TVonDVD Pet Peeves

Pete.....

You surely want to revise your list to include (as #1):

>> Forced to watch stuff upon disc load-up that you cannot skip no matter how many buttons you press (at a mile-a-minute / get rid of this crap fast before I have to watch that FBI {September 8, 1977} Warning another time pace).

Surely.

Here's a couple of TV-on-DVD pet peeves I've noticed in my collection over the past few years (in no uncertain order):

- Lack of supplements on some sets. Granted, some sets (the Have Gun, Will Travel sets, for example) are bare-bones, since we don't know of any vintage footage that exists for that particular series from that time period, and that's understandable. But other series (MASH, The Andy Griffith Show) have outtakes, bloopers, or even documentaries we know are out there yet don't appear on the sets. Some recent series (The 4400 S1) had no extras whatsoever on its set at all, and that came out in 2004.
- Lack of TV and/or sponsor spots on sets. A number of sets (Star Trek: TOS, Seinfeld, Andy Griffith S3, The Adventures of Superman) have their TV spots included on their respective sets, yet other series (Lois and Clark, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, Smallville) don't have the benefit of their TV spots included on their sets (TNG S1 had the TNG Companion CD-ROM included as the bonus disc from Best Buy, though). Still scratching my head on this one...

Spoilers in the packaging or in the onscreen menus. Sopranos, Buffy, Angel come to mind, I'm sure there are many more.

I sure wish all the shows were packaged in slim cases. Overlaping discs (Walton's Season 2) really are troublesome.

I don't mind not having a Play All option. I never use it.

I hate it when they can't get the chapter stops right. Specifically, I want one right after the opening credits. I love how on my Babylon 5 discs I can hit skip when the opening credits start and jump right into the show. I don't need to see the same credits for 20+ episodes. The ones that are really annoying are my Buffy, Angel and Deep Space Nine sets. They get it right about 95% of the time. I'd almost rather they not do it at all if they can't do it on all the episodes.

MarkHarrison got it in one.

I think I have a problem with this even if you -can- skip it. Why should I shell out 50 bucks for a DVD set, then have to skip over advertisements every time I want to watch them? Good grief!!!

On a side note, this subject always reminds me of the following:

Leela:
- Didn't you have ads in your dreams in the 20th century? .

Fry:
- Sure, but not in our dreams! Only on TV and radio, and in magazines, in movies, in ball games and on busses, and... milk cartons, and T-shirts, and bananas, and written in the sky. But not in our dreams! No, Siree!

My #1 issue is always "cut" eps. If they're the un-cut original eps then I can live with just about anything else.

Saved by the Bell, The College Years ???? On Amazon it says Season one I don't have it so I don't know if it says that on the box.

I hate the way Saved by the Bell Seasons 1,2,3,& 4 were done with no slip covers

Also I hated when the TV DVDs don't have booklets...

The biggest problem to me?

SCRATCHES AND SCUFFS

Far too many sets that I have purchased in the past 6 months have had major scratches. All discs have been on their spindles, but there is significant scratching.

I own over 300 movies, and all but one or two are free of scratches and scuffs. Those that were scratched and scuffed were "floaters" that I ordered in the early years from Amazon.com and never got around to returning.

Another pet peeve is the fact that Universal uses way too many double-sided discs in sets. I'd gladly pay a bit more to get more one-sided discs in a bigger set...

The no play-all option is a biggie for me. I like to watch shows all the way through quite a bit, so having to go from the episode menu, back to the main menu, to the next episode's menu and then having to select it is a pain in the butt.

It would be good, but I don't mind it if they don't have it, because I always watch the credits. Always. Even if - like with Buffy - I've seen the sequence 50 thousand times, I still watch it. I can't think of a show that I watch that I would skip the credits for. It's the same with Friends.

I have a music replacement gripe.

I understand the reasons it has to be done in a lot of cases, but if they actually make it look like they're BRAGGING about "featuring new cutting-edge music" (ROSWELL), they should at least include a list of what this "new, cutting edge music" IS. I've heard a number of catchy replacement tunes throughout the ROSWELL season sets, and I have no way of finding out who any of these artists are. Google can't perform miracles...yet.

My biggies are lack of play all function and cut episodes.

Also, I hate when a season or two of a show is released, then all other seasons are held off (that means you, Sony: bring us Mad About You!).

Good topic,

What (most) TV on DVD buyers want

Doing TV on DVD "wrong" can only decrease sales, it can never increase them. Is there a person on this planet who says, "I refuse to buy this DVD unless the shows are cut or sped up?" Of course not.

So here is my list:

- Complete season sets (we don't want best of compelations, and we want them in original airing order, unless it makes sense to order them differently). If seasons are too long or short and it makes sense, then volume sets in original airing order would be okay (ala He-Man).

- Uncut (We don't want syndicated, Sped up, or Edited episodes, we want how it was aired originally) (Even if the synicated version is "better" quality then the original masters, we would rather have crappy video and complete then good video and edits) (Hear that Lion's Gate regarding Alf)

- OAR (Original Aspect Ratio) (We don't care about widescreen or fullscreen, we want how it was originally aired, if it aired in both formats, then we want widescreen (perferably anamorphic)).

- Original Music intact (We want the original music, but most people realize that this is sometimes imposible or uneconomical, but if you do change the music, state it on the outside of the packaging ala "Roswell")

- Video Compression (Don't put too many episodes on one disk. A dual layer disk can comfortly fit 4 "hour" long episodes or 8 "Half-hour" episodes, this seems to be the standard) (Dawson's Creek put 6 "hour" long episodes on and it looks terrible)

- Chapter after the Opening Credits (Realize that the opening credits can get "repetative" or annoying, so give the viewer the option of watching them or skipping them)(by not placing a chapter after the opening credits, viewers skip ahead but go to far, then have to rewind, etc, truly annoying)(and don't pull a "Tales from the Crypt" and strip the opening out of the episode and only put it on the opening of the DVD, this was totally unnecessary)

- Play all on the menu (Some people find it annoying to take the 10 seconds and move to the next episode)

- Keep the packaging the same for all seasons (People like uniformity, Customers probably won't buy a season set for the packaging, but some people may pass on a set because it is different then the other seasons) (aka Simpsons season 6, although give them credit on the mail-in option for a standard case).

- Don't Colorize B/W shows (If you do decide to colorize a Black/White tv show, give people the option of chosing B/W sets and/or Colorized sets) (Ala Bewitched)

- Don't have spoilers in the packaging or in the onscreen menus. This can ruin a show.

- Don't force us to watch ads (and then not let us skip them). We are paying enough for the sets that you don't have to do this.

- No Flipper Disks (They are not perferred). It may save you some production costs, but it makes you look cheap.

- Overlapping disks in trays (are not preferred). To take one disk out so that you can access another disk will only lead to an accidently scratched disk.

- A personal preference for me are the slim cases surrounded by a slipcase. They are thin, you save on space, and each disk is safely protected.

Troy

That's a darn good list Troy's got there.

I'd add --

>> Don't "over"-animate the Menus. I'd prefer no animation or repetitive Menu music at all in fact. THE worst Menu design are the older (1999) "Twilight Zone" individual volumes, which truly grate on the nerves after 2 or 3 repetitive animated "eyeball" Menu cycles that are impossible to bypass. But, to Image's credit, they did change the Menu design drastically to a silent/non-moving design in latter volumes. That's one of the reasons I like "Image Ent." so much -- they seem to listen to the suggestions of DVD buyers.

(And I like Image best for committing to all 5 Dick Van Dyke Show seasons before they ever sold a single boxed set of the series. (I often wonder, though, if they've made a dime on the five rather-expensive DvDS sets. I hope they have.)

Another suggestion for TV DVD products --

>> Place a complete Episode Guide (with info about what disc has what episode) on the back cover of the outer slipcase box for a seasonal set (a la Andy Griffith Season 3). A very handy reference, IMO.

I don't!

I want the intended aspect ratio (see: Buffy).

Chris

YES. the latest King of Queens set had that problem, but it was only on like HALF the episodes, which is even more annoying.

I'm surprised by the "Play All" complaint. Most of the TV on DVD sets that I watch have that option, yet I've never used it. But, then again, I rarely have time to watch more than one episode at a time. Still, even when I do, it only takes a few seconds out of every 20 or 45 minutes after an episode.

But I have to add the over animated menus being a pain. I recently watched ONCE AND AGAIN season 1 and it has a very annoying animation that (luckily can be skipped over) plays every time you go to a different screen.

And the unskippable opening logos (especially on Paramount DVDs) are TERRIBLE. It once took me 10 minutes to find a single episode I wanted to see, since each DVD took 2 1/2 minutes just to get to the opening menu.

>> I want the intended aspect ratio (see: Buffy).

OK, you got me there. I agree

You know, as far as this hobby is concerned, I am easily pleased. My biggest pet-peeve has got to be one that I find crippling to my enjoyement of a show:

SPOILER MENUS - Try hard as I may, I just don't get it.

Me too.

--
H

I think the Play All complaint for me is not so big as to be a No Sale! complaint. I tend to watch shows in marathon sessions as well, and I think that's where you notice it most. The big problem is with those sets that have you go through about three screens before you get to the episode. If you're planning on watching for about three hours or so, and it's a comedy, you end up seeing it approximately every 20-25 minutes (depending on if you watch credits, etc.).

My other complaint is that some of those menu screens have music that BLARES. So yeah, it's not a deal breaker for me, but it also doesn't seem like it's that hard of an option to add. And having it on some sets and not others makes me miss it on the ones that don't have it. If people don't like it, they don't have to use it, and it's another thing for them to list on the back of the box.

Well, MY pet peeve is when they DON'T use 2-sided discs, instead giving us 4 or more 1-sided discs instead! DVD is a 2-sided medium, and I don't need a bloated package just to make it look like I'm getting more. I REALLY hate those overlapping cases too, don't ANYBODY tell me they like THOSE better than 2-siders! It would have been a lot easier to put 2 DVD-18s in the Simpsons Homer-Head box too, instead of 4 DVD-9s in that flimsy disc holder. I applaud Universal for using DVD-18s, but the way they've been putting printing only on one side does look cheap though; they need to print a full-color label on the center of the disc, and on both sides. And those of you who don't agree with me, you're WRONG!

Packaging that folds out into one long line 6+ panels long. I have a desk the size of a football field and it is still ackward. X-Files is my most ready example of this.

In my opinion, Seinfeld is doing it right in terms of packaging, with the exception of not using double slim cases (a la Newsradio). I was looking at the MacGyver sets the other day and it seems that season 1 used the fat cases and season 2 used the slim. Slim is in, folks. The way they did it with Newsradio, it's the exact size of any other single disc movie in my collection.

I agree, keep packaging the same. No need for the cruel packaging change up they used with Alias. That was wrong. Friends and Smallville looks good all the same, but I don't like that style. Note to all new shows... use the slim cases!

You are correct MacGyver season 1 used single slim cases and season 2 used double slim cases.

I do not want 2 sided discs. Here are my reasons:

1. Too easy to scratch.
2. I get much more skipping / errors on double sided discs. I don't think the process is ready for prime time yet.
3. Hard to tell what side is what when putting it in the player.
4. Still have to get up and flip the disc, so what does it benefit me?

It is simply a way of making more profit. They like the "easy to scratch" idea because it means some will have to re-purchase a favorite movie. Given them even more profit.