Incompatible: No deal. Our government should have allowed us consumers to hold out for compatible DTV. The system that we're getting is flawed and old. Its time has come and gone. Only lies can justify a forced transition. Here's my take. First, I'll give the government's line. Then I'll provide the truth...

• The picture is better! (No, it isn't. Ever seen an artifact? Ever seen a DTV converter crash? Ever lost your digital lip sync? Ever seen a screen freeze? Ever seen a blinking screen? You will. By the way, the site now has a photo of my converter crashing. See... Zenith DTV Box Crash.)

• We won't spend tax dollars on this. (But the government did. And it's also selling “the public's” frequencies. Where is the dollar payback to John Q. Citizen? Without payback, the sale is a tax.)

• This transition helps our emergency responders. (Who? Cell phone manufacturers? This statement is very hard to prove. Besides, if you need spectrum for emergency response, maybe you move TV stations. Requiring all television to be digital is another matter.)

• This transition will provide jobs. (Maybe so. For the Chinese and South Koreans. DTV is a pork-barrel project for offshore workers!)

• Your TV will work better. (No, it won't. Due to the DTV box, my remote is now broken. So is my DVD recorder. What broke in your house?)

• The transition won't affect cable. (Yes, it already has. Formerly analog shows now often require digital service. Also, all cable will soon be digital. When most subscribers have digital TVs, why convert a signal to analog? Follow the money, not the distraction.)

• The converters will make your set work better. (Not so. Our TV has a very reliable and comparatively simple analog tuner. The DTV box is a complete computer with another tuner. The DTV box is more complex, but far less reliable than my tuner is. Besides, I now can't use my old universal remote control. And my DVD recorder and VCR tuners and timers don't operate.)

• The converters are the green solution. Converters prevent viewers from discarding their TVs. (Wrong. Converters make good, working TVs into kludges. The kludges are less desirable and less usable than the original TVs were. This goes double for DVD recorders and VCRs with converter boxes. Converters require extra power. Big box and electronics stores use the transition as an excuse to sell new TVs, antennas, DTV recorders, TiVo machines and game systems. Replaced appliances, working or not, go the landfill. In a year or two, so do the converter boxes. There is no federal recycling program.)

• The converters help older people and minorities. (How? By making them spend money on unneeded electronics? By making TV sets more difficult to set up, operate and maintain? By replacing fringe signals with dead air or blinkers? By making Granny scale the roof and install a new antenna? See... Seniors & DTV.)

• The coupon-redemption system is good for America. (Oh, really? How can rationing be better than free-market capitalism? Isn't bypassing market competition and consumer choice more likely to produce shoddy, artificially expensive goods? Or maybe that's the point: Force American consumers to swallow such rubbish.)

Good bye, free market. Fact: DTV is part of our transition to a demand economy. Government control of broadcasting should have ended with the Fairness Doctrine and Equal Time. Now broadcasters must change their transmitters and antennas and move to new frequencies. This is eminent domain for the spectrum! Meanwhile, government dictates to citizens what we can watch and what we can buy. And this is just the dress rehearsal. Forced “obsolescence” for the family car and your medical health plan are next.

Long live analog TV!