They don't need to be trashed - there is some kind of signal converter that can be used. Cable companies will make these available at minimal cost. If you don't use cable,you will still be able to buy one (as I understand it).

So I hope the mainstream ad campaign is successful.

I continue to be amazed by people that don't bother to learn anything about it. Heck if you've got cable you've probably got digital cable now. If you don't you probably could, just needs a new box and has NOTHING to do with your tv. The digital conversion is over the air anyway, has nothing to do with cable or satelite.

I'd betcha $5 that lots of tvs will get tossed as part of this. People don't want to educate themselves, they want to do what big corps tell them to, which is to buy a new TV...

Actually, I'm a video editor, so hopefully I have some answers.

First, as curtludwig points out, if you have "digital cable" this is almost a non-issue. Your cable provider is already sending you a digital signal, and your cable box is a digital-to-analog decoder which allows you to watch the digital signal on your analog set. You'll be able to continue to do that after the 2009 deadline.

Much of the material may show up letterboxed at that point, as the aspect ratio of digital television is 16:9 instead of the current 4:3.

Your cable company has, no doubt, been pressuring you for the last few years to switch to "digital cable," and this is why. If you still have analog cable, you'll have to get digital cable in 2009.

Second, the FCC has been threatening to eliminate analog broadcasts since 2003. They can't do it because the law says that they can't until 85% of the population in a given metro area has an HD-capable set.

Since, as I'm sure you know, no metro area meets this requirement, they keep pushing back the deadline. They hope to keep the 2009 deadline by giving away digital-to-analog converter boxes--in other words, in theory, nobody would have to buy a new television set, they could just sit on their hands and the feds would buy them a converter.

I can't be sure, but I'm betting this is a bluff, since I don't think they really want to buy everyone in the country a converter (again, you would only really need this if you rely on over-the-air broadcast, but you could claim one even if you didn't).

Third, if you'd like to recycle an old television set, first, I would try to freecycle it (www.freecycle.org) and see if anyone in your area wants it. If that doesn't work, see the link I've provided. You should keep in mind that not every part of your TV can be meaningfully recycled, but better some of it than none of it!

(Lindsayg--in my area Walgreens, the drugstore, will take household batteries for recycling...where do you live?)

Lastly, if you do buy an HDTV, look for one with the Energy Star logo to minimize its power use. One bright spot: the LCD technology used in most HDTV sets is far more efficient than the current CRT technology, so there's a small silver lining to this whole process.

"Your cable company has, no doubt, been pressuring you for the last few years to switch to "digital cable," and this is why. If you still have analog cable, you'll have to get digital cable in 2009."

So....whose bright idea was this? The TV makers or the cable companies? Either way it sounds like it is going to end up costing us money.

Since I don't have digital cable, I'm going to have to buy a box? or pay the cable company $7/month to rent one? How much of a carbon foot print is this little govermental mandate making????

I have 3 perfectly good TV's and I don't want an ugly box that will probably cause me to have yet another remote control.

Just another example of big business pushing the government into creating a new law that will cost the little guy more money! We need to fire our congress and start over! Term Limits people!!!

TV Converter Box Coupon Program Website

They are worth $40 each. All major retailers should start carrying the converter boxes in late February\March. They will sell from $39.99 to $69.99. Coupons won't be sent until the converter boxes are on store shelves.

Although the TV makers benefit, the forced conversion to HD is not their idea, because they're all Japanese. The US government isn't going to toss Sony such a huge bone just out of charity.

So why is this happening? Well, let's ask a few questions and find out.

As you know, the four major broadcast networks are using up a huge amount of public bandwidth for their broadcasts. What do you think they pay, on a yearly basis, for the privilege of monopolizing this huge public resource?

Answer: zip. Zero. Nada.

Now, if for some reason they could be forced to give up this bandwidth, the US government could sell it to, say, mobile phone companies, who are desperate for bandwidth and happy to pay through the nose.

But wait, you say. With DTV, won't the networks just be exchanging analog bandwidth for digital bandwidth?

Yes...and no. Because of tremendous advances in digital compression, it turns out that the bandwidth allocated for an HD channel is actually only ONE-SIXTH of the bandwidth allocated for an analog channel.

So there you have it. All this trouble and waste, just so the Feds can recapture five-sixths of the broadcast spectrum.

Matt

Hopefully, many people who don't have cable will do the same...there's absolutely no reason to trash a perfectly good TV just because government is changing signal types on us. The aspect ratio is annoying (already we get some things "cut off" the sides of our square TV's), but we'll live with it...the newer TV's are still just too darned expensive.

Lorna

With the coupons, it will cost us $10 per converter box, so not a huge expense ($20 total).

There's very little digital noise through my library book. I think I'll switch to that.

It does boost the signal a bit too - much crisper pictures. :-)

turn'em off and get out in the garden, or get back in touch with the real world by making your own entertainment

Bill

Getting converter boxes mean that we'll keep our old TV's much longer, and we will recycle as much of them as possible when they finally die (hopefully not for a long time).

keeping old TVs longer "greens up" nothing but personal bank accounts, does nothing for the culture that spawns the increasingly overweight, unfit children in our society, or the amount of energy used to run entertainment devices ... recycling them is definitely a good thing, and hopefully most communities are getting it together to educate their local populations on the possibilities available

my presence on the net has little to do with entertainment, but much to do with education, originating with the community usefulness of spreading the knowledge involved in my very green business, expanding to using it for a resource for information ... more frequently I hang out at the composting forums or various mechanical/technical forums, learning and teaching ... and email can be much greener than snail mail for keeping in touch with family :)

I just had to laugh at this thread generating more discussion than 90% of the other ones on this forum

Bill