In the beginning there was betamax vs VHS. VHS won the fabled battle with an army of content and simplicity of price and purchase.
VHS quality begat DVD quality and DVD quality begat HDTV quality. As the people experienced each for the first time, they were happy. They were content receiving that which entertained them because it was new and better. But the law of technology pricing, being what it is, led to falling prices. That which was once unattainable became cheap. That which once was the province of only those living in castles, became presents under the Christmas Tree and for Hanukah. That which was daunting and seemingly complex, became simple.
Stories were written by elders of how digital came and conquered the analogs. Resistance appeared, but was futile. Children can recite chapter and verse of lessons learned in their classrooms. The coming of the Emailers, The Interneters,TheIpodders, The Cellphoners and the seperation of theDigital and High DefinitionTV Clan. How eachgeneration of elders convened in the media of yore and preached that “what is, shall continue to be”.
They were wrong.
No one expected the breakup of theDigital andHigh Definition Clan, nor the pain, loss and suffering involved. They were of the same ancestry. The parchment of the day proclaimed that TV is one and one is for all TV. Twas not to be.
The Digital clan became complacent. Unaccepting of change. Forest turned to town and town turned to city. Progress to the digital was at one time natural. They encouraged the High Def towalk among them. Some even allowed for marriage between the clans, knowing what had been digital would have to continue on as High Def. On these families, the lightshined bright. To these families, unbeknownst to the Digital at the time, were born the leaders.
Carriage was drawn to both land and sky as landlords realized that only these offspring could survive the coming turmoil. The firstborn of these families were athletes. The ESPN HDfamily, breaking away from their Disney brother and sisters, excelling atFootball, Hockey, Basketball, Baseball and Soccer. They were travellers and scientists. The Discovery HD family, led by a tiny breakaway branch of a largely disconnected family,excelling at education and enlightenment.
Then of course there were the native HDTVers. The HDNet Clan. Excelling at introducing new and original content and possessing the books of NHL and MLS, they set standards for the media that now populates our time. It was and is the HDNet Clan, that extends the HDTVdynasty through its HDNet and Movie families. The rules of day and date that destabilized the media monarchies prosper through HDNet.
But while more and more began following the HDTVers, the Digital closed their eyes. They perceived that the defections were minor. More importantly, the Digitalers took false comfort in thinking that followers of HDTV, would retain their loyalties to their families because they were still Digital by birth. That when the time became right, the hundreds of Digital families who had remained loyal to the digital TV standards could easily adapt to the HDTV Clan standards and the HDTV adherants would return to the fold.
Alas, that was not the case.
No one quite remembers what day it was. The turmoil was large. Days and months are unaccounted for. The stories passed down by the surviving HDTVers tell a story of a time when many of the Digital Families took a closer look at their schedules and libraries and came to the realization that they were not worthy of becoming part of the HDTV clan, and that the HDTV adherents would not accept them as being merely digital. From this time come the earliest stories of discrimination. Resolution discrimination. WideScreen Discrimination. Surround Sound discrimination.
The Landlords were the first to see the storm clouds brewing. They were the first to understand the problem. They worked hard to convert land that was once the provence of analog, but held by the Digital, to space worthy of HDTV clan carriage. The most powerful of the Digital families thought this was a sign of respect. They thought that the HDTVers were returning to their homeland. Such was not the case. The Landlords had reclaimed the land for HDTVers. HDTVers were happier tenants They enjoyed the families of the HDTV clans, and the clans enjoy the fruits that their followers bestowed upon them.
The HDTVers had long since passed accepting the Digital as a peer. Digital was 2nd class. Digital was not worthy of their newly claimed homeland. Resolution, WideScreen and Sound discrimination was acceptable and expected.
The return of the HDTV families to the Digital land created turmoil among those digital families who were unprepared for the response. They had believed the bigger and stronger families , related or not when they foretold that “Once you go HD, people will always come back”. They believed when some false prophets proclaimed “be not important why ye resolution be. Worry not if you are not widescreen or surround of sound in ye family. Thou shall be accepted as equal, now and forever more”.
Sadly ,such was not true.
Digital families came to the realization that they were not of HDTV clan quality. They were of standard definition. They were of tape. Some were of film, but the cost of surgery necessary to repair to HDTV standards was much. They could not reach the heights ofHDTV.
The Landlords tried to mitigate the pain. They offered locations of sky and land where those not of HDTV quality could congregrate and live together. Some partook of the offer. Knowing that the HDTVers considered them of inferior quality. Sure they would come visit out of nostalgia. Maybe because a friend was still in the family. Many let time and natural causes take its course. Finally buried in on demand server farms throughout the netosphere.
Its been many, many years since the seperation of the Digital and HDTV clans, and the eventual extinction of the digital. There have been many lessons learned. Time has not completely forgotten the families who were of standard definition and never prepared for the change. Never procreated with the HDTVers to rejuvenate their families.
So many of the VH1 and MTV family. Gone.