Portable TV not digital? Don't toss it out just yet

Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 9--Portable TVs, a must-have appliance for many in hurricane-prone Florida, are moving further into the digital world. That's the message the head of an electronics industry group has for consumers worried that battery-powered televisions won't be ready for the Feb. 17 switch from analog TV to digital. In a letter this week to the Federal Communications Commission, Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, wrote that his organization is "optimistic that over the long term there will be widespread availability of additional consumer options" for using portable TVs after the digital TV transition. Because most current battery-operated TVs have analog tuners, they will not work without a converter box. But most converter boxes are not battery-powered, rendering them... [read full story]