[Jim O]

I believe that most Blu-Ray machines are backward compatible, that is they have a second laser that will play standard definition DVD's. And older DVD's aren't just going to go away. It was quite awhile before VHS tapes really disappeared so you should have a bit of life.

Your old DVD players and computer drives will not read Blu-ray discs, but as they become more common the price will come down. In fact they already have. Look at regular DVD players. When they came out they may have been $400. Now you can get a decent one for $40-$50.

Most US households get TV signals via cable or satellite. They will be unaffected even if they have no converter. Only people who rely on the airwaves and who have older televisions will be affected. Those people will be entitled to two $40 vouchers per household which will defray most of the cost of converting to being able to receive the digital signals.

Technology and progress costs money. I like having airbags in my car. If the government hadn't mandated them we wouldn't have them. Who pays for them? The consumer does. The airwaves belong to the people. The frequencies being used by analog television signals will be re-sold and likely used for cellular phone signals or something else. More competition in that area will lower our costs there even more than they already have come down.

So...there is a trade off. But in the end "progress" almost always wins.