Sony was considered top of the line for a long time. What happened wasn't really the emergence of Korea, Inc. but rather their reluctance to accept the future. Their own head of engineering recently acknowleged that they had an excellent array of analog engineers but were somewhat behind in digital (quite an understatement actually). When they had to compete with LCD/Plasma/whatever they were clueless (except for the games division however). And their user interfaces are just plain awful.
Slashdot Mirror
Sony was considered top of the line for a long time. What happened wasn't really the emergence of Korea, Inc. but rather their reluctance to accept the future. Their own head of engineering recently acknowleged that they had an excellent array of analog engineers but were somewhat behind in digital (quite an understatement actually). When they had to compete with LCD/Plasma/whatever they were clueless (except for the games division however). And their user interfaces are just plain awful.
How about a Tivo with 2 tuners for $99 and a $99 rebate? http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/imagine/TIVO.jsp Even if you're an existing customer they will sell you 1 a year for $100.