Will my analog portable television become obsolete when digital takes over?

Question: Will my analog portable television become obsolete when digital takes over?

A reader writes: Considering that all-digital broadcasting is coming soon, what happens to small portable TVs like 2" LCD Casios? Do they become obsolete? If you need a converter to receive digital on older TVs - doesn't that eliminate the portability of the current smaller devices. I searched the net for new digital-ready portable TV (2"-5") models, but can't find any. Yet, there are a lot of analog LCD TVs still being sold? The whole thing just doesn't make any sense!

Answer: I couldn't agree with you more. I speculate that handheld TVs will become obsolete unless there was a digital converter for them. We have to remember that analog is still a functional format, and not all people want to spend the money on a digital set right now. The US government has set a cut off date for when manufacturers must eliminate the production of all analog sets. What we need is better education to let people know that at some point they will need a digital tuner receive and decode digital signals.

People buying digital/HD-capable televisions are in the same boat as analog owners because they will need a digital tuner to receive digital broadcasts too. The key here is buying a television with a built-in ATSC tuner. That is the only way a person can guarantee they don't have to rely on a cable/satellite company to receive a digital signal.

The bottom line is that most analog televisions won't become obsolete because many people subscribe to some sort of cable/satellite programming package. It would be bad business for those companies to eliminate an analog feed without offering some sort of digital-to-analog conversion, but that does nothing for owners of portable analog sets.

Right now, December 31, 2006 is the date over-the-air television stations are required to turn off their analog signal. But, the US government is attempting to prolong TV broadcasting on the analog spectrum for various reasons until 2008.

As for digital handheld televisions, cell phones will likely become the portable TV of the future because wireless companies like Verizon and Cingular are trying to obtain rights to provide cable programming in various states. Cell phones are also in the hands of a lot of consumers, and a slow integration of the market with hand-held TV units is very realistic. In fact, many companies already offer a video phone with access to video clips.

For wireless companies, the move to TV programming makes sense as they're like satellite in that they would be exempt of paying local taxes, and they have the ability to transmit a signal virtually anywhere. Despite the advantages, they do have a tough road ahead of them.

Cable companies are opposing the wireless companies plan, and Texas lawmakers rejected the wireless companies initial attempt at providing television programming.