Is it true that in a couple years non HD tvs will be unusable?

Question

Is it true that in a couple years non HD tvs will be unusable?
I need to buy a new TV my tech savvy friends tell me that the TV signals are going to change to just HD in a couple of years and regular TVs will become obsolete.

Answer

In , congress has mandated that analog transmission be turned off, and all stations will swich to digtal transmission many stations already transmit digitally along with analog. This does not automatically mean the stations will broadcast HDTV, but most probably will have some HDTV programs. Digital television that is not HDTV is called SDTV Standard Definition TV not as sharp as HD, but pretty good. If you have a older model TV more than a year old it most likely will not be able to receive the digital signal, but lowcost converter boxes are supposed to be available by then. If you buy a currentmodel TV now, it will most likely come equipped with a digital tuner already, even if it is not an HDTV. An earlier law requires all new sets over a certain screen size have builtin digital tuners. Before you buy your new set, make sure it has a builtin digital tuner even if it isnt an HDTV, and you have nothing to worry about.