TOKYO--Industry watchers in Japan are wondering if Sony is about to pull the plug on the PSX. The company disclosed this week on its Web site that it will soon discontinue production of its one-year-old combination PlayStation 2 and personal video recorder, the PSX, prompting speculation that Sony has no plans for new models.

　　According to the Sony site, the company has ended production of both the most recent PSX models: the DESR-7500 (which comes with a 250GB hard drive and has a street price of around 80,000 yen, or $764) and the DESR-5500 (which comes with a 160GB hard drive and sells for around 60,000 yen, or $573).

　　"We don't have any official statement that we can make on whether we will release a new PSX model," a Sony representative told GameSpot. Lending additional weight to speculation that the PSX would be discontinued was the rep's reluctance to discuss distribution plans for markets other than Japan. Sony is "still debating" whether to release the PSX in America and Europe.

　　The PSX made its debut on December 13, 2003, in Japan, about a year before the launch of the PSP. The machine combined a fully functional PlayStation 2 with a DVD and HDD recorder, letting consumers play games, watch DVDs, and record TV programs on the unit's hard drive, in addition to burning them onto discs.

　　Although Sony anticipated the PSX would become as successful as any other Sony-manufactured game console, the machine was dogged by misfortune before it was even released. Controversy struck early when consumers learned the machine would ship without some of its originally announced launch capabilities, such as PlayStation BB support and MP3 playback. Although the PSX went through a number of firmware updates and had two model upgrades, it now looks like it could earn the dubious distinction of having one of the shortest life spans in the Sony catalog.

　　In other product-discontinuation news, Sony announced it will end production of its Clie PDA this July. The current model, the VZ90, will be the last model manufactured.