When I go cruising around the city, I can see people sitting at bus stations, coffee shops, and other spots with their eyes glued to a handheld TV. Then it dawned on me. Buying a handheld right now could be a horrible idea.

As most are now aware, analog television broadcasting will come to an end in the United States. It was originally supposed to happen in 2006, but it looks like that its now delayed until 2009. Regardless, the fact analog is going the way of the Do-Do in a little more than a year goes makes buying any handheld TV an unwise investment.

All handhelds currently in the market rely on

analog television broadcasts. When the analog signals end, so does the usefullness of your handheld TV. In fact, it kind of irritates me that manufacturers are selling a product that could only have a guaranteed 3 year life span. You can always add a digital to analog converter on a home TV, but what are we supposed to do... carry around a solar powered box with our handheld? Yeah right.

I say if a manufacturer wants to sell a portable television product, it should contain both an analog and digital TV tuner. This way, when analog dies, the usefullness of the product doesn't.

Thanks to TechLore Editor Matt Whitlock for information and assistance in writing this article.