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Magazine Poll: (1 Viewer)

Ronald Epstein

Founder
Owner
Moderator
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 3, 1997
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66,549
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Ronald Epstein
We have been contacted about a story celebrating
the fifth anniversary of DVD in the U.S. that's
going to appear in two different magazines. The
magazines are read by executives and technicians
who make DVDs for a living, and we think they'd
benefit from having the home theater buff's perspective
on some DVD-related issues.
Here we go....
Your top 10 list of DVD peeves. Think creatively.
Anything that irritates you, baffles you,
or just ruins your DVD experience, I want to know
about it. If you don't have 10 peeves, just list as
many as you can.
The sponsors of this poll will tally the responses
by Friday of this week and compile a list of the top
10 peeves for publication, preceded by a paragraph explaining what the Home Theater Forum is and why
your opinions matter.
Please, no discussion amongst other members.
Put in your own responses.
 

Dan M~

Second Unit
Joined
Nov 30, 2000
Messages
356
1. Full screen only releases
2. No Original Sound Tracks
3. Security Tags and Stickers
4. Macrovision
5. Lack of meaningfull suppliments
6. Multiple, improving releases of the same movie
7. Limited production
8. Lack of anamorphic releases
9. Where are the Classics?
10. Need more DTS
Oh, I have many others...
:D
 

Joe Fisher

Screenwriter
Joined
May 11, 2001
Messages
1,416
Real Name
Joseph E Fisher
One thing that gets me a little cranky is when you can't change audio options on the fly without having to go back to the main menu. :angry:
Also on that list snappers...they should be outlawed.
Menus that take forever to load....
Peace.
 

Wouter Heyse

Agent
Joined
Apr 20, 2000
Messages
34
Okay, since "pet peeves" were asked for, I won't bother with the obvious like no OAR, bad transfers and the like.

1. Snapper cases. Hate them.

2. Audio that can't be switched on the fly.

3. Wrinkled covers on keep cases. No good way to fix that either...

4. Menus that take ages to load or to get to the actual choices

5. 2-disc sets that could have easily been one disc by cutting out all the filler and lame promo material

6. Clutter on the cover, like the dreaded WIDESCREEN banner

7. Discolored keepcases. You know, the ones that should be black, but are grey instead.

8. "Extra's" on the back of the DVD that are considered standard, like the trailer

9. Cover artwork that's not the original artwork or just plain bad.

10. Studios hat change the exact size and location of their movie logo on the spine. Just doesn't line up well.
 

TheoGB

Screenwriter
Joined
Jun 18, 2001
Messages
1,744
1. Non-OAR Releases.
2. EVERYTHING on a disc should be anamorphically enhanced, espcially for 'White rabbit' stuff.
3. Failure of studios to release the same product regardless of region.
4. Failure to give some TV shows the respect they deserve - e.g. box set, full-season releases, features, widescreen if aviable.
5. There are so many favourite movies of mine that aren't out!!:D
 

paul o'donnell

Second Unit
Joined
Jul 19, 2000
Messages
339
I won't bother with OAR because its far more than a pet peeve.

Top 10 - in no real order:

1. Player generated subs - burn them in please.

2. Subtitles on 2.35:1 movies that don't appear in the film frame.

3. No original audio option on some releases.

4. Having to go back to the menu to change an audio option.

5. DVD-10s. I like artwork on discs. (especially bad if the other side is only there for a P&S version.)

6. 1.85:1 movies presented 1.78:1. Give us OAR please, no one will even notice the TINY black bars.

7. 1.66:1 films presented non-anamorphic when they should be windowboxed.

8. Lack of usage of original poster artwork for covers.

9. FBI warnings etc that can't be skipped.

10. Anything that takes forever to load, menus etc.

I will most likely edit the list before the day is out because I'm SURE I've forgotten a big annoyance.
 

Brian Kidd

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2000
Messages
2,555
1)Non OAR presentation

2)Forced studio logos and FBI warnings.

3)Snappers!

4)EPK fluff masquerading as "documentaries".

5)Separate Full Frame and OAR releases. Just release a 2-disc set!

6)Disc spindles that make it impossible to remove the disc.

7)Dividing supplements up into tiny pieces, just to add "more features" to the back of the case.

8)"Ultimate Editions"

9)Follow the White Rabbit type of intruding segments.

10)Anything that says, "From the Producers Who Brought You

AMERICAN PIE 3!"

Okay, that last one was a stretch, but who cares?
 

RogerB

Second Unit
Joined
Oct 8, 2001
Messages
401
1. Snapper cases

2. Multiple releases of same title

3. Calling Pan & Scan "Full Screen"

4. Studios that won't admit it when they release a DVD with technical problems

5. Pan & Scan only releases
 

Michael Dueppen

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Sep 19, 2000
Messages
217
1. Forced FBI warnings etc.

2. Not being able to switch audio tracks on the fly

3. Menus that take take ages until you can actually select something

4. Snappers
 

Paul Bartlet

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Dec 1, 2000
Messages
88
just 1 to add to list above

Layer change - if any way possible, do it inbetween scenes, looks bad changing during a conversation :/
 

Dave Gilbert

Second Unit
Joined
Oct 29, 2000
Messages
326
1. Non-OAR releases.

I won't buy them, even if I love the movie.

2. Double-dipping.

Don't release a bare-bones disc with the intent of replacing it with a special edition the following year. If you HAVE to, let us know before the first release (i.e., Pearl Harbour, Lord of the Rings) so we can make an informed decision on whether or not we want to wait for the SE. Ultimate Editions are such an obvious cash-grab it's insulting.

3. Separate widescreen & full-screen releases.

Better: double-sided DVD. Best: add another disc

4. Cardboard packaging, including snapper cases.

I plan on having my DVDs for a while; how well will that cardboard stand up to repeated use?

5. "Bullet-point" features.

I don't care if you have 15 features, running 6 hours. Even worse is when a lot of the material is reused in the different 'featurettes'. I'd rather have a single, well-made, insightful documentary, than a bunch of publicity fluff.

6. Elaborate menus.

I like pretty pictures as much as the next guy, but I don't want to be forced to watch them while I wait for the menu to load.

7. Advertising on the DVD.

Usually studio promos or trailers before the menu loads. When I pop in the DVD, I want to go straight to the menu. I already paid for the disc, I shouldn't have to watch your ads too.

8. FBI Warnings at the start of the disc.

If you want to copy a disc, this message won't stop you. Don't punish the 99.9% of us who don't. Put them at the end of the movie. See points 6 & 7.

9. Not using the original poster art for the DVD.

I have yet to see a DVD that has a better cover than the original art. We'll still buy the DVD if it doesn't have the actors' faces plastered all over the box.

10. No trailers.

Seeing a trailer can bring back some great memories. Other times it's nice to see how marketing can mangle a good movie, or make a bad movie look good.
 

Patrick Wilmes

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Feb 11, 2000
Messages
189
In no particular order:
1.Multiple releases of the same title(too confusing for newbies)
2.Snapper cases:angry:
3.Confusing Menus
4.Lack of 5.1 trailers
5.Lack of OAR only releases
6.FBI warnings
7.Forced trailers before movie starts
8.Need standardized hub(spindle)
9.Layer changes
10.Stop gimmicks like "Ultimate Editions" or "Superbit":thumbsdown:
 

Scott Merryfield

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 16, 1998
Messages
18,863
Location
Mich. & S. Carolina
Real Name
Scott Merryfield
1. Non-OAR releases. I will not buy them.

2. Improperly flagged letterbox material, including supplements. A DVD player with a built-in scaler (such as the Panasonic RP-91) will automatically zoom the picture as long as the disc is flagged properly. I'm not asking for all the supplements to be anamorphic, but please flag the material properly.

3. Non-anamorphic 1.66:1 ratio transfers. These look terrible on a 16x9 monitor, requiring both windowboxing and letterboxing.

4. Easter Eggs. Why should I have to search the Internet to find out how to find all the features on a disc that I purchased? I'm not buying a video game. I just want to watch the material on the disc.

5. The inability to change audio tracks on the fly.
 

Neil Joseph

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 16, 1998
Messages
8,332
Real Name
Neil Joseph
Pet Peeves are...

- Default to DD2.0 sound when 5.1 is available

- Menus that are slow to navigate

- Not having Star Wars or Indiana Jones trilogies

- DVD's that are incorrect aspect ratio

- DVD's with severe edge enhancement

- "Flippers"

- Underutlization of disk space

- Non 16x9 (laserdisc) transfers

- Re-releases of re-releases of re-releases of ......

- Lack of DD trailers
 

Marc_E

Supporting Actor
Joined
Oct 9, 2001
Messages
769
1. Forced FBI warnings/studio promos.

2. Bad/poorly placed layer changes (make them in dark scenes not in the middle of motion/speach)

3. "coming soon to DVD/Video (press the menu button)" at the begining. This should be an item in the menu/special features.

4. Edge enhancement SUCKS!

5. Grain sucks

6. More DTS

7. make it easier to tak ethe damn disk out of the box rather than making it feel like you have to break the disk in half to remove it from the spindle thingy.

8. Snapper cases suck

9. More DTS

10. and, MORE DTS-ES

Marc
 

Dave Scarpa

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 8, 1999
Messages
5,765
Real Name
David Scarpa
1. Movies not in their Original Aspect Ratio

2. Non Anamorphically Enhanced DVD's

3. Bonus Features not Anamorphically Enhanced

4. Special Edition DVD's Announced Shortly After Bare Bones

5. Seperate Pan & Scan and Wide Screen Releases

(Retailers only stock The P&S release)

6. Seperate Dolby Digital and DTS Releases

7. Superbit seperate releases, why can't all be bit maximised with extras on second disk ?

8. Dolby Digital not the Default on the menu

9. Menus that are overly difficult to navigate

10. Easter Eggs, I don't have time to search show me everything.

11. Previews, Comercials or PSA on disk and non skipable.

12. Any Retail Price higher than $32.95
 

Eric Thrall

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Oct 30, 2001
Messages
109
I'm sure this will be mostly repeats, but since we're treating this as a poll, I want my 2 cents in...

1. Non-OAR releases

2. Snapper cases

3. Forcing me to watch FBI warning/promo material

4. Easter eggs

5. Poorly placed layer changes

6. "Best of" releases for TV shows

7. Poorly designed menus

8. Flipper discs, except in cases where the movie truly is too long to fit on one side (3.5-4 hours minimum)

9. No Star Wars on DVD!

10. Badly designed spindle the disc sits on - I've had a DVD crack because of the lousy spindle it was on. Some are good, and some need to go.
 

Gabe D

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 16, 2001
Messages
2,172
1. Non-OAR

2. Non-anamorphic 1.66:1

3. Forced FBI warnings

4. Lack of English subtitles

5. Forced overlong animated menus

6. Spindles that won't let go of the disc

7. Audio that can't be changed on the fly

8. MSRP over $25 for a non-deluxe DVD

9. Special features with no time coding

10. Stickers, stickers, and more stickers

Dishonorable mention: Identical rereleases with new covers, overlong (or nonexistent) chapters, lack of trailer
 

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