The conversion is pretty much fundamentally corner-cutting of some sort or another. The digital equivalent is usually a micro-controller worth a few cents repla

The conversion is pretty much fundamentally corner-cutting of some sort or another. The digital equivalent is usually a micro-controller worth a few cents replacing dollars of bespoke-by-comparison (due to smaller economies of scale) hardware cost. The goal for the exercise is almost always "good enough" instead of trying to best the existing State Of The Art. Power usage I think tends to be one of the few aspects usually improved via digitization.