HDTV

[Javalon]

I just don't like the FCC mandating a switch for financial purposes, which will also result in the forcing of lower income consumers to purchase a technolgy that is out of their price range, or lose TV service entirely. There really hasn't been a huge consumer outcry for HD compliance.

I had heard that there will be relatively cheap converters to allow non-HD sets to view HD programming, but the Hi-Def features will be down-converted to standard def. If so, this would allow the switch without depriving people without HDTVs.

And as old televisions get put out to pasture they will be replaced with HD sets which will get more affordable as time passes.

Why is HD so important? Will it change lives? I just think we have
more important things to worry about right now.

Television as it currently exists isn't important either. It's entertainment. We could still get news off the radio or now from the internet. So, HD is not more important than standard television because standard television isn't important itself.

Progress is very hard to attain on a mass scale. Yes, we're only talking about the progress of entertainment but it's progress nonetheless. So many people drag their heels with this sort of thing that we'll never get anything accomplished if left to our own devices. So, a little push from the government helps keep the wheels of progress turning.