The Eviant reminded me about a question I got a couple of years ago from a reader that wondered if their portable analog TV would work with digital. The answer for most people is no. The portable analog TV will become useless.
The reason is because the analog tuner within the portable TV won't be able to decode the digital signal without help from a digital converter box, which converts the digital signal to analog. The problem is that many portable analog TVs don't have a way of connecting a converter box - meaning they have no RF or A/V input. Since it can't receive an input it has no way of connecting to the converter box. Thus, a perfectly good portable analog TV dies a sudden death.
The most notable of these soon-to-be-obsolete portable analog TVs is the Storm Tracker - the Swiss Army knife of electronic components. Though, its other defect free non-TV features should work after the digital transition.
Fortunately, there are portable digital TVs on the market, like Accurian's 7" portable digital TV and Eviant's T7. Of course, buying a new TV means spending money. Prices for a portable digital TV typically start around $150.
I love portable digital TVs. More importantly, my wife likes portable digital TVs because they are a source of comfort for her during a storm. Bad news is that for many situations a portable digital TV won't perform as consistently as its analog counterpart.
The reason is because digital signals don't travel as good as analog. This means that proper alignment of the antenna will be crucial for reception. Fortunately, most portable digital TVs accept an RF input, which means that you can connect a better antenna to the TV.
The antenna, along with proper alignment, could be the fix for your future reception issue.
Comments
I think that the government should’ve just left well enough alone! Analog works better than Digital even though it doesn’t always look as nice.
Jacob, we say the same thing!
Not only has this messed up the use of a portable TV that we were used to using during storms and used on lunch breaks while away from home. But we also have a high top Conversion van that we bought last year for our traveling needs. Well no longer can the resting person catch a little TV time while the rested person is driving. The new Digital will not pick up while the van is moving where the analog was doing this even though it is a HDTV with digital. What a waste!!! I thought we were supposed to be going forward in life not backward. ???
This site has a list of portable digital TVs and where to buy them.
The site I referred to in the above comment is EZDigitalTV, then go to Portable TVs.