GadgetGuy.com.au

Gadget of the Week

  • Moov 370

    Mio Moov 370

    The Mio Moov 370 is easy to use, reliable and comes with the kinds of features you'd expect at this price point, or even above it, making it good value.

Audio Systems

Media moguls: the shapes and sizes of audio and video

Audio and video comes on media of all shapes and sizes. We explore the best options for home theatre.

In 1984 a music listener only had to cope with three types of media upon which music was recorded: the LP, the audio cassette and the shiny new compact disc. A decade later, the first two have practically fallen by the wayside, save the odd use of cassettes for playing music in car decks, leaving the CD as our mainstay. At the same time, video was even simpler. You had a choice of watching TV or playing a VHS videotape. A few diehards probably still had Betamax video cassette recorders, but by then it was almost impossible to hire pre-recorded tapes. Even Sony, which owned the Beta format, had switched almost entirely over to manufacturing VCRs that used VHS tapes.

But now, more than a decade later, the consumer has a huge choice of media, and even more are on the way. These are the digital formats that you can now use for your listening or viewing pleasure: Audio CDs (of course), High Definition Compatible Digital CDs (HDCD), Super Audio CDs (SACD), DVD Video, DVD Audio, MP3 on solid state memory, magnetic or optical media, Windows Media Audio (WMA) likewise, and MiniDisc. The next couple of years will see one, two or three different higher resolution video formats appear: Blu-Ray, High Definition DVD (HD DVD) or Enhanced Video Disc (EVD).

So how do these formats differ? Which type of digital entertainment are they best suited to? And, most importantly, what formats do you need to ensure are on your next piece of home entertainment hardware?

Page 1 of 10  Next - The versatile, ubiquitous CD  

Subscribe to our RSS feed by email

Get GadgetGuy.com.au content delivered right to your inbox, on the day we write it! It's quick, it's fresh, it's easy to subscribe, and you'll never miss a thing!

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Feed | Keep up to date via our RSS Feeds.

Gadget Guy Buyer Guides

Gadget Guy Blog