Is this the most useless feature of a DVD? (1 Viewer)

[andrew markworthy]

I'm referring to DVDs which start off at the menu and then if nothing is done for a couple of minutes, start playing the movie. Just what is the idea of this? If someone isn't ready to play the movie, they're not ready to play the movie, so why start it? Do the designers think that some people are so stupid that they'll only be able to see a movie if it starts up automatically?
I don't know about you guys, but my typical procedure is to insert the DVD into the player, then go and get drinks and other vital nutritional sources to watch the movie. It's more than a little annoying when I come back into the room to find the movie playing (and usually spoiling a surprise). On other occasions, I've been about to watch a movie when the phone has rung, and then, in mid-conversation, I've been interrupted by the movie starting (at which point, of course, the controller disappears from sight).

 

[Damin J Toell]

what DVDs do this? i guess i've never really let a menu go on long enough to see this happen...
DJ

 

[Jason Whyte]

A lot of Disney and Warner discs use this function. I really don't like it either as sometimes I like to pop in the disc and get things ready beforehand. arghh
Jason

 

[cafink]

It's done to prevent possible burn-in. A "screen saver" of sorts.

 

[andrew markworthy]

I appreciate the anti-burnout feature, but why does it have to kick in after only a couple of minutes? Surely a longer period like 15 minutes would be adequate for these purposes?

 

[Sandra]

My player has a screensaver option so I'd use that if I wanted it.
Worse than the ones starting after a couple of minutes though: the ones that start straight away when you pop the disc in. 'Dave' did that to me yesterday, no chance to choose the language or the subtitles before hand

.

 

[Mark Dubbelboer]

A lot of my older Warner discs either started playing the movie w/out going to the menu, or if there was a menu that it went to it would auto-play after 2min (or so)
I'm not sure of any newer releases with this "feature", but I am glad for that

 

[Alex Spindler]

For some reason I thought he was going to discuss Collectible Booklet.

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Bombardment Society - Member

 

[David Lambert]

Hey! That collectable booklet is useful in that it at least has a chapter stop list.
Also, if I have to pause the movie to take a potty break, at least I have some interesting-at-the-time reading material that lasts just long enough for the time needed. As long as you don't use it for TP function, of course.
All-in-all, I'd rather have the "collectable booklet" than on-screen production notes...it's easier to take with you to read.
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DAVE/Memphis

Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned your cause.
Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve.
Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us together.
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/...ocs/000565.htm

 

[Matt Butler]

I hate the feature as well. If im not mistaken Goonies did this to me. I put the disc in, realized I had to make a phone call and come back to the movie playing.
Arrgghh!!

 

[Seth Paxton]

Put me down as someone who dislikes it.
And I also LIKE the booklets although I often wish there was more there.

 

[Shane D]

i hate dvd-rom stuff, what is the point of that? how many dvd people actually have a computer that can use that? i think they need to drop that and make everything available tv-players, not just computers (plus i'm a little bitter that they never consider macs either in the dvd-rom stuff) i
i'm hoping the dvd-rom exclusive stuff on the star wars disk can be accessed outside of clicking links on the dvd rom, othewise alot of poeple are gonna be screwed.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I have a DVD-ROM drive, and I can't recall ever using it to check out DVD-ROM material. Alot of the stuff they include via DVD-ROM could be easily included via regular DVD and most of it (ie Matrix trailer) would be presented in much better quality. DVD-ROM should be for scripts and games, and that's pretty much it.
(On the flip-side, I have some DVD-ROM software which has stuff playable on a set-top player. The Riven DVD, for instance, has a great half-hour documentary on the making of the game, in Dolby Digital, I believe, 2.0 [perhaps 5.1])
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My DVD Collection
My Preorders
My Wishlist

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

Well, if putting things on the disc for a DVD-ROM drive is meant to be only usable over the web, then why bother with using disc space? Many of those features will run only in a DVD-ROM but aren't necessarily accessed from the website, rather, from the disc itself. Put a weblink on the disc but use the memory for more worthy causes, such as trailers in anamorphic rendering and 5.1 audio (where appropriate).
Bruce
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Welcome aboard the Satellite of Love

 

[Patrick McCart]

I like the auto-start feature.
I dunno why, but why NOT have it? It's just a helper feature.
The most useless feature to me is the weblink. I don't see what's so hard with typing "www.universalstudios.com" or likewise.
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P.S.: There's no P.S.

 

[Malcolm R]

Sorry to resurrect this moldy-oldie, but this has really become a peeve of mine lately and rather than start a new thread, and since Andrew stated my feelings perfectly to start this discussion.....
I cannot stand auto-start! If they're worried about screen burn-in, then use a damned animated menu. I hate it when I'm out in the kitchen getting the necessities of proper movie watching and all of a sudden I hear the movie logo fanfare and the action starts whiz-banging while I'm not there. Warner seems to be the biggest offender, as "Heist" is the latest to have auto-started without me.
Ugh! If I ever happen to visit Memphis, remind me not to flip though Dave's booklets.

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Patrick McCart wrote:

Because we don't need the "help". "Help" is just one button push away (when we're ready, not Warner Brothers, or whoever). It's called PLAY!

 

[Chris M]

My Toshiba DVD Player has a screen saver, but it ONLY works when there is a movie or feature on pause.. it NEVER comes on during a menu.

BTW, I thought this topic would be about "Full color artwork on disc"!

And as for DVD-ROM, I have a DVD-ROM and I NEVER watch material on it... the most I'll do is put a TV DVD in the player and have the episodes playing in my top corner of my screen while I'm working

Universal's DVD-ROM/Net access thing is completely retarted and the guy who thought that up should be shot since I won't be looking at that stuff unless it ends up being REALLY good. But I'm thinking of 10 years down the road.. that website won't be there, and my kids won't be able to view that info at that time if they're interested. Why not just include another disc, that'd be the smart thing to do!

Sigh.

Chris.

 

[Andy_MT]

a simple solution. move onto one of the other menus (scene selection, languages) via the "interactive menus" special feature option
then things stay put and the movie doesn't start playing. why we have to do this in the first place is beyond my comprehension.

 

[BarryS]

i hate dvd-rom stuff, what is the point of that? how many dvd people actually have a computer that can use that?

I have a DVD-ROM and I check out the DVD-ROM features sometimes, not terribly often though. I like it because some DVDs (like Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) have the screenplay to view which is only accessible by DVD-ROM. It plays the movie while you read the screenplay though and it goes to the next chapter automatically whether you're ready or not. That's the only annoying thing about. Gotta read fast, I guess.