Menus at startup? Why? (1 Viewer)

[Tom Rhea]

Menus first, no exceptions. In addition to the "settle in" factor, with a new disc I like to explore the menus first, see what's up with them, before I watch the movie.

 

[Rich Malloy]

We need the menu to select the appropriate soundtrack, subs, etc. Not a problem.

What I dislike are those discs that automatically start playing or resuming the movie after a given amount of time on the main menu page (Warner Bros!!). Should I take a break to fill my glass or empty my bladder, I often return to find that the movie has resumed without me!

 

[Brajesh Upadhyay]

I think the first discs from Warner and Columbia got it just right- start the MOVIE, go to STOP mode when it's over, and show the menu ONLY when you hit the MENU button!

Exactly! I care first & foremost about the movie itself; the extras are just that -- they're secondary. You should be able to toggle DD/dts on the fly with your remote.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I vote for menus first. It allows me to see what my viewing options are, get settled in and go from there. I do prefer shorter animations to longer ones though, and if they are going to use background music make the clip long enough that I'm not hearing the same thing ten times before I get a chance to hit the play button...and don't just chop the ending off either.

As for trailers, NEVER will I watch them before the film or even on another disc if I have any idea of seeing it. The exception is anime where I can get an idea of the style and tone. Movies, no.

 

[Steve O]

Awhile back, this was a poll on the "Big Picture DVD" site. As I recall, the results were overwhelmingly in favor of the DVD menu coming up as soon as the disc is inserted.
This makes the most sense, since it's DVD -- not VHS! The menu is what sets DVD apart from VHS. Who says that you're inserting the disc to watch the movie anyway?! Personally, it's extremely annoying to me when I insert the disc and the movie starts right up. Most of the time, my wife is still making popcorn or my kids are going to the bathroom. Everyone shouldn't need to be in position and ready-to-go as soon as the disc is inserted. I also like to set up my options (audio, subtitles, etc.) and peruse the special features while I wait. The menu is part of the overall DVD experience.
To summarize, ... MENUS FIRST!!!:star:

 

[Eric Huffstutler]

Wait a minute... did someone say NO TRAILERS?
I don't think they should start up by default and don't recall them automatilly playing on any disc?
I do want trailers as a suplement though! It is part of the movie experience that dates back eons. Without trailers, studios couldn't sell people on coming back to the theater to watch the movie.
Trailers tell me if I will like it or not and doesn't spoil anything in general.

 

[Steve O]

There are quite a few discs that throw the viewer right into trailers as soon as you insert the disc. Starting trailers without my consent is just as annoying as starting the movie without my consent. A menu is there to provide choices (not to mention that many menus are just plain cool). I think that everyone will agree that trailers should be included, ... just not as a forced item.

DVD is a great entertainment medium because the viewer has the ability to choose why they inserted the disc. Do I want to watch the movie? Do I want to use the French language track to practice my French skills? Do I want to watch the trailer? Do I want to watch the movie with the director's audio commentary? Do I want to watch the "making of" documentary? Do I want to see the DVD-ROM content? ... etc., etc., etc. ... (you get the picture)

Menus first.

 

[Michael Tucker]

I'm not surprised that the vast majority of posters on this board prefer the menus to come up when inserting a DVD. After all, a majority of the posters here have nice surround sound setups where it is necessary to change the audio setup on a DVD. However, I feel the vast majority of consumers out there don't care to change things like subtitles or the audio setup when inserting a DVD. They just want to see the movie. Even more confusion sets in whenever DVD's have hard to understand menus that make getting to the movie that much harder. The article below expresses pretty well some reasons why more work needs to be done in the design of DVD menus to make the DVD format more accessible to everyone.
DVD Menu Design: The Failures of Web Design Recreated Yet Again

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Do you get a menu in the movie theater before the movie starts? No! Do you get a menu when you put a laserdisc in? No! If you know you don't want to watch the movie, what's wrong with hitting the MENU button on those occasions, instead of everyone having to find and hit "Play movie" EVERY time? If I'm watching a movie, I don't want to be bothered by anything after I put it in the machine and hit Play. If I'm going to skip around or look at any extras, that's when I'll play with the menu.

The movie should always default to starting with the 5.1 soundtrack in its native language, with no subtitles or other onscreen crap; anything else should go through the menu or set manually with the audio or subtitle buttons. Some players can be set-up to do this automatically, though it doesn't seem to work on all discs.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

I like menus to start. Personally, it seems like a better introduction- an ability to fire up the system and warm up the display and audio devices... I never walk into the HT and slap in a film, ready to watch. It takes time to get settled in- and if you have decent gear you should let it warm up. Seems like there are worse ways to warm things up than a themed menu for the film you're about to watch (and animated ones prevent burn in).
But if you want to get into HTPC, you can setup a PC to know which title the movie is, and retain all your soundtrack, subtitle, angle pref along with color and brightness tweaks... even aspect ratio settings.
All you do is pop in the disc, and it can auto start. Even skips the FBI warning...
All this with better video, region free, nearly infinite user control-- I often wonder why anyone with a HDTV has a stand alone DVD at all!

Vince

 

[Julian Lalor]

Trailers for films aren't supposed to be watched immediately before you see the film - it's not the way its done in the cinema and I don't want DVDs starting in on this practice. Trailers for other movies, fine, but not the movie you're about to watch. It sort of defeats the purpose of watching the film for me. If you want to see scenes from the final 5 minutes of the movie (footage most trailers seem to contain) before you actually see the movie, then by all means access it via the special features, but don't force it on us when we insert the DVD.

I don't have a problem with menus, although I hate the fact you can't skip the wretched FBI warnings before you get to the menus on some DVDs (FOX and Paramount are the worst offenders of this) and, on some more recent DVDs, MPAA ratings information.

 

[Brad_W]

region free,

For some dumb-ass reason I never thought of that. Can I really play any region disc on my DVD-ROM?

 

[Mike Brantley]

I don't ever want the blasted disc to start playing by itself -- trailers, movie or anything. When I'm in my seat and my guests are similarly good to go (with refreshments), then I want to press play to have the feature start. Having a menu displayed at this point shouldn't pose a real problem for anyone, IMHO.

Also, how does the disc know what I want to watch? TV show discs have multiple episodes. Cartoon compilations have multiple titles. All but bare-bones feature film DVDs have options such as documentaries, commentaries, trailers, etc. A DVD that makes a decision for me that I want to watch the feature just because I've put the disc in my deck is attempting to read my mind.

Frankly, the only problem I see that should bug anyone is when pressing play on the remote doesn't get the show started right away. If a poorly conceived menu system causes this to be a problem or if the studio gives us crap we can't skip (FBI warning, long animation, promos, etc.), then we've got a problem.

Just my two cents...

 

[Jude Faelnar]

sure, throw up your FBI warnings and whatnot, most of the time they can be skipped

Will someone, please, post the procedure for this (skipping the FBI warnings)?

[rant]I'm in region 3 and the same warning is displayed in about 3-5 different Asian languages... and I've seen enough discs to know exactly what these warnings are about. I feel I don't have to re-read these warnings on every single DVD I view.[/rant]

End of rant. Thanks.

JUDE

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

DVD drives that are manufactured BEFORE 2000 do not have firmware/hardware regional coding, which means with DVDGenie and such you can change the region as many times as you like, now, region coding is also operating system dependent, so things may be trickier with WinXP, check with DVDdemystify page.
Drives that are manufactured AFTER 2000 are required to have firmware/hardware regional support, which does not mean the code cannot be changed, but it does mean more complication, as software alone solution such as DVDGenie will not do the job.

So older drives, no problem. Most newer drives have to be "adjusted" with firmware flashes to get them to be region free.
-Vince

 

[Lanny_B]

As long as the menus don't give away good parts of the movie, I like them.