# How many actual TVs do you have? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 20, 2017, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818 "2017-04-20T00:33:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818/61 "2017-04-20T21:55:06Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > At least it’s a flat panel. Took a while to rid the house of all the CRT TVs/monitors I built up over the years. It was only in the last year that my last CRT monitor (around 15 years old) and CRT TV (even older) burned out. The CRT monitor I replaced only a couple of years ago, with an 19 inch LCD that I found at a close-out place for only $40. (It has NTSC and ATSC tuners and coax input along with the HDMI, D-Sub, and various other inputs, so it is a TV, too, as is the other 19 inch LCD monitor on the same computer.) ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818/62 "2017-04-20T23:36:45Z")
None. My daughter has a monitor that can be used as a TV but it doesn’t pick up any channels. I guess you still need to buy an antenna these days? I would have thought they’d have built in ones with newer models. We never watch TV anyway. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818/63 "2017-04-21T03:23:33Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Yep. And messages written on paper I make myself. It’s so easy, I can’t believe people actually buy pre-made paper!! Dude. Telepathy. Train your mind, it’s ridiculously simple. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818/64 "2017-04-21T06:59:59Z")
There’s just me and the wife. We have one TV, a 46" plasma in the living room. I just realized that it’s almost six years old now, but the picture quality is still excellent, and it’s given us no trouble at all. I do much of my media watching on my desktop computer, which has two monitors: a 24" (1920x1200) and a 27" (2560x1440). We subscribe to Netflix, Amazon, and [MLB.com](http://MLB.com), although i’m thinking of moving to SlingTV for our television service. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818/65 "2017-04-21T07:02:05Z")
Until a few years ago I never had a TV bigger than 25 inches or any type of modern flat screen. I still have a big old school 25" in the basement. Even when I upgraded the living room it was a 26inch, then I sort of rotated around the house after that screen broke. Now I have an embarrassing number of TVs that mostly go unused. At least I’ve never spent over $400 for one. Living room - 1 43’ 4k tv Basement - 2 , a 32" smart tv and a 25" old tv hooked up to basic cable daughter’s room - 24" smart tv, hasn’t been on in months son’s room - 32" non-smart tv, has game system on wifi my room - 2 broken tvs, 19 and 25 inch old school Since some people mentioned other devices that can consume media: We have a combined 13 computers and wireless devices, though a couple aren’t always in working order. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818/66 "2017-04-21T13:05:26Z")
About three TVs, depending on your definition. The 50" 4K on the wall The 42" HDMI it replaced (it was repurposed as a computer monitor when it stopped parsing HDMI) The 19" monitor on the other computer (VGA only) All three are connected to the interweb for streaming. The big one also has a Blu-ray player plugged in. I haven’t had cable or over-the-air for years. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818/67 "2017-04-21T13:06:17Z")
Two: one in the living room and one in my bedroom. I have never watched a show / movie on a computer. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818/68 "2017-04-21T16:23:47Z")
Two. One behemoth UHD in the living room, mounted on the wall over the fireplace. One older 35" HDTV in the bedroom, on the top of the dresser at the foot of the bed. That’s mostly for the girlfriend who just moved in; I hate watching TV in bed. When I was growing up in the 60s, we had a single 19" B&W TV in the living room. I recall the joy when we got our first color TV after moving into the new house in '72. By the time I left the house in 1982 to live with my new wife, the family had something like five TVs around, including the old B&W, which was set up in the game room for Pong. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818/69 "2017-04-21T16:35:14Z")
Our household has one, a 20- or 30-someodd-inch flatscreen that replaced a 17" CRT / DVD-player combo machine that died on us. The guy who rents a room has his own… he’s not really part of the household in the normal sense, or I don’t think of him as so being, but if we include his, two. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818/70 "2017-04-21T17:31:58Z")
We have a 53-inch TV we actually watched, and a 40-inch TV in our bedroom that isn’t being used, but will be transferred to the new rec room in our basement in a month or so. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818/71 "2017-04-21T18:03:12Z")
OP, I have you beat: my parents didn’t get color TV until 1977. The old black and white never broke and they wouldn’t replace something that’s not broken. Then one day my mom found a 19" color tv, no remote, very basic, on sale for around 200 1977 dollars. Another TV that would not die. They kept that TV until 2014. I finally convinced them that watching a baseball game is MUCH nicer on a wide screen. I have a 32" hooked to cable in the living room and a 32" with Roku and over the air broadcast in the bedroom. I have a laptop, two kindles, and two tablets that I can watch on as well. I don’t wander from room to room of my mansion, but I like having the option of watching a movie in bed on a cold stormy night or binge watching Poirot with a cat on my feet in my jammies should the occasion call for it (pictures available). On the other hand, I make 95% of my own meals from scratch. that’s my preference: home cooked food and tv where ever I feel like it. Your circus my have different monkeys. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818/72 "2017-04-21T20:02:48Z")
One actual TV. 2 desktop computers capable of playing DVDs, watching YouTube videos, etc. 2 laptops, same deal, except that only one of them plays DVDs. 2 portable DVD players. 3 tablets. Household consists of 2 adults and one 9 year old. ETA: I’m not exactly sure when my parents got color TV. It was after I went off to college in 1972. Up until then, it had been just one B&W. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818/73 "2017-04-21T20:06:49Z")
I have two. Main TV is a 2006 vintage 42" Samsung plasma that still works fine but I sort of wish would die so I can upgrade, because it uses a lot of power. But it does have good sound and a nice array or ports. The second is a much older CRT that I really wish would die. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818/74 "2017-04-21T20:09:52Z")
I have 2: a 50" in the living room and a 32" in the bedroom. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818/75 "2017-04-21T22:41:21Z")
> [@BeeGee](#): > > OP, I have you beat: my parents didn’t get color TV until 1977. The old black and white never broke and they wouldn’t replace something that’s not broken. Then one day my mom found a 19" color tv, no remote, very basic, on sale for around 200 1977 dollars. What do you mean you have me beat? The first color TV in my parents house was one I bought for my brother in 1986 out of pity. It was 13-inches. My parents got him a Nintendo for Purim or his birthday, but there was only B&W TV. you couldn’t tell the enemies apart on Super Mario Bros.! He was very bitter about it, so I got him a second hand TV for $25. My mother had the idea that color TVs give you cancer. She read an article in 1950-something about using a uranium isotope experimentally to produce the color red on TVs (which was true). Those TVs were never commercially available, but my mother still thought color TVs gave you cancer. Everyone in America was going to get cancer but us. In 1992, I got my parents a 19-inch color TV as a gift, when their B&W TV from the early 70s crapped out. By them my mother had accepted color TV. She was still using that TV until my grandmother died, and my mother inherited her 22" flatscreen. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818/76 "2017-04-21T23:01:43Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > What do you mean you have me beat? The first color TV in my parents house was one I bought for my brother in 1986 out of pity. That’s around the time we got our first color TV, too. It may have been a year or two earlier. I remember it was when there was a Son of Svengoolie 3-D presentation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 3-D, or some other undersea TV movie. Anybody here know what I’m talking about? I just remember being so excited that we got a color TV in time for it, and then being so disappointed because the only memorable 3D thing I saw was a fish swimming in an underwater shot. Wait…Maybe Creature from the Black Lagoon? That sounds more like it. Something in that general vibe, and definitely an underwater theme. ETA: I also remember my father getting frustrated on me when I didn’t quite understand the difference between “color” and “black and white” TV. I insisted that I saw color on the black and white TV. He’d point at the grass on the BW TV I was watching, trying to prove his point, and ask “What color is that?” and I’d look dumbfounded at him and say “Green!” I mean, duh, it’s grass. What other color could it be? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818/77 "2017-04-22T12:13:59Z")
I have _use_ of a TV, the one that came with the apartment, but don’t _own_ one, although I can watch media on my laptop, tablet and phone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-actual-tvs-do-you-have/784818.md?page=3)