[Jeffhs]

This is exactly why I think analog video in any form, be it HDTV or standard DVD (new releases only, not existing discs), is on its way out. The motion picture companies will likely support the addition of a flag on new Blu-ray discs (eventually) that will disable analog video outputs of standard DVD players, making these discs unwatchable on anything other than Blu-ray players....and it will be some time before the latter are anywhere near as cheap as DVD players are today.

By degrees, we are being brought into the digital age, whether we like it or not. First it was digital TV, now it is Blu-ray threatening to edge out standard DVDs. (I plan to stock up on as many of my favorite shows on DVD as I can as long as they are available, for just this reason.) I can't help wondering what may be next. The DTV converter boxes are designed to last only a short time before they burn up or otherwise quit because they are meant to be a stopgap measure, to allow folks to use their old analog TVs until the sets go belly-up; this is probably also why the government's DTV converter-box coupon program ended when it did, the last day of last month.

I can see a day coming, maybe not next week, next month or even next year (!), but eventually, when the only TV receivers we will see in American (and eventually Canadian) homes will be flat-panel TVs. (Since 2007, it has been unlawful for any store or retail chain to sell new-in-box analog NTSC televisions unless the sets come with a clearly-worded warning that they will not work on an antenna after 06.12.09, and must be connected to cable/satellite or a to a converter box if they are to be used after that date.)

The government cannot declare analog sets illegal, but these sets will not work with antennas without modification, so the public had better get used to the idea that the sun is indeed setting on analog television in North America. The average person does not understand why his or her TV will not work anymore (for the most part, unless the person is in an area with LPTV [low-power TV] stations or translators) when connected directly to an antenna, but whether they understand it or not, that day is here as of 06.12, and there will be no turning back. Full-power television stations in the US are already 100-percent digital, and Canada's stations will follow suit in 2012 or 2013, so the message to all television viewers anywhere in North America, whether they understand the technical details of it or not, is or should be very clear: Go digital or go without television.