[Lee Stewart]

Twenty-two years ago this week, the first DVD players were introduced in the U.S. after numerous false starts and delays over copyright concerns raised by Hollywood movie studios. DVD offered an upgrade in picture quality over VHS tape plus the convenience of a CD-like disc that wasn’t prone to wear and made it quick and easy to navigate through content, putting an end to tedious rewinding and fast-forwarding.

Panasonic introduced the DVD-A300 (top in photo) and Toshiba offered two players — the SD-3006 and the SD-2006 (bottom in photo), which followed the launch of the SD-3000 player in Japan five months earlier. The players sold for $750, $699, and $599, respectively, which were considered reasonable prices for new technology — especially the Toshiba’s SD-2006.