Actually, my brother-in-law got one for Christmas, 1997 (an old Toshiba with a huge remote, dozens of buttons, and a sliding cover to expose even more buttons. I got mine about a month later (January 1998, I think).

"Wow, you can see the trailer on this Dumb & Dumber DVD!"

That reminds me of how in my own buying, that I'm buying movies on DVD that I probably would never have considered buying on VHS. Not sure why that is. The format just seems to induce buying more than VHS.

And I don't think any of my VHS tapes are widescreen. I guess at the time it just wasn't something I gave any thought to. But all my DVDs are widescreen, because I know better now!

1998 got a panny. I've been a DVDTALK member for some time and it's because of the website my collection is what it is. 800.com, reel.com and checkout.com those names bring back good memories.

First player: Summer 1998, Hitachi 305 P. I got for $189 and it was a good deal back then.

Second player: February 2003, Cyberhome 500, region free, broke after 5 months. It cost me about $58

Third Player (current): August 2003, Pioneer DV260, about $89 at Walmart.

Currently considering a fourth player, but has to be region free.

Bought my first one in late '98. It was a Zenith w/divx.

My first DVD player was a PS/2. It suited my needs fine until I got a better TV and realized how bad the DVD playback was!

Paid $297 for a RCA 5200(rebadged panasonic a100) March 1998. I bought Air Force One also to play on it :)

I worked at Best Buy in 1997/1998. I paid $600 for one of those Pioneer laserdisc/DVD combo units with my employee discount. BB sold it for $1,000. Bought it in August of 1997.

I bought 3 DVDs when I bought the DVD player.

Eraser
Absolute Power
Mars Attacks!

Altimus, you and I are the two (so far) who got their first DVD player in 2003. Mine is a CYBERHOME that was 100% free (after various and assorted Mfg. + Prescription rebates from Longs Drugs).

I have, let me see, (52) DVD's + (2) 50-MOVIE MEGAPACKS (Horror & Family). Now what really amazes me is that the movies we're watching, hands down more than any other, are . . . the MEGAPACKS! LOL

Like you, I often stare at my two DVD towers and am overwhelmed — and that's just with 52! By the end of the year that will creep up to 60, when I add LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, the new (uncut) version of DAS BÖÖT, RAGTIME, ZORBA THE GREEK, THIS IS SPINAL TAP, DR. ZHIVAGO, THE 5000 FINGERS OF DR. T, and a few others that are on my list.

PEACH

May of 98. I bought a Panasonic A110.

-Jason

Those A110 had a bunch of playback problems, didn't they?

I got a Toshiba 2107 in April of 1998, from WalMart.com. Paid $224 for it, and that was considered a MAJOR BARGAIN at the time.

And you know what? Six years later, it's the only DVD player I've bought that has never given me any problems. Those early generation machines were extremely well made to the hilt.

I also like Jews.

X-mas 1998 got my first DVD-Rom (with TV out) and then got a stand alone player in Summer 1999.

Re: Poll: First DVD Player?
 

Got mine in Sept 98. Panasonic A110. Didn't discover online sources til 1999.

And reel.com ruled...

I still check out www.reel.com from time to time (in hopes?). Also, I like that I can look up movies there and they have that "Movie Anatomy" which assigns a number from 0 to 10 for things like "Violence", "Family Appeal", "Nudity", etc. I sometimes use that as a gauge on whether or not I want my younger kids to see a movie...

I had the A300 circa late 1997. It's essentially the same player. It stopped working (constant playback problems) after about three months. Panasonic either couldn't or wouldn't fix it after three trips to their ridiculously remote Boston "Service Center" and about 100 bucks in "repair" charges. Even though it was under warranty, they still charged for the "service" of doing nothing to fix the problem.

At the time, I was a recent graduate making peanuts and the 500 bucks the thing cost me was a fairly major expendiature (uh, it still is). It really pissed me off.

I ended up doing an Office Space-style ceremonial destruction of the thing with my brother. I will never buy another Panasonic product.

In 1999 Panasonic finally admitted that the video processing chip in the A110 and A300 was flawed but did not do a recall. At that point, of course, all of the players were out of warranty. Pretty sneaky on Panasonic's part.

I bought a replacement Toshiba 2109 in 1999 and it's worked ever since. My house is now full of Toshiba stuff.

Re: Re: June 2000
 

What model year was Sony 530? That's the year I got my 1st stand alone DVD player.

Costco is always Costco, it wasn't Price Club, ever. Price Club go acquired by Costco and died.

I got my Panasonic A-110 in Summer of 1998, and its still chugging along just fine today. Its not progressive scan, and not region free, but I still use it in the den.

I worked at Blockbuster then and we were one of the first to rent LaserDiscs (pre-1990) and DVDs. The first one I rememebr buying was the Image entertainment box set of Record of Lodoss War....which I might just go watch again......