Jonathan Takiff | Stores fast running out of analog TVs

DON'T WANT to spend more than a Benjamin on a new TV or VCR/DVD player to use with your cable or satellite TV service? If so, you'd better run, not walk, to the nearest big-box store and hope its inventory of cheap video goods hasn't already been decimated.

On a recent visit to Target, I found only one product in stock that almost fit the bill - a 20-inch Magnavox TV, priced at $108.88. At my local Best Buy, cheap TVs were nonexistent and last weekend's circular special - name brand DVD/VCR combination units being closed out at $80 - were all gone.

When replacement combination models start to show up next month, they'll be significantly more expensive, say $249 to $349.

And in the new breed of direct-view TV "bargains," already popping up in stores from the likes of RCA, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba, prices start at $280 for the smallest, 27-inch models. Billed as "Digital Tube SDTV" sets, these models pick up both analog and digital broadcasts, including high-definition (720- and 1,080-line) widescreen shows.

The televisions then down convert the HD images to a standard definition (480-line), letterboxed display.

WHAT GIVES? We can thank the Bush White House and the Federal Communications Commission, in cahoots with broadcasters and hardware makers, for taking away our cheap electronics. As of March 1, an FCC mandate went into effect requiring that all TVs, VCRs and DVD recorders shipped interstate with an (old-style) analog NTSC TV tuner must also have an ATSC tuner on board to nab the new generation of broadcast digital TV signals that will reign supreme in a couple of years.

An ATSC tuner adds $75 to $100 to the retail price, so these updated models must be at least that much more expensive.

Manufacturers sold off noncompliant goods well ahead of the cutoff date.

But retailers with warehoused inventory can continue to sell it until the shelves go bare.

Equipment makers can dodge the ATSC tuner mandate only by building video players and TV monitors lacking any tuner whatsoever. At walmart.com, we found just one product that fit this loophole: This "new" Magnavox DV200MWS DVD and video cassette player was priced at $59.86.

THIS IS AN IMPROVEMENT? The irony, of course, is that 85 percent of Americans get TV signals through a cable or satellite box.

Their "old school" analog TV gear will continue to cooperate just fine with those tuner boxes, even after Feb. 17, 2009. That's when broadcasters are required by law to switch off their analog transmitters, return vacated frequencies to the government for resale and operate with just their digital broadcasting gear. Currently, digital broadcasts run parallel to analog transmissions.

So, the only people who really need a new-generation video product with a digital tuner are the 15 percent of viewers who pull in over-the-air signals via a rooftop or rabbit-ear antenna.

WAIT FOR TOMORROW: If you fit into the latter group and still love your current TV set, buying a new DVD/VCR combi or a standalone DVD recorder with an ATSC tuner will be a good way to stay in the loop.

Panasonic marketing manager Alberto Reggiani touts that his new line of DVD and DVD/VHS combi-recorders with Accutune analog/digital tuners will "future-proof analog television owners . . ."

"Owners will be able to go on watching and recording all their favorite programs without investing in a new TV or trying to find a suitable converter for their old one."

THE BOTTOM LINE: First to hit stores next month will be the Panasonic DMR-EZ17 DVD recorder, priced at $229.95, and the brand's DMR-EZ37V DVD/VHS combi recorder, priced at $329.95. A month later, the line will expand with variations (DMR-EZ27 and DMR-EZ47V, respectively) that cost $50 more and add 1080p video signal up-conversion.

Also next month, RCA will introduce the DRC8335 combo recorder as the "full recording solution." Listing at $249.99, it features VCR and DVD recorders that can capture standard analog cable TV, analog broadcast TV and digital broadcast TV with its built-in twin tuner NTSC/ATSC design.

It also promises one-touch copying of your VHS home movies to recordable DVD, and it's equipped with "TV Guardian," a foul-language filter.

WILL THAT CUTOFF DATE STICK? Broadcasters haven't told viewers word one about the February 2009 cutoff of analog signals. Only public broadcasting, which has a higher-than-normal percentage of over-the-air viewers, has started plotting an information campaign.

At Best Buy, I heard a salesman give a good explanation why a customer should buy a digital TV and, better still, a more expensive, high-def digital model (starting around $500).

But at Target, a sales guy offering a "rain check" for an out-of-stock VCR/DVD combo didn't have a clue what was going on.

IS HELP ON THE WAY? Congress also has been dragging its feet on the plan to rebate most of the cost of a simple digital TV convertor box - or perhaps partial reimbursement for one of the DVD/VCR combos - for analog TV viewers.

If the pace doesn't pick up, recently warned House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., the cutoff date may have to be revised to avoid political repercussions.

"If the converter box program doesn't proceed smoothly, a day of reckoning will come," he predicted. "It will be a harsh day. A scapegoat will be found. People will be voted off the island." *

Send e-mailto takiffj@phillynews.com.