If you think that is an unpopular opinion, wait until you hear mine. I am soooooo sick of having this changeover to all digital broadcasting shoved down my throat. I cringe at the thought of all the analog televisions becoming obsolete without a STB to convert the signal. I recognize I'm in the minority, as I really don't care about high-quality, surround sound, HDTV, gigantic TVs. I just want a small TV that will work when I turn it on and give me the information I need/want at the time or, occasionally, some entertainment.

For the last year I have tried to investigate what would be the simplest way to accomplish the changeover in our own household. Most of the information I've received, even from our local cable company, has been so ambiguous that I refuse to buy ANYTHING until the answers to my questions become more clear. If that means that we end up without a functioning TV for a while, so be it. We've survived without television in the past and could certainly do so again. Frankly, I've checked out what's available for purchase now, and nothing is compelling enough to get me to part with my hard earned money.

I am especially unhappy about the nonexistence of a simple, reliable portable battery-operated TV to use in case of an extended emergency/power outage. Currently, we have a very small black-and-white analog TV that operates on DD batteries. I pull it out during extended power outages and have NEVER had a set of batteries fail to last the entire length of the power outage. I find that access to information both helpful and (I'll admit) comforting. I've looked at the portable digital TVs, and there is nothing out there that will run on just regular batteries. There are a few that have built-in batteries that must be recharged by plugging into the electrical outlet for a period of time. After recharging, it appears that the TV will broadcast for a little over an hour before needing to be recharged again. Some can be recharged with an additional adapter that you plug into your cigarette lighter, but I don't see myself doing that. So, I can pay 4 or 5 times as much money for a TV that will run for a little over an hour, to replace my current setup that lasts days/weeks and provides valuable information. No thanks. I'm not sure why this is true. Is it impossible to make a digital TV that would run off of regular batteries (i.e., DD batteries)? Does a digital tuner take so much more power that there is no way to replicate what a portable analog TV can do?