<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (January 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> A DVD player is a device that plays DVD discs produced under both the DVD - Video and DVD - Audio technical standards, two different and incompatible standards . Some DVD players will also play audio CDs . DVD players are connected to a television to watch the DVD content, which could be a movie, a recorded TV show, or other content . </P> <P> The first DVD player was created by Sony Corporation in Taiwan in collaboration with Pacific Digital Company from the United States in 1997 . Some manufacturers originally announced that DVD players would be available as early as the middle of 1996 . These predictions were too optimistic . Delivery was initially held up for "political" reasons of copy protection demanded by movie studios, but was later delayed by lack of movie titles . The first players appeared in Japan on November 1, 1996, followed by U.S. players on March 26, 1997 with distribution limited to only 7 major cities for the first 6 months . </P> <P> Players slowly trickled into other regions around the world . Prices for the first players in 1997 were $1000 and up . By the end of 2000, players were available for under $100 at discount retailers . In 2003 players became available for under $50 . Six years after the initial launch, close to one thousand models of DVD players were available from over a hundred consumer electronics manufacturers . </P>

When did the first dvd player come out