Remember the talking rings from The Time Machine? Go back further, to CDs. The fact they were smaller in size than vinyl and gave you scratch free sound seemed miraculous. You can now store a DvD movie on something the size of a Micro SD card - something that can sit on you thumb. If this is not impressive, then nothing ever will be.
The last I ever had to do with video tape was when I started to convert the family camcorder footage to digital - this was several years ago. I obtained the 'fire wire' cable and hardware for the computer and had just about got used to basic editing when the camcorder breathed its last, leaving several 'rolls' of tape in limbo. The 'avi' format simply ate up hard disc space and memory.
In short, yes, I've experienced that 'gaping hole' problem of not being able to bridge the gap between formats because the older version disappeared faster than you could say, "Jack flippin' Robinson!"
