DVD/Blu-ray annoyances?

[Erik_Haraldsson]

One, admittedly not really important, annoyance is some, mainly US, DVDs have the plastic wrapper glued to the spine of the keep case, resulting in an ugly and uneven surface.

That most UK blurays have a thicker keep case then those I buy here in Sweden or import from US.

Warner (maybe others) DVDs that play an anti-copyright message in every conceivable language after the main film/ last TV episode, when you wants to watch the bonus material instead.

Playing a 10-second copyright message after each and every deleted scene (recently experienced when watching The Shield, though the later seasons let you play all deleted scenes from one episode together in order to make it less annoying).

[Jyri_Lehtinen]

One, admittedly not really important, annoyance is some, mainly US, DVDs have the plastic wrapper glued to the spine of the keep case, resulting in an ugly and uneven surface.

Oh I have come across this issue so many times and have replaced dozens of cases to get nice looking spines. The flakey remains of the glue+plastic wrapping on the spine makes them look terrible and you really can't fix them back to the way they were originally without replacing the case.

That most UK blurays have a thicker keep case then those I buy here in Sweden or import from US.

Quite the opposite for me, I actually prefer the 15mm cases, especially the Amaray ones that are common in the UK, over any of the slimmer 11 and 12,5mm alternatives used widely elsewhere. The wider cases are much better for releases with thick booklets and other goodies in the case (Arrow, BFI, Criterion (though Criterion is US based and uses Scanavo cases instead of Amaray)). I also like the fact that these indie distributors use clear blu-ray cases instead of the boring blue ones; at least with the dual format releases that is.

Warner (maybe others) DVDs that play an anti-copyright message in every conceivable language after the main film/ last TV episode, when you wants to watch the bonus material instead.

Hah, sometimes these damned things last over 10 minutes because the messages have been included in so many languages.

Playing a 10-second copyright message after each and every deleted scene (recently experienced when watching The Shield, though the later seasons let you play all deleted scenes from one episode together in order to make it less annoying).

I've experienced this a few times, can't remember which TV shows right now but I remember it was so annoying it made me want to replace my copies to some other region's discs.

[Alister_Manson]

Those multi-language copyright things can usually be bypassed by pressing the menu button the remote, that should take you to the main screen in 95% of cases.

[Jyri_Lehtinen]

Yeah it's the 5% I'm talking about when you're not allowed to do anything.

[Eric_Cotenas]

How about DVDs with the "Piracy, it's a crime" video where you can't skip it or even fast forward?

[Alister_Manson]

How about DVDs with the "Piracy, it's a crime" video where you can't skip it or even fast forward?

Haha yeah, "Thanks for buying this, now you get to sit through pointless crap that would be avoided if you'd pirated it instead"...

Yeah it's the 5% I'm talking about when you're not allowed to do anything.

I usually solve that by ejecting the disc and reloading it. Unless it's the 1% that automatically resumes at the last point played. Speaking of which, I also hate BDs that don't support auto-resume, especially the ones which don't even have a bookmark function.

[Eric_Cotenas]

I usually solve that by ejecting the disc and reloading it. Unless it's the 1% that automatically resumes at the last point played. Speaking of which, I also hate BDs that don't support auto-resume, especially the ones which don't even have a bookmark function.

Yes, auto-resume seems like such a basic function whether you've ejected the disc and put it back in or just turned off the player.

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

That is annoying indeed. Even the Dutch and Germans who used to have forced subs on nearly every dvd, rarely have forced subs in their releases these days. Some do but for the amount I've come across recently, they are in the minority.

Forced is no big deal. But when they are burnt-in, that's a real problem...

[Steven_Storey]

8. For English-speaking collectors, translated titles on dvd or bd covers - "Im Geheimdienst Ihrer Majestät", "Stirb Langsam", "Der Weisse Hai"?

Oh come on do u really think that everywhere in the world should use English? I have both DVDs and Blurays with their foreign titles which is really no problem.

Also, I hate my own stupidity. Bought the German release of Lily Sometimes starring Ludivine Sagnier and Diane Kruger without even thining it might not be English friendly. Doh! Not English friendly...

Maybe I have been lucky in this case because I have bought, OK they were DVDs, a German movie and a Hungarian movie in their native countries and they both had English subs.

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

Oh come on do u really think that everywhere in the world should use English? I have both DVDs and Blurays with their foreign titles which is really no problem.

The problem is such translation is very confusing, and oftently it's hardly a translation at all. It's a totally new title. In Russia it's always like that.
So it's very good when they keep original title on the cover, too. Otherwise it can be a problem what's what.

[Eric_Cotenas]

Not a design annoyance, but how about Sony reissuing Columbia flipper DVDs and dropping the widescreen transfers AND keeping the same catalog number making shopping for copies of the widescreen ones online useless. You actually have to physically see the copy to see if the back cover has the box mentioning widescreen and fullscreen versions or just fullscreen.

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

Not a design annoyance, but how about Sony reissuing Columbia flipper DVDs and dropping the widescreen transfers AND keeping the same catalog number making shopping for copies of the widescreen ones online useless. You actually have to physically see the copy to see if the back cover has the box mentioning widescreen and fullscreen versions or just fullscreen.

A mega publisher like Sony can't go lower then that.

[Eric_Cotenas]

Not a design annoyance, but how about Sony reissuing Columbia flipper DVDs and dropping the widescreen transfers AND keeping the same catalog number making shopping for copies of the widescreen ones online useless. You actually have to physically see the copy to see if the back cover has the box mentioning widescreen and fullscreen versions or just fullscreen.

A mega publisher like Sony can't go lower then that.

A few eBay sellers I've noticed actually take pictures of the discs back cover and the disc itself rather than using the stock photo, but I doubt larger sellers would even bother.

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

A few eBay sellers I've noticed actually take pictures of the discs back cover and the disc itself rather than using the stock photo, but I doubt larger sellers would even bother.

It won't help as covers of those reissues are the same. The best solution is not buy.

[Eric_Cotenas]

A few eBay sellers I've noticed actually take pictures of the discs back cover and the disc itself rather than using the stock photo, but I doubt larger sellers would even bother.

It won't help as covers of those reissues are the same. The best solution is not buy.

They did change the back cover in regards to the information in the small box about containing widescreen and fullscreen versions but larger sellers probably would not even check. They would enter the UPC and go with what eBay says.

[Alister_Manson]

Flipper DVDs in general can f*** right off.

[Eric_Cotenas]

I don't like flipper DVDs in general, but the ones I dislike most are the pre-DVD9 ones where a long feature was split between sides (DAWN OF THE DEAD, the Live DVD of STARGATE that came with my first DVD player), as well as DVD18's of TV series.

[Alister_Manson]

Yes, those were awful. Buena Vista was quite fond of them, and a lot of the titles released in Australia in that format were also the censored UK versions (ie The Rock, Face/Off). Good thing they were short lived, although a few are still in print and would be better off replaced by remastered DVD9 versions.

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

Yes, those were awful. Buena Vista was quite fond of them, and a lot of the titles released in Australia in that format were also the censored UK versions (ie The Rock, Face/Off). Good thing they were short lived, although a few are still in print and would be better off replaced by remastered DVD9 versions.

Yeah, Russia was invaded by those issues, too. And they costed like 30$ when in the US you could easily get them for 5$.

[Samuel_Scott]

When PR companies send check discs which are not representative of the final product. Recently for me, this has happened with Metrodome (Traveller), Signature Entertainment (Hours, Guns Girls Gambling, another I can't remember), and Dogwoof (Muscle Shoals). If you want DVD/BR sites to review your discs, don't send out a check disc that has the film in mono only, with no menus, and none of the mentioned extras! We can't and won't review them, just like the other main UK sites (thedigitalfix, avforums, dvdactive)!