[Kirkwood]

I don't even have a tv.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Best explanation I've heard on this yet! IOW, it's not a bad idea to pick up one of the bargain TVs out there -- as low as $97 for a 20" analog. It will still work in 2009, one way or the other. It's probably even smarter to wait till this chip is factory installed on the analog sets, although the prices may rise appreciably.

Do I understand it now?

[Mark was here]

Congress desperately wants to make this transition happen, if only because the vacated analog TV channels will be auctioned by the federal government for an estimated $30 billion -- a significant cash infusion in this era of soaring deficits.

Will the 30 Billion materialize out of thin air, or will it be a hidden tax paid by those using services in the opened up frequencies?

[JoeFromSidney]

I'm reminded of when color TV came in. The signal was designed so that it could be received on the millions of existing black & white TVs as B&W. Within about 3 years, all those B&W TVs were scrapped and replaced with color TVs. Now, about 40 years later, we are still stuck with a system that was designed to be compatible with TVs that have been in the landfill for nearly 40 years. I hope they don't screw up digital TV the same way.

[savedbygrace]

digital broadcasts look much better than analog even after conversion for viewing on non-high definition TVs, somewhat like the difference between DVDs and VHS tapes.

Written by someone who either has poor vision or lack of visual discrimination. The highly compressed digital signals that are being sent from cable and satellite providers make pix that are filled with artifacts. Yuck.

A strong analog signal will beat those pix any day. Now a full bandwidth uncompressed HD pix will blow you away, it's so stunning. But what's actually being delivered to homes is lousy.

[Revolting cat!]

Digital signal, 400 channels, living colour, surround sound, and still nothing on...

[InterceptPoint]

Last month, the Senate set a deadline of April 7, 2009, for the analog shutdown.

I suppose I'm not the first to notice that this date is almost as far away from any election as possible. The technology is there to do it today but that might get a few of the CongressCritters in hot water. And how would you like to be running for President with 50,000,000 screaming TeeeeVeeee fans rioting in the streets.

What a world we live in.