Digital leaves few options for replacing portable sets
[2008-7-15]
Tag: battery convertor
Barry Spadoni first bought a battery-powered TV after the Northridge earthquake in 1994, when his home in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley was without electricity for 10 days. He later upgraded to a color model to stay on top of news during power outages -- and follow local college football games from high in the stands.
"Having that little TV stuck in the drawer, where you just have to put in batteries . . . that's very important if it's a prolonged outage," said Spadoni, a Wachovia financial adviser.
But come February, Spadoni's hand-held TV and the millions of others in U.S. homes will face their own permanent outage. Almost all the battery-powered televisions stashed in drawers, closets and garages in case of emergency will be rendered useless when broadcasters switch to digital-only signals.
And right now, there aren't many options for replacing them.
Congress has mandated that all broadcast TV stations transmit only in digital beginning Feb. 18, making old analog sets obsolete. The federal government is offering each household two $40 coupons to buy converter boxes so those sets can pick up the new signals.
But nobody manufactures a battery-powered converter box. And the few battery-powered digital TV models on the market start at about $200 -- a costly option for replacing portable sets that have become relatively inexpensive in recent years.
Barry Spadoni first bought a battery-powered TV after the Northridge earthquake in 1994, when his home in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley was without electricity for 10 days. He later upgraded to a color model to stay on top of news during power outages -- and follow local college football games from high in the stands.
"Having that little TV stuck in the drawer, where you just have to put in batteries . . . that's very important if it's a prolonged outage," said Spadoni, a Wachovia financial adviser.
But come February, Spadoni's hand-held TV and the millions of others in U.S. homes will face their own permanent outage. Almost all the battery-powered televisions stashed in drawers, closets and garages in case of emergency will be rendered useless when broadcasters switch to digital-only signals.
And right now, there aren't many options for replacing them.
Congress has mandated that all broadcast TV stations transmit only in digital beginning Feb. 18, making old analog sets obsolete. The federal government is offering each household two $40 coupons to buy converter boxes so those sets can pick up the new signals.
But nobody manufactures a battery-powered converter box. And the few battery-powered digital TV models on the market start at about $200 -- a costly option for replacing portable sets that have become relatively inexpensive in recent years.
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