My first DVD purchase was Tenchi Forever, in October 1999. My first DVD player was the Creative Labs 12X DVD-ROM drive that I bought a year later, packed with their Dxr3 MPEG decoder PCI card.
Oh, and I have a refurbished PS2 from mid-2000. Refubished, though it has never given me any trouble, except when the tray front detached 'cos my brother dropped it on my foot. Super-glued it back on, has worked fine.