Who thought it would be a good idea to have messages or just film studio animations in DVDs that can’t be skipped (AFAIK) or sometimes even fast-forwarded? I thought if I paid money for a movie I wouldn’t have to deal with that crap. I wonder if Blu-rays have the same “feature”?
I agree that non-skippable DVD segments are irritating.
The ones I see are usually:
- legal disclaimers (e.g. that anything said in commentary by the actors is not representative of the company)
- adverts for other films
- warnings not to buy pirated DVDs
I can see why the first is legally important (in a future court case you couldn’t claim not to be aware of the legal disclaimer) and the second is presumably keeping the cost of the DVD down a little.
I think the warnings are counter-productive though. I have never bought a dodgy DVD, but the annoying repeated messages make me want to do so. :smack:
All those things annoy me. I’m well aware the views of the people in the commentary are theirs and not those of the film company. I don’t need to see ads for other films - I’m already aware of them and they just look stupid a couple of months later, too. And the anti-piracy ads are annoying too since the fact I’ve bought the DVD in the first place is a pretty good indication I’m not a pirate.
Can I add “DVDs without an auto-play feature” to the list? I don’t need to see the title screen repeating over and over again for ages if I can’t find the remote. If I wanted to see the special features or change the language to Nibblonian or whatever, I’d have selected that option from the menu. Otherwise, assume when I put a disc in the player that I want to watch a film, yeah?
Just a few seconds, doesn’t really bother me. Usually still getting settled finding a comfy sitting/lounging position.
Just a few seconds, doesn’t bother me too much. More a philosophical objection than any true inconvenience. I bought the DVD/Bluray, I’m one of the “good guys” playing by the rules! Why hit me with this obnoxiousness!?
This is the only thing I’ve experienced that seems to put me in empathy with the OP. However, in my experience, these have never been completely non-skippable. It’s just that the Main Menu button won’t function to bring me directly to the menu where I can start the film. The previews don’t have to be watched though. I can skip through each one- but I have to wait for each one to start before skipping it (if there are five previews, I can’t just hit skip five times to be taken directly to the Main Menu).
I only have a few discs that are set up this way. Very annoying.
What’s more annoying to me is the lack of consistency with the “Stop” function with Blurays. Every DVD I’ve ever owned, I can press “Stop” and I can even turn off the player. Then, when I come back later and press “Play” it plays from where I left off. With Blurays, some of them function the way I just described for DVDs. Some of them go one better: I can actually remove the disc from the player, reinsert it 6 months later, and I will get a message “This disc has been previously viewed. Would you like to start where you left off?” But then, some Blurays, once I press “Stop” that’s it: it doesn’t hold my place. To start where I left off, I’d have to use the chapter selection, get as close as possible to where I left off, then fast forward/reverse until I get to the right spot. What the hell, Bluray?
Yeah, that used to bug me when I last watched a DVD several years ago. 
I like the trailers. Especially on discs of smaller movies, I often haven’t heard of all of them.
No, because DVDs WITH an auto play feature belong there. I use that minute or so it takes for the menu to load to grab a snack, and I don’t want it starting without me.
You can add video that loops over the main menu. Menus should be seen, not heard.
It’s counterproductive in that it encourages people to rip DVDs, both for legitimate format shifting and illicit redistribution, thereby insuring that the intrusive ads will never be seen again even momentarily upon re-watching.
This.
I’ve always had something of a contrarian streak. If I were filthy rich, I would be seriously tempted to pirate a movie, and send the company hard proof of that, saying, “See what happens when you give stupid warnings?”
I support this Pitting, with extra bile for Disney. When you have two young children and need a few minutes to get ready in the morning they shouldn’t be spent trying to fast forward through commercials for the crap you’ve already purchased. Blu-Ray doesn’t seem to have this problem which smells of a bullshit upcharge ‘special feature’ for the same damn product.
I do like the stern “Piracy is not a victimless crime!” warning when it accompanies Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. 
I think that once a person reaches the age of maturity, they should be able to sign a legal form, stating that they never intend to pirate a movie, and send it to the MPAA.
And after that, you’d never have to watch that irritating Piracy Warning again.
Because that’s been a central feature of the anti-piracy model used by the content providers for most of the last couple of decades: annoy the fuck out of your genuine, paying customers with anti-piracy measures that do basically nothing to actually reduce piracy, and that don’t inconvenience the actual pirates at all.
This is what I always think of when I see the warning:
["]Video Pirates!](- YouTube)
I’m soooo scared!
This was exactly the post I came in here to make.
Do you have a link that doesn’t go to the mobile site? All I see is a blurry thumbnail and a demand to install a stupid app.
Oh god, I was just thinking of this earlier today – I’ve been binge-watching Law & Order. It almost makes me want to pirate these things, just out of spite.
