Does the medium affect your experience?

[Ziggy]

Hardware is part of the experience. Don't you think playing Neo-Geo games using a PS4 controller doesn't feel the same while playing them using the original arcade sticks?

Absolutely. That might be an extreme example in the different of controllers, but I even find less extreme examples to detract from the experience. For example, I downloaded Castlevania Requiem on the PS4. And while Symphony of the Night felt OK on a PS4 controller (it's a PS1 game after all) Rondo of Blood feels very strange. I had similar thoughts when the VC on the Wii first came out. The sideways remote was close enough to an NES controller, although I personally like an NES controller more. But it felt very strange using it to play Genesis games. The 3-button and 6-button Genesis controllers have a very distinct feel to them, and that's part of the experience when playing the Genesis. Use any other controller and you loose that part of the experience.

[PartridgeSenpai]

Here's a good example though, Star Trek (the original series). My first viewing of this series was either from VHS rented from the local library or broadcasted on analog TV. I eventually got the series on DVD, and enjoyed watching it that way. Then I got the series on BD, and it was completely restored for this release, and I find the improved quality to actually have a negative impact on the experience. One this that's really distracting is that you can ALWAYS pick out Shatner's stunt double. On VHS, and even the DVD release, it wasn't always noticeable. There's also something about the improved quality that I think negatively impacts the experience, but I'm not quite sure what it is. Maybe I'm just nostalgic for the way I original experienced the show, but I feel like the lesser quality adds to the experience. One of the things that originally pulled me into the original series was how, by today's standards, it was low quality effects. The lower quality video quality adds to this in some way.

VHS I think is one of the most significant examples of the medium affecting the experience. Like you say here with image quality, that's not something totally unlike playing an 8 or 16-bit game on a 4k flatscreen vs playing it on an old CRT. That hardware was made for those old tech, and there's a very noticeable difference in the quality of the images and how they can hide certain things that newer displays show off in all their restored super HD glory.

Beyond that, VHS is a super different experience totally aside from image quality because of the aspect ratio. The way films basically had to be re-edited to be viewed in 4:3 really changes how you have to view the film in a very literal way. It's not super noticeable for most films, of course, but it's definitely altering the experience compared to viewing it on a DVD/blu-ray with widescreen (or a theater, of course).

[isiolia]

Do you think watching, listening, or playing multimedia on older or different mediums adds or differentiate the experience? I mean, does it add to the experience to listen to a song from the 50s on vinyl? Or watching Nightmare on Elm Street on VHS? Or playing Genesis on a CRT?

Differentiate, sure. As has been brought up, the medium is often a part of the experience. I think though, that most of what you've mentioned here offers an objectively lesser experience compared to other/newer options, but likely ones that we have nostalgic attachment to.

The easiest example given to pick on is VHS, since it's often a cut-down experience, even at the time it was current. Pan n' scan, low quality overall, etc. It wasn't the experience people saw in theaters, could get on Laserdisc or other higher quality mediums, or anything, For the most part, it's just what we grew up with. I wouldn't agree that there was a higher level of artistry on average either. I had great times watching movies on VHS back in the day, but the only thing the medium really does for me now is make me appreciate modern formats.

Vinyl I think turns more into deliberate music listening, which I think is done perfectly well with CD/digital/whatever. What you'd get out of it would have more to do with mastering and equipment on hand than anything.

Older games... possibly. I think the big consideration there is what you're comparing to. The setup that most people are going to shoot for now is a TON better than what most were actually using back in the day. I don't think it'd be adding much to the experience (outside of nostalgia) to go play Genesis via RF switch on an aged CRT. Compared to that, emulation or upscaled-on-LCD are probably preferable.

[RCBH928]

Differentiate, sure. As has been brought up, the medium is often a part of the experience. I think though, that most of what you've mentioned here offers an objectively lesser experience compared to other/newer options, but likely ones that we have nostalgic attachment to.

It is lesser experience, but that is the good part. The lesser experience gives you that extra feel/experience of the media, it kind of gives you the feeling of the times it was released in and how it was experienced.

Naturally, newer mediums are better otherwise people wouldn't make the switch. I can't come up with an example where the older was actually better than the newer. But the older has its "charms".

[isiolia]

Naturally, newer mediums are better otherwise people wouldn't make the switch. I can't come up with an example where the older was actually better than the newer. But the older has its "charms".

As has been brought up, gaming (particularly) really does offer that possibility. Some titles may really depend on exact behavior of old hardware to quite look or perform as intended. More generally, most were designed for old CRTs and may take a lot of processing to scale up acceptably. To a fair point, the best experience for many older games would be a high end vintage hardware setup, but cost or convenience may still make a modern solution preferable.