Sony

Hybrid drives combine both Solid State Drives and Hard Disk Drives. Since SSDs cost more per gigabyte, it's expensive to buy an SSD big enough to hold everything. So the idea behind hybrid drives is that it would combine the speed benefit of SSD with the capacity benefits of the traditional, spinning drive. It puts both drives in one enclosure and uses smart software to determine what data should go on the SSD and what should go on the hard drive.

Bob is going to Africa in September and wants to know of a good camera to get. Leo says that the Sony NEX-5 is a great traveling camera because it's micro four thirds, offers great lenses, and is incredibly light. Leo gave his son an NEX 6 for graduation. It shoots spectacular images, and they shoot terrific video as well.

Scott says he would get the Sony X950B 4K TV. Roger says that one won't work for him. David adds in that if money were no object, he'd get an OLED TV, but that would be a curved screen. Scott says he might opt for the LG 77" for $30,000, but Roger apparently is at least a little price conscious. Scott thinks that at 77", a curved screen might be ok. LG's screens also are only slightly curved, not as curved as Samsung's displays. The Vizio Reference Series will be making a 65" display, and both Scott and David recommend waiting for that one.

Jim's old JVC projection TV is going black, so he's in the market for a new TV. Should he buy an HDTV or go UHD? How can he future proof his purchase?

Scott says that viewing from 10' away, the optimum screen size is bigger than most would think - about 70". Scott says it isn't really necessary to buy a 4K TV right now. There's not that much content out for it and the standards like color gamut and standards aren't all that settled just yet. So a 4K TV he buys today may be obsolete tomorrow. Not only that, but some TVs upscale terribly. So it's a good idea to go with HD still.

Eric got to shoot with the Sony a7s and he thinks it's amazing. Leo says that the a7s makes Sony a dark horse in the category, and out of nowhere they've become a heavy hitter. It tells Leo they're more committed to the platform that they're coming out with this a7s. It's also less expensive than the previous model, the a7r.

Leo says that mirrorless cameras are more compact and they're really starting to take off with professionals. Leo uses the Olympus OM-D micro 4/3s. But for Eric's location work, the Sony a7s is ideal.

Marcos needs Leo's opinion of a Sony 65" 4K TV for $3995, which comes with the media player. Leo says that Sony has to give away the media player because there's no other 4K content out there at the moment, and that's the biggest issue. But does it cost more than it should for this? Leo says that even though the price is incredible for what he's getting, he doesn't think it's time to buy a 4K TV yet.

Janet is looking to get a new camera and was thinking about the Sony RX100. But at $700, is it too much for a camera she's going to take on vacation? Leo says the nice thing about the RX100 is that it has a really fast lens with a large sensor. That makes them great in low light.

Brian works in real estate and needs a wide angle camera for taking photos of properties. Leo says a lot of cameras now will take panoramas. There are a number of point and shoots that have 24mm lenses, such as the Panasonic Lumix LX3. Another option is the Sony RX100. Both have good zooms.

Estaban's old film camera broke, and now he's looking to move to digital. $500 is his budget. Leo says that's a great budget. Leo likes the Sony RX100 point and shoot. It's compact and has a zoom. It also has a large 1" sensor, which will give him far better photos. It lets in more light as well, so it's better in low light.