1 of 1- RadioActive
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How Much Would These TV Innovations Have Cost You Today?
From bigger screens and colour to the remote control, advances in modern TVs were once considered the latest and the greatest. Wait until you see how much these innovations back then would cost you in today's dollars. (To make matters worse, all amounts are in U.S. funds!)
Remember these breakthroughs in TV technology? This is how much they'd cost you today
- Chrisphen
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Re: How Much Would These TV Innovations Have Cost You Today?
I recall seeing a Pioneer flatscreen for sale at Bay Bloor radio for $60 000. I think it was in 1996.
- RadioActive
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Re: How Much Would These TV Innovations Have Cost You Today?
I'm pretty sure some of the numbers have been exaggerated for effect, but it's still interesting to see how much people back then would have paid for the latest and the greatest that we take for granted today. Prices for TVs have actually come down since those early days.
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Thread Starter- mace
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Re: How Much Would These TV Innovations Have Cost You Today?
From a Canadian perspective, in January 1949, Eaton's placed a full page ad in the Toronto Star for a General Electric television set with 10" screen and 12" speaker. The price to watch all the wonderful programs on WBEN ch 4 in Buffalo was $791. Don't forget the fine print! Depending on location, $100-$150 for installation of the outdoor antenna. Almost $1000 to receive ONE channel. Yes prices came down throughout the 50's, but you were still looking at over $300 for a "monster" 21" screen set. And by 1961, you had a choice of six!!! channels. That was heaven.
- Glen Warren
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Chrisphen wrote:
I recall seeing a Pioneer flatscreen for sale at Bay Bloor radio for $60 000. I think it was in 1996.
Do you recall what the diagonal screen size was?
I do know that in 1999, the cost for a 42" Fujitsu plasma flat screen was in range of $15,000.00 strictly a monitor only, no RF NTSC tuner, a couple of composite video inputs, and a set of component video inputs and iirc, one VGA input.
- Chrisphen
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Re: How Much Would These TV Innovations Have Cost You Today?
I recall seeing a Pioneer flatscreen for sale at Bay Bloor radio for $60 000. I think it was in 1996.
Do you recall what the diagonal screen size was?
I do know that in 1999, the cost for a 42" Fujitsu plasma flat screen was in range of $15,000.00 strictly a monitor only, no RF NTSC tuner, a couple of composite video inputs, and a set of component video inputs and iirc, one VGA input.
Pretty sure it was under 40 inches. As Radioactive noted, it could've been displayed at that price for effect, but this was at a posh shop in a frou-frou area of town that was film fest central at the time. I'm sure they moved some product.
- Chrisphen
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Re: How Much Would These TV Innovations Have Cost You Today?
As a nerdy aside, I'm amazed that DisplayPort never took off for TVs. DisplayPort is an open standard (no royalties), and it's more technologically advanced than HDMI.
Probably the same reason knots are still the unit of measure in maritime and aeronautics instead of metric alternatives - the governing organisations are too lazy to effect the change.
- turkeytop
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The first TV I ever bought was in 1967. An Emerson 12" B&W. It cost about $120. Close to two weeks pay for me back then.
After all is said and done, more is usually said than done.
- Tq345
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My first HD TV was a 40 inch Sony that I bought in 2007. I got in on a great sale at Future Shop and paid about $2,500, which was several hundred dollars off.
But it seems to have been a good investment as it remains the TV I use every day and it still performs as well as the day it arrived. In fact, I still routinely have guests who comment on the quality of the picture and colour.
I've thought about upgrading to a larger screen, but I figure why fix what's not broken?
BTW, my parents bought the family's first colour TV in 1970. It was a 19 inch Zenith and cost about $500. They paid an equal amount for an antenna tower with an electric rotor. If the online inflation calculator I used is to be believed, that's a shocking $7,800 in 2024 dollars.
- Binson Echorec
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My last CRT TV bought in 2001 or so cost me nearly $1000. I think it was a 31" screen.
When I upgraded to an HDTV in the mid-2010s, it cost me less than $500.
- BossRadio
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Thirty years ago, I walked out of CJJR FM in Vancouver at 530am after an allnight shift. Right across the street was a high end audio visual store, with an odd looking Asian model of tv in the storefront window playing to itself, and any early passers by. I had never seen Hi Def tv before and it was mesmerizing..the picture quality was unlike anything I had ever experienced. The price tag on it was five digits...around 20-plus thousand. Amazing import... but only for the mega rich at that time. I must have spent ten minutes just standing, jaw dropped in amazement.
- SpinningWheel
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Re: How Much Would These TV Innovations Have Cost You Today?
From bigger screens and colour to the remote control, advances in modern TVs were once considered the latest and the greatest. Wait until you see how much these innovations back then would cost you in today's dollars. (To make matters worse, all amounts are in U.S. funds!)
Remember these breakthroughs in TV technology? This is how much they'd cost you today
That was great info. Thanks for sharing. I sometimes browse online copies of The Star and Globe from the library and even the cost of electronics in the mid 80s early 90s is an expensive eyeopener when adjusted for inflation in today's $. I remember paying $600 for a Toshiba 27" color (CRT) TV using my employee discount in 1996 and today that price is $1100. Granted it lasted almost 20 years while a LED is good for maybe 10. It's always neat to have the Bank of Canada's inflation calculator handy when looking up old ads.
Last edited by SpinningWheel (December 7, 2024 2:57 pm)
- SpinningWheel
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Re: How Much Would These TV Innovations Have Cost You Today?
As a nerdy aside, I'm amazed that DisplayPort never took off for TVs. DisplayPort is an open standard (no royalties), and it's more technologically advanced than HDMI.
Probably the same reason knots are still the unit of measure in maritime and aeronautics instead of metric alternatives - the governing organisations are too lazy to effect the change.
The DisplayPort's I've had experience with never had sound capability, just video. So HDMI was definitely more advanced because it carries both.