# Weird DVD complaints

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 24, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744 "2005-10-24T22:34:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/1 "2005-10-24T22:34:23Z")

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In Red Vs. Blue I think they should have left the epsiodes seperate, complete with opening and closing credits.  
What wierd compalints do you have?

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/2 "2005-10-25T04:35:46Z")

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The music and sound effect volume issue on _all_ of them.

Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard all the explanations. I’ve tried every setting on the player and TV.

And still I sit thru a movie having to zip the volume up and down all the time so I’m not overwhelmed by sound one second and unable to hear the dialogue the next.

Specific DVDs: On the Criterion “Chasing Amy” edition. They didn’t include the famed modelling scene with JLA.

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**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/3 "2005-10-25T05:25:17Z")

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> [@furryman](#):
>
> In Red Vs. Blue I think they should have left the epsiodes seperate, complete with opening and closing credits.  
> What wierd compalints do you have?

They didn’t?

How does that affect episodes where the speech continues on into the credits (sometimes for a minutes or more)?  
I’m not sure why, but occasionally I’ll get an anime DVD that in certain players starts up with the Japanese track going rather than the English. Or without subtitles, if it’s not dubbed (_Innocence_ did that on me, especially annoying since I didn’t realise going in that there was no dub track)

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**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/4 "2005-10-25T05:44:07Z")

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On the Shrek DVD, Shrek picks Donkey up by his ears and tail at about 0:09:08 (right after Donkey sings “but you gotta have friends” and Shrek tells him to stop singing). If you pay attention to his left hand (Donkey’s ears), it looks pixelated. I’m not sure if this is unique to my copy or not, but I doubt it.

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**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/5 "2005-10-25T05:49:10Z")

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My pet peeve is with TV shows on DVDs that don’t have it set up so there’s a new chapter right at the end of the opening credits. Some shows are set up like this (yay!)…others are not (boo!). If we’re watching the show enough to get it on DVD, we don’t want to watch the exact same credits at the beginning of every single episode! Let me just do a chapter skip instead of having to fast forward, you BASTARDS!!

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**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/6 "2005-10-25T06:26:16Z")

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On my Death Race 2000 DVD it returns to the chapter menu after the end of each chapter.

I picked up a copy of The Postman on sale for $1 (it is a really bad movie). The DVD doesn’t let you turn subtitles off on either of my players.

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**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/7 "2005-10-25T09:16:54Z")

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I don’t think this is exactly a weird complaint per se but I hate DVDs that won’t let you skip the FBI warning, studio logo and all that other bullshit. Fox DVDs, God bless them, do let you skip all this crap. Who needs an anti-piracy warning when you already own the DVD? But Paramount makes you sit through all the legal BS. _Pisses me off_!

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**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/8 "2005-10-25T09:54:22Z")

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I really hate DVDs that are released and have scenes deleted because of stupid music clearance issues. Even worse are the ones which have subsitute music dubbed in.

The RIAA are so incredibly greedy, it is beyond belief.

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/9 "2005-10-25T10:00:20Z")

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Dreamworks has taken to tacking non-skippable trailers on the front end, with copyright notices before the trailer and another before the main menu.

Another one is subtitles; I really want to get _Fantastic Planet_ on DVD, but the only available version was mastered from a print with the original French dialogue and English subtitles, so you can’t turn them off; worse still, the English dubbing available on the DVD does not match the English subtitles…

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**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/10 "2005-10-25T10:15:07Z")

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> [@DWMarch](#):
>
> I don’t think this is exactly a weird complaint per se but I hate DVDs that won’t let you skip the FBI warning, studio logo and all that other bullshit. Fox DVDs, God bless them, do let you skip all this crap. Who needs an anti-piracy warning when you already own the DVD? But Paramount makes you sit through all the legal BS. _Pisses me off_!

Just remove 'em with DVDShrink. 🆒

What I hate are those menus with a musical theme that plays over and OVER and OVER AGAIN!!! Some of the early Simpsons box sets were particularly annoying in this regard.

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**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/11 "2005-10-25T11:27:19Z")

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> [@DWMarch](#):
>
> I don’t think this is exactly a weird complaint per se but I hate DVDs that won’t let you skip the FBI warning, studio logo and all that other bullshit. Fox DVDs, God bless them, do let you skip all this crap. Who needs an anti-piracy warning when you already own the DVD? But Paramount makes you sit through all the legal BS. _Pisses me off_!

I’ve been able to skip it by hitting the Next Chapter button (new DVD recorder - don’t know if this is a feature on all players).

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**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/12 "2005-10-25T13:15:37Z")

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My only gripe about the Buffy DVD’s is the annoying “animations” (not really animated anything, other than the POV camera whooshing through a graveyard) that you have to sit through EVERY TIME you change menus. And these also have the small-bit of music endlessly looped. Grr. Argh.

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**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/13 "2005-10-25T13:36:54Z")

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> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> My only gripe about the Buffy DVD’s is the annoying “animations” (not really animated anything, other than the POV camera whooshing through a graveyard) that you have to sit through EVERY TIME you change menus. And these also have the small-bit of music endlessly looped. Grr. Argh.

I don’t know how many of the seasons you own, but in the later seasons they stop doing this. Why? Because it’s really freakin’ annoying!

DVDs of television shows that don’t have a “play all” option. This is especially true for short shows when you’ll routinely watch more than one in a row.

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**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/14 "2005-10-25T14:09:42Z")

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> [@Seven](#):
>
> On my Death Race 2000 DVD it returns to the chapter menu after the end of each chapter.

That reminds me of a gripe with my _Shamanic Princess_ DVD. It didn’t send me back to the chapter menu, but I wound up having to anyways if I wanted to skip the opening. For some reason if I hit the next chapter button while the opening was playing, it skipped to the middle of the episode (took me until episode 3 to figure out why things didn’t make sense. That was a weird viewing experience I tell ya). Yet, I can go to the chapter menu and skip the the beginning of the episode from there 😕

I don’t know if this woud be different in another player, I’ve only watched it once so far.

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**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/15 "2005-10-25T18:15:01Z")

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DVD menus that show you important stuff that happens in the movie. Sometimes I don’t have chance to see a movie in the theater and end up not seeing it for the first time until DVD. Don’t show me parts of the climax or important parts of dialogue or reveals that will spoil the movie for me.

And of course I can only think of one right now and it’s a minor one- SW Epi. 2 The menus shows a large chunk of the arena sequence.

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**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/16 "2005-10-25T18:15:44Z")

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> [@badbadrubberpiggy](#):
>
> DVDs of television shows that don’t have a “play all” option. This is especially true for short shows when you’ll routinely watch more than one in a row.

Heh. I was meaning to add DVDs that DO have a “play all” function. Who’s going to sit down and watch four hours of show in one sitting??!

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**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/17 "2005-10-25T18:24:14Z")

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I’ve seen this weird quirk with the subtitles. I turn on the English subtitles by pressing the subtitles button on the remote control once, to toggle from Subtitles Off to English Subtitles 1. Later, I turn off the subtitles by pressing the subtitles button to toggle through the remaining subtitle options (English 2, Spanish, French) and then to Subtitles Off. But when a sign is displayed on the screen, I still get a subtitle displaying the sign text in French. I don’t know why that is but I think I’ve had it happen on both of the DVD players I own.

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**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/18 "2005-10-25T18:29:05Z")

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I hate those cases that seemingly have places to remove the dvd from the case (finger size indentions), but in reality have ridges at the indentations to make them practically useless. What’s up with that?

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**Author:** ![sciguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/19 "2005-10-25T18:44:16Z")

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My most petty pet peeve is DVDs with an audio commentary track, but without a subtitle option. It’s fairly rare (the only examples I can remember off-hand are some of the episodes in the first season Farscape boxed set), but when it does happen I always feel like I’m not able to keep up with what’s actually going on in the movie.

Another peeve: Only being able to change audio tracks or subtitle options from the DVD’s menu, not with the remote. Although maybe this could be a hardware quirk with my player and some DVDs.

And put me in the “if you’re going to include TV show credits, put them in their own chapter so they’re easily skipped” camp.

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**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-dvd-complaints/327744/20 "2005-10-25T18:56:48Z")

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> [@Smeghead](#):
>
> Heh. I was meaning to add DVDs that DO have a “play all” function. Who’s going to sit down and watch four hours of show in one sitting??!

**sheepishly raises hand**

**waits for middleman to show up and admit that he does it too**

–Cliffy

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