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Does anyone else dislike Universal's use of U-Control?

#1
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10/13/08 at 10:07pm
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A bit of venting here but I'm beginning to get really annoyed with Universal dicing up perfectly good (in the the case of The Thing's "Terror Takes Shape" - excellent) documentaries and passing them off as a new blu-ray enhancment, U-Control.

Although U-Control (or PIP) functionality is fine in itself, Universals cheapo practice of cutting up existing documentaries for U-Control is just plain bad. They should either a) include the documentary both as U-Control and intact as an extra, b) create new U-Control material, leaving the doc intact, or C) just don't include U-Control.
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#2
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10/13/08 at 10:10pm
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Re: Does anyone else dislike Universal's use of U-Control?

I don't like U-Control either. Because it disables a lot of my PS3's remote buttons and features, like A/B repeat. Actually some BD-J controls do that too (the ones that when you hit pause, scan fwd or back, causes a little "control/time bar" to pop up). My PS3 has all the controls and more that I'll need. Not to mention BD-J defeats the PS3's "resume" play capability.

No need to get fancy with the U-Control and BD-J features.
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#3
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10/14/08 at 5:26am
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Re: Does anyone else dislike Universal's use of U-Control?

I dislike it only when they do it like The Thing, omitting bonus features and cutting up pre-existing ones so they can use U-Control to implement it. As someone elsewhere on the forum said, it's a solution in search of a problem. I'd like to think Spielberg will veto it when they get to Jaws and ET and the Jurassic Park films.

But if they cut up the Animal House and Blues Brothers documentaries, there will be hell to pay!

Perhaps someone can bring this up at the studio meet-up later this month. Are they visiting Universal?
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#4
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10/14/08 at 6:11am
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Re: Does anyone else dislike Universal's use of U-Control?

I don't like it for the simple reason that it slows the response time of my player. When I hit fast forward, I want it to start scanning forward. I don't like that hiccup that comes with waiting for the graphic to pop up. This may sound like a trivial complaint (and it probably is), but the response time for blu ray players is already pretty slow (and I have one of the faster ones). I don't need it delayed further.

-R
The truth doesn't care whether you believe it.
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#5
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10/14/08 at 6:17am
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Re: Does anyone else dislike Universal's use of U-Control?

I didn't mind it in the HD DVD days, as it seemed to be specific to watching the film - the ability to take a closer look at the background ads while watching Children of Men, for example.

I'm deeply opposed to taking existing stand-alone extras and presenting them in an awkward to access U-control track. I was planning to pick up the Halloween Starter Pack, although I owned all the films already on HD DVD. When I learned that Universal had actually taken a step back with the extras on Blu-ray, I cancelled that preorder.

Right now, Universal's policy on U-control I feel is really dragging down their releases.
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#6
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10/14/08 at 7:08am
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Re: Does anyone else dislike Universal's use of U-Control?

I despise u-control and its ilk. I can tolerate it if all of the 'content' is also menu selectable without having to rewatch movies 18 times to see it all, but so far that is rarely the case. It is a solution in search of a problem.

Sam

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#7
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10/14/08 at 7:32am
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Re: Does anyone else dislike Universal's use of U-Control?

I've never been a fan of U-Control. As I have stated before, it makes me feel like a monkey in a Pavlovian experiment.

Doug
"I'm in great shape, for the shape I'm in."
Bob Hope in The Ghostbreakers
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#8
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10/14/08 at 11:15am
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Re: Does anyone else dislike Universal's use of U-Control?

It's probably easier to ask if anyone likes U-Control.

I've said it in other threads but I wouldn't mind U-Control if they just made the content also available on a menu. That would be the best of both worlds in mind.
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#9
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10/14/08 at 12:22pm
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Re: Does anyone else dislike Universal's use of U-Control?

Yes. I hate it as it currently is, but a menu option would be OK.
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#10
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10/14/08 at 2:03pm
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Re: Does anyone else dislike Universal's use of U-Control?

I find it to be vile and wish for it to be eradicated yesterday.
Ernest Hemingway once wrote, \"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.\" I agree with the second part...
--Det. William Somerset, SE7EN

http://www.dvdanthology.com/Filmmaker-movielist.html), http://LDDb.com/collection.php?actio...user=Filmmaker
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#11
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10/14/08 at 5:00pm
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Re: Does anyone else dislike Universal's use of U-Control?

it's a vile, vile thing.
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#12
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10/14/08 at 6:13pm
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Re: Does anyone else dislike Universal's use of U-Control?

On a related note, why is it on Universal titles that after you pause a movie (by the time the screensaver comes on), you cannot resume?!
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#13
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10/14/08 at 6:57pm
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Re: Does anyone else dislike Universal's use of U-Control?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave H
On a related note, why is it on Universal titles that after you pause a movie (by the time the screensaver comes on), you cannot resume?!

I've never had that problem on a Universal title. But then so far all my Universal titles are on HD DVD.

Doug
"I'm in great shape, for the shape I'm in."
Bob Hope in The Ghostbreakers
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#14
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10/14/08 at 9:09pm
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Re: Does anyone else dislike Universal's use of U-Control?

^ I've noticed that something's "different" in that regard, but forget what at the moment. One thing I do remember, the time bar that comes up looks "funny" on my TV. Compared to the Lionsgate time bar thingy, which looks and acts exactly as expected when paused...it's nice to actually see Lionsgate do something I can point to as a *good* example LOL (besides lossless as "standard").

This is minor, but I asked it a couple weeks ago and IIRC Sam Posten didn't recall it at the time: does anybody else notice lip-sync issues in the PIP U-Control window? I know it's a tiny window, but I can see those words/lips not matching! I have PS3->Denon 3808 via HDMI. There is no lip-sync issue in the main display during this. Thanks.
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