nov 1, 1996 - DVD Format

Description:

The first DVD-Video player was available in Japan late 1996. Commercial DVDs use MPEG-2 compression, which required a special decoder chip to play video.

Although Twister is often cited as the first DVD movie to release, the more likely answer of the first film to be released are some earlier releases in Japan, lost to time. Twister was the first Hollywood movie to be officially released on DVD, however.

This was significant, as it marked the death of VHS, and signaled higher quality movie experiences for the consumer. Additionally, optical media became mainstream, unlike Laserdisc technology it was based on.

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