Today in Tech History on Day in Tech History

March 19, 1997: First Consumer DVD Player Released in U.S.

Play
Toshiba-sd-3006
Toshiba-sd-3006
1997 – Toshiba – a member of the DVD consortium – put out the first consumer DVD player on November 1, 1996 in Japan as the SD-3000. After some initial changes (and having to change the DVD region code for U.S. based DVD players), Toshiba debuted two U.S. models – the SD-2006 and the SD-3006. The SD-3006 had two more analog outputs and a Y-Cr-Cb video out with selector. Both players could run in 16:9 or 4:3 mode, but had to be selected when not in use.  The SD-2006 sold for $599 and the SD-3006 sold for $699. There are questions as to the first DVD titles available (since it was for sale in Japan Since November). The first U.S. DVD titles included Twister, Bonnie & Clyde and The Mask.

Subscribe to Day In Tech History:

RSS Feed - iTunes - Google Play - Spotify
Twitter - Facebook

RSS Bandwidth by Cachefly Get a 14 Day Trial

Be a Part of the Sconnie Geek Nation!

In Wisconsin, friends are called "Sconnies". Even if you're not from Wisconsin, you can be part of the Sconnie Geek Nation through my coverage! By pledging, you join the Geek Sconnie Nation! Plus, you help me cover costs so I can continue the coverage of Gadget tech, music tech, and geek culture through the shows.

  • IBM PC jr is discontinued
  • Apple releases the Mac IIfx
  • Palm introduces the M500 and M505 handhelds

About Day in Tech History

Podcast and Blog – 7 Days a Week, 365 days a year. Come find out what happened today in tech history!

Part of the Geekazine Network


Days Before

March 19, 1997: First Consumer DVD Player Released in U.S.

Subscribe! Spotify | RSS | More 1997 – Toshiba – a member of the DVD consortium – put out the first consumer DVD player on November 1, 1996 in Japan as the SD-3000. After some initial changes (and having to change the DVD region code for U.S. based DVD players), Toshiba debuted two U.S. models – […]

March 18, 2008: LimeWire Tries to go Legal

Subscribe! Spotify | RSS | More 2008 – The free peer-to-peer file sharing program who was under major fire decided to set up a fully legal DRM music store. With over 500,000 MP3’s from artists who are not on any major labels, the store allowed you to get lossless versions of this music.  They planned a […]

March 17, 1988: Apple Sues Microsoft, HP over GUI

Subscribe! Spotify | RSS | More Happy St. Patrick’s Day! 1988 – The Graphical User Interface (GUI) is what we use daily to open up email, our web browser and even those apps on your smartphone or tablet. With the first real GUI came the first copyright infringement for it as Apple sued both Microsoft and […]

March 16, 1926: First Liquid-Fueled Rocket Launched

Subscribe! Spotify | RSS | More 1926 – Robert Goddard became the first man to launch liquid-fueled rocket. The liquid oxygen and gasoline mixture launched the 10 foot rocket, travelling at 60 MPH, to an altitude of 41 feet. The rocket was dubbed “Nell” and was launched in the cold climate in Auburn Massachusetts. The New York […]

March 15, 1989: Amiga Plus Magazine

Subscribe! Spotify | RSS | More 1989 – Antic Software publishes the first issue of Amiga Plus Magazine. It was the April/May edition and included an AMIGA Plus disk, which included the graphic programs created. Articles included everything from creating graphics, to your 1988 Federal Income Tax, Lattice C++ review to a Tetris review and more. […]

March 14, 1994: Apple Power Macintosh

Subscribe! Spotify | RSS | More 1994 – Apple computer released a new line of MacIntosh computers in the Power Macintosh 6100. With a 60-66 MHz PowerPC 601 RISC processor – the first time Apple used this processor line – up to 32 MB of RAM, and options such as a composite and S-Video input/output, along […]

March 13, 2013: Zuckerberg Calls President Obama

Subscribe! Spotify | RSS | More 2014 – Mark Zuckerberg told the press he called President Barak Obama to bring his concerns to the table. The Facebook post talked about trust on the Internet, keeping it a shared space and how we should work together to create a secure environment. “I’ve called President Obama to express […]

March 12, 1998: V-Chip Becomes Mandatory

Subscribe! Spotify | RSS | More 1998 –  The FCC announced they have come to a finalization on the video programming rating system and have fulfilled all requirements for the proposed “V-Chip”. Along with NAB, NCTA and MPAA, the chip will follow the TV Parental Guidelines and each program will be rated as follows: TV-Y (All Children — […]

March 11, 2007: The Move of Daylight Savings Time

Subscribe! Spotify | RSS | More 2007 – The Energy Policy Act of 2005 ammended Daylight savings time 3 weeks . The theory was to move clocks forward 1 hour 3 weeks earlier than usual and Fall back in the first week of November (instead of last week in October). From a previous study, it was concluded […]

March 10, 2002: Sony Clié Announced

Subscribe! Spotify | RSS | More 2003 – The Sony Clié PEG-NR70 and PEG-NR70V handheld computers were released. These were 66 MHz PDA units running the Motorola Dragonball SuperVZ processor with a 16-bit color screen and running Palm OS 4.1. The devices would go on sale on April 13, 2002 for $600 Richard D Kenadek is sentenced in […]