Sony VAIO F 3D series owners lounge

Hi , I love this laptop but the only problem i have is , I been getting a message about my bluetooth "Error: Unable to start the Bluetooth Stack service" , anyone knows how to fix that problem? Thanks!

 

Hi guys. I'm considering buying this laptop but I have few questions on the 2D-3D conversion. Is that only possible with Blu-Rays and DVDs? Or can it also convert for example AVI, MPG or DIVX files to 3D? Basically what are the video formats that are viewable in 3D?

I tried to look for this info, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I guess all the tech websites ASSUME that we always buy Blu-Rays or DVDs, and so not provide this info. Obviously I do buy some, but some movies or shows are only just worth downloading and not buying.

It'd really nice if one of you could help me with this.

 

Hi, anything you watch, given the right player (Stereoscopic player for instance) can be watched in 3D.

 

Hey guys - quick question..

Considering the new 2011 Vaio F series (F22, non-3d) - and I was wondering if the memory and/or HDD are user replaceable?


Ideally, I'd like to pick up the base F series for $999, and replace the memory and swap the HDD for an SSD.

And since I'm here, figured I might as well ask if the "Signature" collection items are actually numbered (xxx/1000 for instance), or are they just "limited" in production? Just in case if anyone has owned, or currently owns a "Signature" item.



Thanks!


EDIT: Just found out there is a 2d thread, as well. Didn't notice that - regardless, the 2d and 3d machines both have the same chassis/MB/internals, correct?

 

Yes both memory and HDD are user replaceable.

 

Thank you. By any chance are there any guides/videos to do so?

 

There haven't been any that I've seen, but I haven't looked for it. Although, it's as simple as taking out one screw on the bottom for the RAM, and two screws to access the HDD on the bottom.

 

Thanks. Didn't anticipate it being challenging, but wasn't sure how exactly the internals were designed/placed. I've seen a few YouTube videos showing other brands/models of computers, and some are much harder to access (as if they intentionally made it so difficult for the end user to replace parts).

 

This pic will give you an idea. You just need to remove the hatch with a screwdriver.

 

That is simple - you weren't kidding.

 

Just make sure not to flip it over on some wood boards like that, especially if you pick up the 3D model.

 

I am tempted to buy the sony vaio vpc-f215fx/bi 3D model

 

I have ordered the Sony VAIO VPC-F215FX/BI Quad Core 16-Inch 3D Display i7-2630QM Quad-Core model today

i7-2630QM, 6gb ram, bluray player....so excited

I will post the pictures here as soon as I receive it.

 

Glossy Black's the way to go.

 

yes the finish looks awesome from the videos/pictures that I saw in internet

 

and BTW, I saw your pictures posted by you here in this thread...many thanks brother

 

When are you receiving your new friend ?
And don't worry there is not a HUGE difference between i7 2630qm and 2820qm.

 

Huge difference, no. Your right, but the 2820 is about 3-12% faster, depending on the application. Furthermore, the 2820 is just about on par performance wise, with the desktop i5-2500k cpu, which is mighty impressive.

And I know some folks complain about heat/noise, but after all, they are buying a 4C/8T or a lower voltage 4C desktop cpu. With a 2820, I can only imagine increased heat and noise output, unless it's in a much larger chassis with more than sufficient cooling.


For $100 I'd upgrade to a 2820, but most sites I've seen are asking like $350-$400 just for the CPU upgrade. At that price, it just isn't worthwhile in any sense.

 

Its been shipped via FedEx. I should hopefully receive it soon this week. Cant wait

Yes. Thats true. I am not a very high end user and if I had understood correctly, the more heat/noise with the higher versions of i7 right? So I decided to go for the i7 2630qm

 

Sweet! Let us know when you receive it.

All mobile i7's will toss out a lot of heat and noise, in normal build conditions. It mainly has to do with the blower type heat sink that's included in most if not all chassis. If you disabled the HT and just ran 4C/0T you'd get considerably less heat output and likely noise, but I'm not sure if the bios's in laptops allow you to do so (I don't own a laptop yet..). On another forum, there's competitions for desktop bench-marking using 4C (as well as 4C/8T), since my CPU has 4C/8T, I had to disable HT to participate in the 4C competition. And when I disabled the HT, temps dropped considerably. However I often use quite a few applications that take advantage of hyper threading, so it can be quite useful.

 

^^^^^^^^
Thank you V97. I will definitely post a few pics as soon as I receive it.

I am novice when it comes to computers and laptops. Starting to learn a few things about whats ''really in there inside a laptop''. I have a cooling pad and my current laptop is always on top of that. Thanks again for clarifying my questions about the i7.

 

No biggie. Not long ago I was in your position too..

 

Hey, not a problem. Welcome to the family.

 

Guys no pics since long . Can someone upload some pics of the screen with a Bluray Disc playing ? Some good scene that shows off the brilliance of the screen.

 

What software today can you get legally to take screen shots of Blu-ray captures?

From information on the Web:
FYI:
(Haven't been able to take screen captures of Blu-ray movies for years.
Hollywood demanded that WinDVD etc. take the screen capture function out of the player under licensing and copyright laws.

Hollywood and Microsoft intentionally disabled the feature using Video Overlay techniques. "The player makes a hole in the desktop and the video is displayed through that hole by the graphic's card's.")

Is there a legal workaround?

Paul

 

Yes there is apparently by using AnyDVD HD, I will PM you about it . I wasn't talking of screen capture btw, that would be pointless.

 

Yeah, you just mean recording playback offscreen, right? I could try doing that tomorrow when I'm off work.

 

Something like this. A photo of only the screen with a good Bluray paused in total darkness

 

FYI:

Firmware update needed for new Blu-ray 3D release.

Firmware Compatibility problem for Corel WinDVD Version 10.0.5.804, the VPC-F2190x laptop and the playing of " The Final Destination 3D" (Blu-ray 3D) UPC# 794043 145841 released on August 2, 2011.

Description given to Sony:
Disc is inserted in the VAIO F 3D model vpc-F2190x laptop and Corel WinDVD Version 10.0.5.804 starts up,

1). First on screen is the "Piracy Fines and Prisons Warning". It stays on continually until the Chapter skip button is manually pressed.


2). 2nd the Important Notice comes on that states "…..to ensure compatibility and the best possible viewing experience, your Blu-ray Player may need a firmware update….." and then the New Line Home Entertainment High Definition leader page comes on and then it dissolves to black. It will stay continually black until the Chapter skip button is manual pressed.


3). The Final Destination 3D menu comes on. When "Play Movie" is selected - the blue "R Restricted rating" screen comes on and will stay continually on until the Chapter skip button is manually pressed.

Once the 3 compatibility - 'hanging' issues have been passed over, the movie will then play without a problem.

Paul

 

I'll try to put one up soon if I can find my camera..

 

Finally the F22 review is out.Its screen outclasses the F21 3D as far as contrast ratio goes (1000:1). But otherwise its a step down. Colors do not even cover sRGB completely and the viewing angles are not at the same level as F21, especially horizontal viewing angles. Brightness distribution is also inferior.

 

I finally picked up the HX9V today, so I'll use that for the screen captures. However, I didn't find any suitable memory but should have one by tomorrow.

 

Congrats on the Camera . Its brilliant. And yes, waiting for the pics!

 

I was kind of in a hurry so have only used two movies for screen captures. Also, I'm no photographer and I'm still figuring out the settings on the new camera, but it was either going to be this or from an older phone's camera of mine.

Any suggestions are welcome.

 

Great work!!!
Inception shots look awesome!! But the second movie seems quite dull ??? I wonder why that is.
I guess once you work around with the camera settings you can get much better shots

 

With Up, there was an annoying little menu that stayed popped up when I had the movie actually paused so I was trying to take shots while the movie was playing. I forgot to mention this earlier; I wonder if it has anything to do with that.

But yeah, I'm going to go see family today so I'll have some more time to toy around with this thing.

 

Can't wait!!!
P.S. I really don't know why I am unable to add rep to you

 

It's all right, I forget that it's even there sometimes.

 

I have that camera as well.

Did you try taking any 3D pictures? It took me a while to figure out that it's best to take panoramic shots in 3D. The depth perception is much more noticable in that mode compared to the steady shot.


Oh. Try and pick up a high speed memory stick. I'm using the 8GB Sony Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX. Wal-Mart carries it. But make sure you look at the model# and get MS-HX8B. That's the newest one. The MS-HX8 and MS-HX8A are older models. The Laptop reads this memory stick in high speed as well. It says "HG duo" near the slot.

 

@Figarou

Can you post some pics as well like this ?

 

I've taken a few non-panoramic 3D stills so far, and yeah, the effect isn't too significant. Haven't yet tried the panoramic, though, but I wil soon I'd imagine.

I've seen the Memory Sticks but opted for an SDHC for the time being. I like the more universal use of an SD, though it almost doesn't matter as most products that utilize this kind of storage media are Sony anyway.

 

Finally got my hands on the F 3D. I liked the way it looked in reality, much better than in pictures. Now coming to the screen, it was brilliant as i expected. Viewing angles are almost perfect. Blacks too did not look as bad as the notebookcheck review stated. At worst,it is only slightly worse than the Z. But the colors are awesome. I feel as far as the overall pq goes except the blacks, it compares well enough to an average entry-mid range HDTV. Images look true to life,yet there is a lot of 'pop' as well.

Sadly the battery on the 3D glasses died so could not check out 3D performance. The keyboard is very good,feedback is good and personally I felt the travel was perfect. Touchpad is very good as well,good texture too. Did not test multi touch gestures though. The speakers really impressed me,they distort slightly on full volume but otherwise sound very good. Louder than any other laptop ive heard. Strangely there was no Dolby tab in properties???

The weight to me is not a huge issue. It did not seem that heavy to me.
Performance was snappy thanks to the i7 2820qm and the super fast hdd. It booted in 30 secs almost!!!
That too with all the sony applications!

Overall now I can safely say That for me this machine is perfect. And I am kind glad Sony screwed up the new Z lol! I wouldn't have even considered this beast otherwise.

In brief
* Gorgeous Screen with amazing colors and punch and almost perfect viewing angles.
* Loud and Clear Sounding Speakers
* Stylish premium Look
* Great keyboard and Touchpad
* Amazingly speedy performance even though it does not have an SSD. It will Fly with an SSD. lol
* 1080p resolution feels perfect for the F 3D. Text is not too small as on smaller notebooks.

That's it for now. Will post a whole lot more in my full review once I get it.

 

Sure. If you don't mind waiting until Tuesday. That's my day off from work.

If you have a PS3 Slim, I suggest getting this Portable memory card reader. MRWF3 | Portable Memory Card Reader/Writer | Sony | Sony Style USA It will read SD and memory sticks at high speed. (That's if your card does high speed.) With it, you can play AVCHD video directly from the memory stick after removing it from the camera.

I'm using a Hybrid hard drive in mine. Plus I'm using Readyboost in a very unique way. Here's how. I have a 40 GB SSD in a Thermaltake BlacX 5G. It's hooked up to a USB 3.0 port. This setup gives me a 32GB cache for Readyboost. Talk about "speed!" I noticed a huge difference compared to the stock hard drive.

 

@Figarou

Ill wait till Tuesday . And do you plan to replace the stock Hdd with an SSD later on ? And can you tell me if your laptop has the Dolby Sound Enhancements option ? If yes, where to find it ?

 

I already replaced the stock HDD with a hybrid. Momentus XT Solid State Hybrid Hard Drive | Seagate

As for SSD, I'll wait for the price to drop some more before getting one.

To locate the Dolby Sound Enhancements, you need to go to the "Vaio control center." Click "Start," Click "All Programs," then click "Vaio Control Center."

Once opened, click on "Sounds" Then click on "Sound Effects Settings."

 

I see. Thanks for the info.

 

Does anyone have teardown photos of the Vaio F2290x or F2190x for that matter? And also would like to know for those who have teardown, if the GPU can be upgraded?

 

@avmaxfan
You want screen shots of some Blu-Ray films, correct?

Oh, speaking of Blu-Ray's, the titles I have in 3D is Rio, Ice Age 3, Narnia....Dawn Treader, and Avatar. I bought a Panasonic DMP-BDT210. Sent out for the free Avatar 3D. It came UPS the other day. Can't WAIT to see it on my laptop Tuesday.

My Laptop is the only place where I can watch 3D. I use the DMP-BDT210 for regular Blu-rays. I find it better than my PS3 slim.

 

I actually have the first-gen PS3 which has all the storage media slots. I'm assuming I'd have no need for the card reader you linked, correct?

 

Only if you don't plan on using high speed cards.

The storage media slots on your 1st gen PS3 is not designed for high speed cards. Only the regular cards. The Memory Stick HG duo needs an 8 bit connection for high speed. Your PS3 provides a 4 bit.