Real life is analogue. Real amplifiers are analogue. Transducer signals are analogue. Sound waves are analogue. And I can remember analogue computers (
eg, in gun aiming kit, guided missiles, and navigation devices) as well!
All A-to-D converters do is to approximate (at best) an analogue signal, especially if it's one that is changing. And, as we know, each and every time a signal is converted, some of the information must be lost.
Some things are naturally digital, of course. Number systems, digital computers and other electronic gear based on logic levels, for example. Or any technology that needs to be programmed, or runs by following software programs.
But don't get me started on film! Kodak stopped producing standard 8mm Kodachrome cine film in commercial quantities in 1992. But I have heard of sixty year old reels of exposed film (that have been stored in an attic since the 1970's) that still looked new. Meanwhile archive black-and-white film on a polyester base has an expected lifetime of 300 years or so!
The modern "media" crowd (all those "Media Studies" degrees, don't forget) wouldn't have a clue about how to go about editing cine film, of course. Like everything else these days, stuff like that has to be done quickly (read as:- poorly) at a computer, to enable folk to get home in time for tea!
But here's another thing to think about:- I was once told that you could tell if a movie or TV episode was shot on film when spoked wheels (stage-coaches IIRC) would appear to be going backwards (if shot on film - but not on video). But that would depend upon the speed of the rotation with respect to shutter speed, I reckon.
Meanwhile, with digital capture it is quite different. This is especially noticeable with aeroplane propellers, which (with digital cameras) appear as a most unnatural and nauseous series of curved lines!
OK ... that's enough miscellaneous ramblings for one day.
