I have to disagree, SONY is the worst at developing a great hardware product, flooding the market with these items and then abandoning the products and their customers.
PCM-800s, Dash recorders, Digital consoles, Video machines and editors…
by the way, I am forever looking for a studer A-810 to cannibalize for spare parts to keep my 3 other machines running. I had a guy call me every name in the book for wanting to dismantle a perfectly good machine in order to keep other machines happy, but when the OEM wants to charge $2000 for a regulator board because there are almost none left, and the whole machine originally cost $2500, buying a used machine for $2000 that can be used to keep 3 going for the next 20 years !!!
This is what owning vintage gear means.
While I seem to be defending software over hardware, that is not the case.
My stance is… you are going to get screwed EITHER way. You are going to PAY either way.
With software you are always updating, fixing, waiting for bug fixes, watching the bug fixes break something else, watching your original $5000 investment in software become obsolete overnight.
and as for dedicated hardware for software, by the time you have upgraded your software to the point the hardware can no longer work, the unit will most likely need service with parts you can no longer get.
Both sides hurt.
It is up to each of us to decide which path to PAIN we wish to endure.
Later,
Brain