> - Representative John Dingell called the cost of > adapters a "television tax of $20 to $60 per TV set." > "Why should ordinary people pay for a government decision > that makes their television sets obsolete?": <http://au.news.yahoo.com/051026/11/wikp.html> That's easy. It wasn't supposed to be this way. The transition started in 1998 for this exact reason. We squandered away 7 years of transition with a "do nothing" policy. I'd agree completely that the ATSC receivers of 1998 weren't any good. But then again, the Dingells of Congress could have pushed hard to modify ATSC with COFDM at the physical layer, back then, to maybe, perhaps, help avoid this last-minute rush. Now is now, though, and ordinary people are being made to pay for govt decisions like they always have throughout history. If we believe this serves some greater good, fine. If not, I'm not sure what he sees as the alternative. Drag the "transition" out forever? Or kill OTA outright? Or just stay with NTSC and free up the DTT spectrum with improved NTSC receivers? What are the alternatives he sees? Bert ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.