Thou Shalt Not: A message from consumers to DVD producers (1 Viewer)

[Vincent Matis]

- No long transitions when going from the main menu to the "chapter" menu or to the "language" menu...

- Play all on special features (navigating through Minority Report extras is quite annoying)

- Indicate lenght of each special feature (when relevent)

Cheers,

Vincent

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Oddly, this might be a $$$ issue. Depending on length of materials, they often have to compensate the talent for appearing- so often "documentaries" will be broken up into multiple shorts to not require paying for using actor's liknesses in long form docs.

-V

 

[Ruz-El]

Thall shall not offer extras such as deleted scenes and trailers through DVD-rom accessed website only, but on the DVD we purchased itself.

I hate watching dvds on my computer, and my internet service stinks. I bought the disc, I should be able to watch all the content available to me without having to fork out cash for upgrades to other services.

 

[Douglas Bailey]

Thou shalt not force the user to sit through animation before reaching a menu. Rather shalt thou only include animation that taketh place after the menu options become accessible.

(Thou shalt see Criterion's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for an example of how to do this properly.)

 

[Paul McElligott]

Thou shalt obey thy filmmaker's wishes with no exceptions.

Except that:

• Inserting chapter stops does not alter the film in any way and...
• It is still possible to watch the film the way David Lynch wants you to.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I hate watching dvds on my computer, and my internet service stinks. I bought the disc, I should be able to watch all the content available to me without having to fork out cash for upgrades to other services.

How about a compromise:

"Thou shalt offer supplemental discs which include any reasonable online-only content (documentaries/deleted scenes) on a DVD for a nominal mail-in fee"

 

[Jefferson Morris]

Inserting chapter stops does not alter the film in any way and...
It is still possible to watch the film the way David Lynch wants you to.

I agree with this. I'm a big Lynch fan, but every film should have chapter stops, no exceptions. Would we allow a filmmaker to disable the pause function on a DVD just to make sure the film plays uninterrupted? There needs to be a give and take here.

--Jefferson Morris

 

[Jesse Skeen]

But who decides the chapter stops in the first place? I used to always check my LDs where the chapters appeared and they were usually in different places than I would have put them. If I have a favorite part to skip to I usually note the elapsed time, not the chapter.

 

[Jeff D Han]

Thou shalt smite easter eggs from all DVD releases
in the future- they are a stupid gimmick

Thou shalt make layer changes invisible- hide them
in natural pauses or scene shifts

Thou shalt have Warner Brothers drop the snapper
crapper cases

Thou shalt make menues easy to navigate and not waste
our time by making us sit through drawn-out crap before
the selections come up on screen

And the most important commandment of all-

Thou shalt have Han Solo shoot first.

 

[DeathStar1]

When encoding an audio commentary to be burned to disc 'Thou shall turn movie volume ALL THE WAY DOWN while person is speaking, and BACK UP when they are done'.

Sometimes I find myself wanting to watch the movie a second time through because I can't hear the commentator clearly enough.

 

[DeathStar1]

Thou shalt release the original, unedited Star Wars trilogy.
>>>>


Bad news. Latest issue of Star Wars Insider(With Lea on the cover), states that Lucas again re-iterated 'The Special Editions are the ONLY Editions'.

 

[Yumbo]

thou shalt not issue DS discs!

please.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Thou shalt not issue multi-disc sets where all discs are single-sided! Thou shalt however use the ENTIRE center of the disc to print the label on 2-sided discs though, at the very least to appease those who think the labels around the edge are hard to read.
Thou shalt not break any series (TV shows, music, etc) into multiple volumes when they could have instead fit on one disc.
Thou shalt not put "Security Device" stickers on snapper cases, only outside the shrinkwrap!
Thou shalt not use Macrovision, because my TV bends the top of the screen with it on, even though it's not running through a VCR. Neither shalt thou use region coding, because it's silly!
Thou shalt use PCM sound for any non-multi-channel audio track.
Thou shalt not use low bitrate encoding which shows ANY digital artifacts whatsoever.

So sayeth me. Amen.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Thou shalt not compromise discs to accomodate the cheap players that can't handle them- this includes seamless branching. Thou shalt not release multiple versions of the SAME movie- instead, all versions shall be included on the same disc through one means or another, or not at all.

 

[Kevin M]

Amen Neil, verily verily during commentary tracks thou shalt turn the actual movie soundtrack volume down lower than the commentators volume.

Thou shalt use PCM sound for any non-multi-channel audio track.
Thou shalt not use low bitrate encoding which shows ANY digital artifacts whatsoever.

I would add, "...where these two factors do not conflict with each other. If disk space is a limiting factor then at least use higher DD bit rates for mono or 2.0 stereo/surround soundtracks".

 

[dpippel]

I haven't read through the whole thread so don't know if this has already been mentioned or not. Even if it has it certainly bears repeating MANY times over:

THOU SHALT NOT USE ARTIFICIAL EDGE ENHANCEMENT ON THY DVD TRANSFERS!!!!

THOU SHALT NOT USE ARTIFICIAL EDGE ENHANCEMENT ON THY DVD TRANSFERS!!!!

THOU SHALT NOT USE ARTIFICIAL EDGE ENHANCEMENT ON THY DVD TRANSFERS!!!!

Please studios, it's time to stop this completely useless practice. It does nothing to ENHANCE the viewing experience for consumers with smaller televisions, and it completely RUINS it for your customers who own large, high resolution HDTV displays and front projection systems. PLEASE STOP IT NOW. Thank you!

 

[Charlie Essmeier]

Thou shalt not:

1. Require me to "choose" to watch the movie I paid for. I want the movie to play by default when I insert the disc.

2. Force me to view a menu against my wishes. If I want to see a menu, I'll press the menu button.

Otherwise, I'll just watch the movie. For a most egregious example of a violation, see the Die Another Day set. It's not a game, it's not a puzzle, it's not a quest or a challenge. It's a movie, and I want to watch it when I put the DVD in the player.

Charlie

 

[Jeff D Han]

I agree with you Charlie. DVD menues are the same thing
as toll booths- you have to pay to wait. I guess the
thing that laserdiscs have over DVDs is that you can
immediately start the movie. I have read complaints from other consumers about the Die Another Day menues. Why
do studios or DVD producers make us jump through hoops
with overblown menues or stinking easter eggs?

 

[Dan Rudolph]

I personally hate it when movies start playing right away. I often insert the DVD a few minutes before I plan on starting it. And I frequently want to do audio set up first.

 

[GarySchrock]

I'm with Dan on this one. I generally need a minute or two to get settled in after the disc is put in. I'm not a fan of the disc starting immediately.