TVonDVD Pet Peeves (2 Viewers)

[bmasters9]

Originally Posted by Katherine_K
5) No chapter stop after the opening credits. If I'm watching five episodes of Law & Order I don't need to hear the theme music five times.

That, in spades! I have the #1 release of "Matt Houston," and there is no chapter stop when the title sequence ends. Instead they put the first chapter stop after Act 1, which means that Act 1 is linked with the title sequence in the same chapter! How dumb can Paramount be in that regard?!

 

[Walter C]

My biggest pet peeve is when I can't even skip the company logo sequence on a PC. Lions Gate is the worst offender, as their opening sequence is so unnecessarily slow.


In many cases, I can skip or speed through it when playing a DVD on a computer, even though it can't be done on the TV. But not Lions Gate, who seem to go out of their way to make it frustrating.

 

[BobO'Link]

I have *many* "pet peeves" with TVonDVD releases. While numbered, after #4 these are in no particular order and change depending on mood. Numbers 1-4 are *always* in those positions.


1. Abandoning a series once it's started. Yes, I understand the law of diminishing returns. Just go into it with that understanding and commit to getting the entire series out for true fans. Use Time/Live as an example. Start with a full series set and break it up later for those who do not want the whole ball of wax.

2. Double sided disks. I stopped collecting "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" simply because I *never* got good copies of S1V1 and S1V2. I'd jump on the rest *if* they were single sided, but I'll not even try again on that series due to use of DS disks. There are series I've not yet purchased because they are on DS disks.

3. Digipak packaging. The "genius" who thought up this crapfest of packaging should be left in the wilderness for a few days. Hold-down tines break, trays become unglued, trays easily break, paperboard backing tears, etc., etc. None of which are easily repairable, some not at all. This one goes for CD packaging as well.

4. Cut/edited episodes. Any reason. Don't give me syndicated episodes! If a syndicated episode is the *only* one available, tell me - I *might* understand. I understand that greed (corporate/artists/etc) over music rights pretty much require music cuts in many series, but *plainly* state this. (RANT: I just do *not* understand the mindset of the music pigopolists. Including original music is *good* for their acts and in many cases could expose someone to music they've never heard before thus actually generating sales for "stale" acts which are demanding royal sums for a short clip of a song! I wish the persons responsible for keeping music off iconic series due to exhorbitant fees could be "outed" so we could boycot the artists they represent. END RANT)

5. Unskippable material (warnings, commercials, logos, etc.)

6. No "Play All" function (while I don't use it often, it's nice to have)

7. Continuing to the next episode when a single one has been chosen rather than going back to the menu (If I want one at a time I *want* one at a time!! - Don't just automatically go to the next. I'll use "Play All" for that!)

8. When I chose a single episode, start it playing! Don't give me *another* menu where I select the first scene to start!

9. No sub-titles or CC. Give me at least one! I'd rather have sub-titles, but I'll accept CC. I tend to watch late at night while others are trying to sleep. These make it easier for me to watch at a lower audio level. (Worst offender - A&E who airs material with CC but leaves it off the release!)

10. Stacked or overlapping tray packaging (either amaray or digipak - both are bad, bad, bad)

12. "Special" packaging. This junk is always bad. Just put 'em in a slim case - prefereably dual-disk type inside a sturdy slip-case.

12. No chapter stop after opening credits

13. Inability to skip end credits without fast forwarding

14. Animated menu of *any* type

15. Music on menu (Do I *really* need to hear the theme song looped forever? And why is it significantly louder than an episode volume?)

16. Episodes not presented in "air date" order *or* "Production" order (depending on which is best) - Looking at *you* Shanachie for "Car 54" in "favorite" order! Absurd to the max! Of course let's not forget to give recognition to "Earth 2", "Sliders", "Firefly", and any other series where Production order makes for better, more logical, viewing.

17. Lack of a episode guide. Even a simple list is better than nothing!

18. No chapter stops at all! Even if it's only a stop every 4-5 minutes with no rhyme or reason give me some!

19. Extra/Bonus disks only available in a full series release which comes out *after* all the seasons have been released individually over several years. At least make this available separately to the fans who supported the individual releases. If you really want to foster good will make it available for free with some type of proof the entire series was purchased. Just make sure it's *not* something that forces us to deface the individual releases. A simple "save this card for future use" insert would work well and be inexpensive to include even if it's never used.

20. Alteration of opening/closing credit sequences by removing original production house/distributor information and/or replacing it with/adding the new distributor. This is fine when you syndicate it to a local station but *not* on a DVD release! Sony seems to be the worst.
21. Too many episodes per disk. I'd rather limit it to 3 60 minute or 6 30 minute episodes per disk. Yeah, I know you can do 4/8 fairly well but I feel that's pushing it a bit.

22. No spoilers on outer packaging or menus. Put it in episode guides but *indicate* this on the outside of the guide! After all, there are times an episode can't be described without using a spoiler. This is why I never look at guide listings of serialized programs.

23. OAR. If originally WS then make it anamorphic. It bugs me to watch Babylon 5 in WS. It was shot FS and the effects were done for FS. Turning it into "fake" WS ruined many aspects of the show.

24. Split season releases at full season prices. If you want to offer a half-season at a "reasonable" (half a normal full season on a comparable series) price, well... that's better but I *still* don't like it. Basically *anything* that's not a full season at once unless it comes *after* a full series release. That includes "Best of" releases. (I'd forgot about those in spite of mentioning "Voyage..." above. Thanks to ThatDonGuy below for the reminder in his list!)

 

[bmasters9]

Originally Posted by BobO'Link 20. Alteration of opening/closing credit sequences by removing original production house/distributor information and/or replacing it with/adding the new distributor. This is fine when you syndicate it to a local station but *not* on a DVD release! Sony seems to be the worst.

About the replacement of old logos with new--Sony did that on the complete release of "Blue Thunder." That ABC series was not Rastar/Public Arts IAW Sony; it was R/PA IAW CPT (a unit of the Coca-Cola Company).


Similarly, "Taxi" was a John Charles Walters Production IAW Paramount, but the Paramount logo then was not Viacom's MoM. It was the Blue Mtn. w/Gulf+Western byline. It was the same way with "Cheers"; that one was Charles-Burrows-Charles IAW Paramount, but the Blue Mtn. was replaced by Viacom's MoM there as well.


Fortunately, there are some releases that got the record right, like "MacGyver" for instance. That one was a Henry Winkler/John Rich Production IAW Paramount; the best thing about that is that the Blue Mtn. of the first two seasons was retained on those releases. Another one is "The Brady Bunch," in that Paramount's Split Box was retained in all its glory.


But still, it ought to bug purists like us who like to see the shows the way they were really presented, and not how revisionists want us to see them.

 

[ThatDonGuy]

My list of rants / peeves / whatever, in order:


1. Double sided discs, mainly for the "which side is which?" problem (there is one season of Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends that has these, and it is almost impossible to read the label on the inner ring)

2. Cardboard sleeve packaging - we get the idea, Matt Groening; you're "going green" with non-plastic packaging (except for the Futurama Blu-Rays, that is).

3. No extras for recent shows - I can understand why The Phil Silvers Show Season 1 doesn't have them (I wouldn't be surprised if they never had any extras; a number of episodes have scenes with blatant acting goofs left in), but Duckman wasn't made that many years ago, and I can't believe nobody kept any deleted scenes around. For older series, where I am just glad to have the episodes, extras aren't really necessary.

4. Cut episodes. (Somebody actually called up Larry King during his Roseanne reunion show a few years ago to complain about Season 1 having syndicated versions, and Roseanne Barr said she was aware of the problem and that subsequent seasons would be uncut.)

5. Promos you can't skip or fast-forward; this might have been higher had I seen more of this in my collection, but the only ones I can think of that I have are the WWE "Don't Try This At Home" PSAs.

6. Releasing partial seasons at a time - A&E's Monty Python and The Prisoner (especially the latter - three episodes at a time!) are notorious for this.

7. Stopping a series between seasons - again, this would be higher, except that they do make a valid case for some shows (the music rights vs. sales for Murphy Brown comes to mind). The one that drives me crazy is Animaniacs, which stopped after 75 of its 99 episodes.

 

[BobO'Link]

^Thanks for the reminder of "split season" releases! I'd forgotten about them until your post!!!

 

[Spottedfeather]

1. Double sided discs

2. A studio putting out all but one or two (or even more) seasons of a show and never finishing it

3. The little clicky-tab thing that supposedly closes dvd and blu-ray cases

4. Eco cases

5. dvd cases/boxes that use cardboard slots to hold the discs where you have to jam the discs between rough surfaces

6. Not having all features from previous editions on all newer versions

7. non anamorphic video

8. not having original version of the audio

9. having slipcovers only for a limited time

10. edited/censored episodes