The MoFo Home Tech Face-Off

Right, let's see if this will work... before you submit your choices, note that this Poll is Multiple Choice and you can click more than one thing.

CDs, Records, Tape Cassettes, MP3s, Betamax, VHS, DVDs, Blu-Ray, Digital Streaming, Downloading...


What was/is/were the best format for sound and picture... modern tech is of course making things smaller and easier to carry around.
Before MP3 was the far superior Mini-Disk, yet MP3 being easier to carry, won the war... like with Betamax and VHS, Betamax was better yet lost.


Today, DVD for me is by far superior to Blu-Ray, and is losing the war simply due to marketing and the physical size.
In turn, Blu-Ray is losing to Digital Streaming and Downloading... which both have lower than substandard sound and picture quality, but the promise of being able to watch the movie or listen to the music anywhere.


So... make your choices


Poll may take a few minutes to appear.

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How is DVD far superior to Blu Ray? That doesn't even make sense.

A quick touch up to colour doesn't warrant the expense of having to spend 3 times as much per movie... and also have to spend 5 times as much on a player... which in turn has more expense for an internet connection.
Blu-Ray is just spend spend spend for some slightly brighter colours.


Edit/addition: You also need to go out and get another TV for Blu-Ray as well.
More expense.

Yeah, as an all-in consideration, for me, it's streaming. Blu-ray's obviously nicer, but I'm definitely at the point where I'm willing to lop a little quality off for that huge jump in convenience and the lowering of costs. Particularly given that, if it's popular now, it'll only be a matter of time before the quality improves.

If I'm honest, I'm kinda surprised by that, Yods.
I'd have thought you were a stalwart hard-copy kinda person.

Didn't know we were including cost. My bad.

Well, you don't have to of course, but I did in my own votes

I marked most of these, and wouldn't mind collecting the others either. All these formats have their own "personality" to me, and there are pros and cons to all of them. Sonically, the analog warmth of vinyl is fun and CD has the best quality, but neither are as convenient as, say, Spotify and other digital streaming music services. When it comes to movies, I love my DVD/Blu-ray collection, but find streaming incredibly convenient and the cost to selection ratio is too good to pass up. I've never been too concerned with quality I guess, as long as it's good enough, but I'm also definitely not the richest person personally, so that's why I think I love streaming services the most. I am subscribed to a few services (Spotify, Netflix, Shudder, Filmstruck), but even just what you get for $10 with, say, Netflix monthly is pretty awesome to me.

I'm not sure what Blu-rays you have, but the industry standard isn't just brighter colours. The entire viewing experience is far, far better than a DVD. Picture quality is amazing compared to DVD.

I cannot believe you are being serious wen you say that DVD is a better experience than Blu-Ray, especially considering you can pick up Blu-rays for decent prices these days.

Just gonna elaborate a bit more about Blu-Ray.


New TV needed, and a more expensive player, each BR disc/movie costing 3 times that of a DVD and Blu-Ray actually costs less to manufacture, I sh*t you not. I worked in a factory that made anything from CDs to Blu-Rays to Cassettes and even VHS. Blu-Ray is about a third of the cost to manufacture.


Then there's anywhere up to a grand on a telly and a player before you've even bought a disc/movie, and then more expense to keep the player running because it updates through an internet connection.
It's an awful lot of cash simply to have some colours that are slightly richer.


There's very little improvement, in fact probably no improvement, that can be done with sound on a Blu-Ray. DVD and CD are the pinnacle of clear and clean sound, and both in turn are superior to anything that's available on the internet.


So Blu-Ray has only one thing for all that expense.

Wow you clearly know very little about the Blu-ray format, Rodent...

Either you need to update your home viewing experience or read up on the format or both. I'm not trying to be rude just direct. Blu-ray is superior in every way maybe except cost and availability/accessibility. Sure you need to update stuff once in a while but that's how it is with technology constantly. That's not really an amazing counterpoint.

I'll elaborate if needed later because I'm out the door, but I just couldn't let that slide for now.

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I kinda was before, actually! It's shifted as I've gotten older and busier, I suppose, and the ease of access has become a bigger and bigger part of things.

If I love a film enough I still like to own it, but I definitely buy fewer hard copies than I ever have.

Love that Rodent mentioned Mini-Disk. I haven't heard of/though of those in years.

They were awesome.
Like, miniature CDs in their own little box. Good sound off them as well. Should have put them in the Poll

Yeah i liked them too. My brother in-law used to always give me ones he'd made.

Rewritable as well.
Baffling technology that was.


It's like, a CD... in a box! AND IT'S REWRITABLE!!! LIKE A CASSETTE!!!!



What the hell kind of witchcraft is this????!!!!

I'm disappointed there is n laserdisc option personally.

I never had Laserdisc or really knew what it was (sad reality for most my age i think) if i'm honest until i was older. An ex-boss of mine had a laserdisc collection that was pretty impressive, not @Holden Pike impressive though, the pictures he's taken are insane. It's like he takes them at a library except in what world is there a Laserdisc Library? And he takes awesome intimate black and white sometimes photos that wouldn't be tolerated in a public library haha.

Rodent will be pleased to know I prefer DVD over Blu-Ray. The cost is one big reason....and the other reason? Blu-Ray movies often look over sharpened, I don't need to see every single pore in some actors face.

Streaming, might be fine with a high speed cable connection, but I have DSL broadband and the movie quality of streamed movies is mediocre. Besides you don't get all the features you get on a DVD.

I never thought this was possible, but I've thought this, too. My Blu-ray copy of The Dark Knight, in particular, looks kinda odd. I assume it's one of those things where I'd feel differently if the TV it's played on were larger, or I was sitting farther away, or something, but with my normal home setup it seems better in some ways and worse in others.