Don't drink the HD tuner Kool-Aid

David Carnoy writes:  "... You read that correctly: if you plan on getting high-definition programming from satellite (DirecTV or Dish Network) or your local cable company, a built-in HDTV tuner is worthless. You don't need it. And, unfortunately, this extraneous (for most people) bit of technology is costing you extra. But don't blame the manufacturers; the culprit here is Uncle Sam himself, in the form of the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC has decreed a schedule by which an ever-increasing majority of TVs sold--all sets 25 inches or larger by March 2006, for instance--must include a high-def, or ATSC, tuner. And while the law may be well intentioned, it--like a lot of inside-the-Beltway bureaucratic policy--is a reflection of a 1950s worldview that has little to do with 21st-century reality. ..."  Link:  CNET.  Thanks to Ralph Hogan for the tip. --Dennis

Comments

[Steven Sande]

Consumers who don't want digital tuners are not forced to buy them--they can get HDTV monitors instead.

The FCC could help consumers by mandating clear labeling requirements. TV shoppers need to have a better sense of what options are available to them, and what costs and tradeoffs are involved.