Battery Operated Televisions

New digital TV service for battery operated TVs?

I have a small hand held 3.5" screen television that works on batteries. It is at least 5 years old. Do I have to throw it away when the new digital signal is put into place? I also have another larger B&W 8" one that we use for electrical blackout emergencies. It is also at least 5 years old.

Public Comments

1. (This answer assumes that you are located in the US) To keep using the 8" set you will need a converter after 2/17/09. The cheap ~$20 converters that will be available next year are designed to be plugged into the wall but they are inherently low voltage devices . If you can find one that uses a "Wall Wart" for power, it would be easy to rig up a battery pack to power it. You could also run it by using a larger 12 volt battery and one of those 12 volt inverters that you can plug into your cars lighter socket. That way you could power both the TV & converter off of the inverter and not worry about whether you had fresh batteries for the TV. In regards to your 3.5" set, the converter boxes that have been announced so far are the size of a paperback book. So it wouldn't be too practical to use one with that small of a TV.
2. You're out of luck if you want portability and battery power.... By the time you spend money on a power converter and a tuner converter, you could have a 19 inch HDTV set....