I had become a fan with the Crush tour DVD in 2004 and it was the only concert video (plus the few bonus clips on TLFR) I knew from them until then.
HAND was the first album as a fan and I saw the Amsterdam promo concert on VIVA2 back then and was shocked at how bad HAND and a few others sounded. So yeah, probably around that time and that was only in comparison to 2000. When I saw Wembley for the first time, I couldn't believe how much better they had been back then.