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Digital Transition To Darken Most Portable TVs

News Channel 8 file photo by JIM FARQUHAR

Radio Shack's Accurian portable digital television sells for $199.

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By RICHARD MULLINS

rmullins@tampatrib.com

Published: January 10, 2009

Updated: 01/10/2009 12:59 pm

Are you sick of hearing about the digital TV transition yet?

You could be. I don't blame you. America is waking up to a lot of frustrating, infuriating, expensive glitches with that transition to come.

And here's one of the weirdest glitches.

Remember those battery-powered portable TVs that so many people have in places like Florida just for emergencies, like say, hurricanes? These are the tiny tube TVs that lasted maybe an hour before burning through a stack of D-cell batteries.

Well you can soon smash those cute little TVs with a hammer. They're about to become useless.

Unless you have some magic version that can handle digital TV signals, those are "analog" TVs, and broadcasters plan to turn off all their analog signals on Feb. 17, part of the government's plan to modernize broadcast television. However, President-elect Barack Obama may buy you a bit more time. On Thursday he asked Congress to delay next month's transition.

A New Idea

Of course, you could hook your old portable TV to a new digital TV converter box. But those converter boxes require a wall outlet with - power - which you probably won't have during a hurricane, which is why you wanted that portable TV in the first place.

Doesn't anyone make a digital portable TV?

Yes, but not many. They're hard to find. And they perform perhaps a peg worse than I'd prefer. They cost between $100 and $200 apiece. And they look roughly like a portable DVD player.

First is the $199 Accurian 7-inch portable TV sold by RadioShack. Best Buy sells a similar version online under the brand name Dynex for $149, though it's been sold out for days now.

Amazon.com sells a few models, ranging from $109 to $155. There are other models around, but they take a long, frustrating tour through some odd Web sites to find.

(If you shop online, you need to see a reference to a "digital chip" inside, or the term ATSC/NTSC. Oddly, many versions come with a tiny, tiny remote control, as if you'll be relaxing on the couch, too far away to reach your 7-inch TV screen.)

What To Expect

The Accurian test unit I borrowed from RadioShack showed some pretty mixed results. There was no reception at all inside our newsroom - not a single channel, even after scanning several times. But surely it would work better outside, right? So I took it on the roof of our building in downtown Tampa. I would like to say it worked well, but I can't.

Out of the 30 or so digital channels in the Tampa Bay area, only two big network channels came in clearly: CBS channel 10, and CBS' second digital channel with 24-hour weather.

Univision's channel 62 came in OK. So did an infomercial channel at 46 showing "Jewelry Television." NBC came in fairly well, with some static, but not the digital version, just the analog, which will go away soon.

Everything else had horrible static or no signal. No ABC, Fox, WUSF or WEDU. Perhaps not the public safety information safety net we'd like during a big storm.

When I tested the TV in suburbs just north of the city, only two digital channels came in clearly. (Again, Univision did well.)

I'm guessing smart consumer electronics companies will start selling more and better digital versions of portable TVs. Yes, it's a small niche market of customers who want them. But people around here will need them for when the power goes out.

Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919.

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