With DTV coming in Feb, in an emergency won't TV be useless?

Question

I was thinking yesteday, we had bad storms and power out all over the place. In Feb when digital takes over, my battery powered TV won't work. Only source of information will be the radio but that has limited information most of the time. This doesn't seem too logical to me.

Answer 1

Battery powered DTVs are available but currently expensive as there is little to no demand for them at the current time.  They will very likely go down from the $200 range prior to mid-Feb 09 as more manufacturers build them and the supply increases.  

You could purchase a Black & Decker Power To Go Cordless AC/USB Power Supply to power your DTV/ATSC converter, which would connect to your battery powered analog TV.  They pop up fairly regularly on woot.com for less than $20.

Another option is a DTV/ATSC receiver that plugs into the USB port on your laptop, if you have one, if it has a good battery.  

In both cases, you can purchase more than one backup battery to extend your power coverage in the event of an outage.  If the storm has passed an you need information, if you have a car, you can purchase an inverter that can power both your TV and DTV converter box.  Just be careful to not run the battery down if you don't run the engine.  If you do, make sure to crack a window and watch your gas gauge.

Answer 2

We will be suffering the wisdom of our government! Going digital will free up a large portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, which your government can then sell to the highest bidder! WE pay so they COLLECT! ;-(=