Dear Studios: Please make pop-up menus that are SILENT and don't SHRINK SCREEN SIZE (1 Viewer)

[Carlo_M]

Count me as one of the people who think that pop-up menus are actually a cool feature of Blu-rays. I use them a lot. I like plain ones. I like designer ones.

But the two things I can't stand are when pop-up menus:

1. Pop-up menus that make noises. The whole point of a pop-up menu is to be able to navigate without leaving the movie. The ads for BD say it themselves. But nothing takes you out of a movie as when a pop-up menu makes noises as it comes up and/or as you cycle through the options. Often these noises are louder than the movie sounds.

2. Pop-up menus that shrink (often greatly) the screen size of the movie. Take Ratatouille for example. I have a 60" SXRD TV. But when I enable the pop-up menu on Ratatouille, the residual movie picture has got to be iPod Touch screen size. Way to not take me out of the movie.

Perhaps the guiding force to making good pop-up menus should be this: less is more.
[/rant]

 

[Brandon Conway]

The studios consider those Java-encoded features cool bells and whistles to sell Blu-ray on. That's just the way it is right now.

 

[Hartwig Hanser]

I agree with Carlo. Yesterday I watched "Nightmare before Christmas" and it was jarring to navigate the Menu. Even the sound dropped out for some seconds. Fortunately, most Studios seem to keep the pop-up menu simple. I like Warners and Sonys best.

 

[OliverK]

Make the pop up menus not too big, silent and please keep it within the active picture area - many HT enthusiasts with scope screens and masking systems have grown to hate the popup menues that are in the black bars for scope movies. Would be good if all studios could do as Universal does and have it pop up from the left side of the screen for everything that is 16:9 and wider, very cool.

 

[Reagan]

I agree with the sentiment about Ratatouille's menu (Disney's "total menu" concept). I can't stand them for some reason. Cars, and Pirates I and II have great pop up menus. To me, they set the standard for what should be done.

-R

 

[Bleddyn Williams]

Another vote against the shrinking picture style. Its too distracting. Hopefully its a style that won't last too long.

 

[Patrick.C]

The strangest one I've come across is on Mad Men Season 1. The menu changes emit an enormously loud "swoosh" sound that would be much more at home on a sci-fi movie than a drama set in the early 60's. I wonder what Lionsgate was thinking on that one.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Fox is a terrible offender when it comes to noisy menus. The pop-ups on the Point Break Blu-ray make absurdly loud wave sounds, and there's no way to shut if off (at least none that I can find).

M.

 

[Cassy_w]

Silence is golden.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Menu audio is part of the 'secondary audio' aspect of the format. Each player has a way to turn it off in the firmware. The only caveat to that is that any Picture-in-Picture commentary audio will then also be turned off.

 

[Ron-P]

Actually, just using the pop-up menu would take you out of the movie more then the noises it makes. Once I start a movie, I don't use the pop-up menus at all. I set everything up the way I want before the movie starts. Out of curiosity, what is it that you need access to in the pop-up menu so much that this becomes a problem?

 

[Carlo_M]

A number of things. Cycling through audio or subs, looking at what commentaries or other concurrent extras might be available, etc. I realize that the use of it by definition takes your focus away from just movie watching (and like you I rarely ever use it on my first viewing of a film, usually it's with movies I'm familiar with and re-watching). But nothing is as jarring as the sound that some of these menus make, often at fairly loud volumes. That's just annoying and unnecessary.

 

[Ron-P]

I will agree that some of them are quite loud but I've never been bothered with them. I guess it's mainly because I don't use them once the film starts. I also almost never watch extras and when I rarely do, it's never during movie playback.

 

[MarkHarrison]

The sounds don't bother me. I always pause my movie before messing around in the menus anyway. It would bug me much more to have the movie playing in the background while my attention is focused on the menus. So if anything, I'd prefer that going to the menu automatically pauses the movie.

 

[PaulDA]

Another vote for this. I don't mind the noises because I pause everything as well but it would be nice if pausing was the default setting when selecting the menu.

 

[Scott Simonian]

Why not just turn off the menu sounds? Yeah? Most pop up menus have a little tab that says "menu sounds on/off". Turn that shit off. That should help out a lot.