effective path to faster systems.

The VA1 is also an ASIO (Audio Stream Input Output) ready Windows-based PC, running the Steinberg-developed ASIO 2.1 audio driver architecture. Branded Sound Reality by VAIO, a marriage of technologies offers another first in terms of its advanced DSD (Direct Stream Digital) audio solution for PCs.

This advanced level of audio integration creates a sophisticated proposition for several different audiences, including the music professional, the home studio user and the enthusiastic domestic music consumer.

DSD is the core High Definition (HD) audio technology that is found at the heart of the revolutionary Super Audio CD platform and is being adopted by many of the leading recording studios and mastering facilities across Europe. Developed jointly by Sony and Philips, Super Audio CD represents the next generation Compact Disc and offers music lovers very high audio resolution in full 5.1 multi-channel Surround Sound.

Now, using the same core DSD technology, home studio and home audio enthusiasts can achieve the same sophisticated high-definition and Surround Sound on their PC. Sound Reality by VAIO is the product of a major AV/IT development initiative within Sony: it is the first time that the Steinberg-developed ASIO and DSD have been combined in a single PC-based environment.

In order to provide maximum audio processing functionality without affecting background CPU performance, Sony has integrated the PC’s audio capabilities on a dedicated one-chip DSD solution using ASIO 2.1 as the integration platform within the PC. Alongside the DSD chip, the new Sound Reality by VAIO PC owes much of its audio processing power to a new version of Sony’s SonicStage Mastering Studio.

This application lets you record, edit and play music in both DSD and PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) audio formats. Its PCM recording capability is critical since this is the core enabling technology behind CD. You can take a standard stereo CD, rip it to the hard disk drive and then up-convert the audio signal to a fully uncompressed DSD audio stream.

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