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I got to drive a Mercedes S-Class last weekend.  One of the features is a nice screen in the middle of the dashboard. It is the multi-function display: it shows the radio, navigation system, rear-view backup camera, DVDs, and live TV. The live TV comes from the over-the-air broadcasts, like any normal TV.

While that is a fun feature, I wonder how many vehicles have been sold with televisions in them.  Because some of those are going to be obsolete in June, when the analog broadcasts are disabled and only digital remains.  The converter boxes won’t work very well in the cars either.  The Mercedes TV tuner is supposed to handle both analog and digital, so it shouldn’t be affected by the transition.

The analog tuners would have been obsolete this month (February 2009), but the digital deadline got moved back, yet again.  Now it is in June, although stations can start dropping analog broadcasts now. But I wonder how many cars or aftermarket TV tuners will be affected. That would not be fun for someone who spent a boatload (or carload perhaps) of money to add TV reception to his car a couple of years ago, only to discover that he’ll have to upgrade it.

One other thing I noted from my afternoon in the car was the radio controls. The radio (and climate control and TV and nav system) is controlled by a single dial thingy. On my drive home, I usually switch between one AM station and one or two FM stations. To change from AM to FM took 3 presses (back, down, down) and to change from FM to AM took 4 presses (back, down, back, down).