What Happened To DVD Main Menus?

[SofaKing01]

Would that it were so easy.

You have to get to a point where the pressing of "play" is (A) registered by the player, and (B) will take you to the film itself. The problem is that the disc forces me to watch all the trailers, then the animations for the menu, just to get to a point where I can actually hit "play" so it'll play the movie.

Like I said, when I was younger, I liked the bonus features. There's still a few I dig. But there's plenty that I just don't give a crap about because they aren't that interesting. And while I like the menu to look clean and professional, I don't want it to sing and dance for me, particularly if I can't skip the song and dance routine to actually get to the movie, and have to sit and wait while it "Loads operating system" or whatever.

Don't be cute. Just play the damn movie already.

Blue Ray seems to be the biggest culprit. I rarely ever buy BR DVDs for this exact reason. Forcing me to watch trailers, long animations, etc. to me is the same as the "3 click rule" - if I can't get there in short amount time, I usually bail.

 

[niennumb1]

I swear Disney uses a quarter of the disc capacity into ads before the main menu. So sick of how many things come up before the film I purchased to watch.

 

[Borjis]

I swear Disney uses a quarter of the disc capacity into ads before the main menu. So sick of how many things come up before the film I purchased to watch.

Big Time.

The Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray farts around for ages before you get to the main main.

 

[Solo4114]

Nowadays, I pop the disc in and then go fix dinner. By the time I come back, I can finally hit "play" and just watch the damn film.

 

[dbuck]

I swear Disney uses a quarter of the disc capacity into ads before the main menu. So sick of how many things come up before the film I purchased to watch.

A while back they had this thing on regular Disney dvd's called fast play. In theory, you pop in the disc and it plays the movie so the kid doesn't have to use the remote or navigate the menu. The main problem with that system was that it played ALL the ads and trailers before starting the movie when all my kid wanted to do was watch the darn movie. Near the end of the movie it had a text popup saying the bonus features would soon play automatically. Who needs text popups? How many kids want to watch 'the making of'?

 

[Laspector]

I love extras, but not in the menu. Just get to the menu! I will go to the special features from there. I hate menus that take forever to get to the "play" part.

 

[Bigdaddy]

I like the interactive menus, and I won't buy a film unless it has special features (real behind-the-scenes stuff, not just trailers). If I like a movie enough to buy it and watch multiple times, then I'm pretty interested in how it got made. Commentary and documentaries were the reasons I went from VHS to DVD way back in the day.
The other night I fell asleep watching a Faulty Towers disc and my daughter came down at 2am to turn it off because she kept hearing Sybil on a 60 audio loop that was driving her crazy! :lol

 

[Cam McFly]

I think this is the perfect DVD menu. Nice animation, no trailers, not long, and just perfect. I miss these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smvZEQUtsSc

 

[Zombie_61]

...You have to get to a point where the pressing of "play" is (A) registered by the player, and (B) will take you to the film itself. The problem is that the disc forces me to watch all the trailers, then the animations for the menu, just to get to a point where I can actually hit "play" so it'll play the movie...

The only "remedy" to this that I've found is to hit the "skip" button on the remote until you get to the menu. It's not foolproof, but it beats sitting through 10 minutes of trailers for movies I have absolutely no interest in seeing.

uh oh... I like my optical media - wont use netflix. I'm either that small niche or becoming more crotchety in my old age!

I'm the same way. If I'm spending my money on something like a movie that I know I'll want to watch more than once, I want to be able to hold that physical media in my hands, i.e. have something to show for the money I've spent. The moment a company decides to distribute all of their entertainment media (movies, music, books, etc.) digitally (and only digitally) is the moment they'll never see another penny from me.

 

[Jeyl]

I think this is the perfect DVD menu. Nice animation, no trailers, not long, and just perfect. I miss these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smvZEQUtsSc

The only issue I have with that menu is that computerized voice. It feels so out of place in the realm of the Terminator universe. The UK release, though a little lower quality in terms of the model and interface does thankfully omit that voice.

http://youtu.be/kW0UEKekoIU

 

[SofaKing01]

I think this is the perfect DVD menu. Nice animation, no trailers, not long, and just perfect. I miss these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smvZEQUtsSc

I actually laughed out loud! I clicked the linked and was forced to watch what? A commercial / trailer / Advertisement for an upcoming "Flash" episode! Gee... how ironic!

 

[Cam McFly]

The only issue I have with that menu is that computerized voice. It feels so out of place in the realm of the Terminator universe. The UK release, though a little lower quality in terms of the model and interface does thankfully omit that voice.

http://youtu.be/kW0UEKekoIU

lol:lol! I do like it better without the voice, but the Terminator in the UK looks like the 90s T2 toy!