SD content in the future (1 Viewer)

If VHS, Betamax, and other videotape based formats including videotaped shows like All in the Family are unable to be remastered in HD or 4K, does that mean that no one will watch the digital SD videos or SD DVDs of these shows in the future, as if everyone totally forgets that All in the Family even existed?

I don't think the definition of the video is that big a problem, in that low quality
picture means the content won't be acceptable to future audiences.
In general, there is SO much continent available that the bigger problem
is just the sheer volume of shows, how will people decide what's worth spending
their time watching?

Those of us who have grown up in an era of limited availability of shows likely
thInk about it differently than it is now, when you can choose from pretty much
everything ever made over the last 50 or 60 years. Will people watch complete
series? Or jump around sampling some of everything?

To me it's more a question of a show being accessible than it is the picture quality. What's important, it seems to me, is that shows from the past are archived and made available to the masses (if not restored).


Do I think things that can be streamed in 16x9 HD have an advantage? Yes. And there's something a little sad about that.

Everyone is most fond of nostalgia from their own past, therefore, the viability of older films goes into a diminishing returns situation wherein each generation cares less and less about older materials, the farther back you go. I don't see younger people enjoying or even understanding "All in the Family." You have to have been around in the 70s to get it. I know younger kids who hate "I Love Lucy," primarily because it's in black and white. They want their own shows that speak to their own generation; nothing good or bad in that. That's just the way it is.

Those that have issues watching SD in a HD world just don't get...

Good content always trumps presentation.

Ethan Riley said:

They want their own shows that speak to their own generation; nothing good or bad in that. That's just the way it is.

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While i don't disagree this is true for mainstream culture, (which television has mostly been

considered a popular media format) this could and will likely change in the future. What speaks to

"your own generation" can be whatever you're exposed to at a certain age, like a period of rock and

roll as teen rebellion, or punk music in high school, certain kinds of alternative music in university,

or classical music if you're into that (nobody has been alive for hundreds of years since a lot of that

was composed). It's timeless, and being exposed to it repeats generation after generation.


I know several 15 or 16 year olds who listen to Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, have a very good

understanding of the issues of the 70s. These kids have access to virtually any tv or musical era,

and aren't locked in to the sources we were, only FM radio, records we could buy at local stores,

or what was on 3 major tv networks. Quality material stands the test of time.

Ethan Riley said:

Everyone is most fond of nostalgia from their own past, therefore, the viability of older films goes into a diminishing returns situation wherein each generation cares less and less about older materials, the farther back you go. I don't see younger people enjoying or even understanding "All in the Family." You have to have been around in the 70s to get it. I know younger kids who hate "I Love Lucy," primarily because it's in black and white. They want their own shows that speak to their own generation; nothing good or bad in that. That's just the way it is.

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Actually, there is something bad in that. It means you forget the past. Should an English teacher only assign works that "speak to" the students' "own generation"? Should she assign only "Harry Potter" or "Twilight" or "Hunger Games" books? No, she should assign great literature that speaks to human concerns across generations, like Shakespeare and Dickens, even if the students find them "boring." That's what schools are for, to make students learn the things they'll reject on on their own because they're not smart enough to know the value of it.


Unfortunately, with TV, it's up to the parents to make their kids watch classic TV like Lucy, Honeymooners, Addams Family, Gilligan, Twilight Zone, etc. You get them watching at a young enough age, before they're old enough to reject something as "old" or black-and-white, and they'll get it. I had my daughter watching "Addams Family" as a child and showed her books with the collected cartoons of Charles Addams and she totally got it and considers it a classic to this day. And she and her boyfriend routinely watch Twilight Zone marathons.

Vic Pardo said:

Actually, there is something bad in that. It means you forget the past.

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Right or wrong, that's the way it has always been. TV is a recent enough medium that shows are just finally starting to be forgotten. Books, movies and music are all old enough that the vast majority of them have been forgotten and only the true gems are still remembered. Think how many popular and well regarded books from 100 years ago are long forgotten today. How many average people of any age can name a single silent movie? TV has hit an age where the same thing is beginning to happen.


Once again, I'm not saying that it's right or wrong, it's just the way of the world.

I believe it is the primary responsibility of the artist to create transcendence in their work; that is, something timeless that speaks to all generations. Having said that, the situation is much better than it ever has been, in my opinion, given that so much media has been archived and made available to the public. Even as recent as thirty years ago that was not the case.

Carabimero said:

Having said that, the situation is much better than it ever has been, in my opinion, given that so much media has been archived and made available to the public.

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The problem now is that there's too much choice. Growing up with about ten television stations, without any kind of home video, I was much more willing to give something a chance that I might not otherwise have chosen, simply because that was all that was available.

[Never mind.]