I'm talking about 35-inch flat screen HDTVs, the kind you find in your typical middle-class American household today.

I was already losing interest in technology at the time, but I'd say mid to late 2000s.

The norm? 2009.

Normal/common occurrence? 2006 or 2007.

I still do not have an HDTV. My 19" tube style TV is still going strong.  8)

Well HDTVs outsold old CRTs at the beginning of 2008, at least in the US.
However I would say it was until the 2010s when it was the norm. My family only got an HDTV in 2013!

Around 2008

The norm? 2009.

Normal/common occurrence? 2006 or 2007.
The same with you, we got ours in 2009, but should had been earlier.

I still do not have an HDTV. My 19" tube style TV is still going strong.  8)


I'm assuming you like the "old school".

I still do not have an HDTV. My 19" tube style TV is still going strong.  8)
With a TV remote?

First available to the public: circa late 90's

Started to become common place (Plasma Screens/pre 1080p): 2004 or 2005

Started to become common place (Modern LCDs/1080p): 2006 or 2007

The standard (most people had one): circa Early 10's

The same with you, we got ours in 2009, but should had been earlier.


My parents got one for their room in 2007 (if I remember correctly), and one for the living room in 2008 (though I wasn't living with my parents for that school year).

As for me and my brother (we shared a bedroom), after I moved back, we bought a cheap $600 18-inch LG LCD in 2009. I got laid off a few months prior, so I paid for it with my handsome severance package  :-[ ;D

My parents got one for their room in 2007 (if I remember correctly), and one for the living room in 2008 (though I wasn't living with my parents for that school year).

As for me and my brother (we shared a bedroom), after I moved back, we bought a cheap $600 18-inch LG LCD in 2009. I got laid off a few months prior, so I paid for it with my handsome severance package  :-[ ;D


My family got our first HDTV in 2008, a 1080p Samsung Flat Screen, in our living room. I didn't get my first HDTV for personal use until 2013. Upto 2013 I was still using my old CRT from Like 2000 in my room ;D.

Probably late 00s/early 10s.

My household got our first HDTV in June of 2008, and we've had to replace it at least once.

Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I got my first flat screen HDTV in late 2006/2007.

Come to think about it, I'm pretty sure I got my first flat screen HDTV in late 2006/2007.
I have just worked out how to check when I got the new television, just look through the family pictures.

Got ours in Late 2009 and still working fine!

I'm talking about 35-inch flat screen HDTVs, the kind you find in your typical middle-class American household today.


2008? 2009? 2006-2007 is when you first started seeing them. But it wouldn't be until 2008-2009 when they'd overtake CRT's position.

We got ours in 2005. I have a picture of me back in Halloween 2005 posing by the flat screen HDTV that we still use to this day!

With a TV remote?


Well of course.


I'm assuming you like the "old school".


Well as long as it is still working, no need to replace it. The TV I had before this one was 22 years old.  :o

Well of course.

Well as long as it is still working, no need to replace it. The TV I had before this one was 22 years old.  :o


Did it have rabbit ear antennas?

My parents got their first HDTV around early 2008. A 50 inch Samsung. Actually, it wasn't until almost early 2011 before I finally got my own, which was a 40 inch.

Around 2006 with the arrival of the 7th gen gaming consoles. But nobody had TV resolutions higher than 720p/1080i.

Did it have rabbit ear antennas?


Absolutely. Who needs cable when you can get so many free broadcast channels? ???

This should be in the 2000s section.  :P

Absolutely. Who needs cable when you can get so many free broadcast channels? ???


So you don't want to browse through 500 channels? ???

I still do not have an HDTV. My 19" tube style TV is still going strong.  8)

God bless you and your TV :)

So you don't want to browse through 500 channels? ???


500 channels of Bonanza reruns, reality shows, and porn. No thanks, 3 channels work for me.

500 channels of Bonanza reruns, reality shows, and porn. No thanks, 3 channels work for me.
The 24hr News Channel comes in useful.

The 24hr News Channel comes in useful.


I can use the internet and the InThe00s political page for that.

500 channels of Bonanza reruns, reality shows, and porn. No thanks, 3 channels work for me.

Ah man!!

HDTV became the norm sometime around 2008-2010 or so I think. It was taking off as early as the early-mid '00s, but it was a high end thing and there was hardly any actual HD content in existence. By 2008 or so you had a decent amount of HD channels and HDTVs were pretty affordable and Blu-ray HD discs were out.

Blu-ray HD discs were out.

HD was indeed becoming widespread, but Blu-ray was not a good indicator of that. DVD players had a faster adoption rate 10 years earlier than Blu-rays did in the late 00s.

HD was indeed becoming widespread, but Blu-ray was not a good indicator of that. DVD players had a faster adoption rate 10 years earlier than Blu-rays did in the late 00s.

I agree with this. Blu-Rays were sort of dead on arrival in a way. Around the time the blu-ray came out, streaming has already somewhat started making it have far less impact than the DVD had.

The norm? 2009.

Normal/common occurrence? 2006 or 2007.


I think that is a little soon.  You still saw a lot of CRTs even into the early '10s.  I would say prior to 2008, it was a novelty to have an HD flat-screen TV.  That was also back when LCD was competing with plasma.  They were quite expensive at that point.  Then, between 2008 and about 2012 the prices dropped and LCD TVs replaced CRTs as the standard.  Since 2013 or so, it's uncommon to ever see a CRT.

A lot of you must've been upper middle class or better. Lol

For the average household, hdtv wasnt the norm until around 2008/2009 at very earliest

A lot of you must've been upper middle class or better. Lol

For the average household, hdtv wasnt the norm until around 2008/2009 at very earliest

No they were the norm by 2007. Me and all my friends had it by '07, it had nothing to do with being upper class, I was middle class. Anytime from 2006 onwards it was pretty normal to have it, although not odd at all if you didn't have it either.

A lot of you must've been upper middle class or better. Lol

For the average household, hdtv wasnt the norm until around 2008/2009 at very earliest


I agree, 2008/2009 sounds about right. My dad used to be fairly well off (not rich, but well off), and I know he owned a plasma screen TV in the mid 2000s. I don't think it was HD though. He ended up replacing the plasma T.V. with an HDTV around late 2006 or 2007, and even then, it was still very uncommon. At my mom's house, we pretty much stuck with standard CRT TVs, until 2009ish. Although, I still had a personal CRT TV that was given to me as a gift. My mom eventually got rid of it around mid-late 2012, when I first moved out.

I agree, 2008/2009 sounds about right. My dad used to be fairly well off (not rich, but well off), and I know he owned a plasma screen T.V. in the mid 2000s. I don't think it was HD though. He ended up replacing the plasma T.V. with an HDTV around late 2006 or 2007, and even then, it was still very uncommon. At my mom's house, we pretty much stuck with standard CRT TVs, until 2009ish. Although, I still had a personal CRT TV that was given to me as a gift. My mom eventually got rid of it around mid-late 2012, when I first moved out.

I think flat screen 720p TVs were fairly common in 2007. It was still cutting edge, but definitely not expensive enough for only rich people to own it.