http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?id=6005&show=review
pop in the disc and it starts immediately, with UGC logo like in theaters in France, Belgium when it's an UGC release
if feels very cinematic
no menu, warning FBI etc yadayada.

i think this very much participate in recreating the cinema feeling at home, if you have a dark dedicated HT of course.

like many japanese laserdiscs or dvds editions started.
gizmo gadget loaded menus are for kids and games freaks

I have to agree, if I want to see the "Special Features" I'll press the menu button otherwise just get me to the damn movie.

The problem with "starting immediately" comes with some of the choices of default settings that don't work for all people.

I happen to hate that Warner releases start immediately, because I always have to go in and change the audio settings as they invariably do not default to what I need/want for my setup.

I agree I'd like to get less of the pre-movie stuff... but I'd still like to be dumped to a main menu so I can make settings changes before playing the movie.

The problem with "starting immediately" comes with some of the choices of default settings that don't work for all people.

I happen to hate that Warner releases start immediately, because I always have to go in and change the audio settings as they invariably do not default to what I need/want for my setup.

I agree I'd like to get less of the pre-movie stuff... but I'd still like to be dumped to a main menu so I can make settings changes before playing the movie.
Many remotes have buttons for quickly cycling through audio and subtitle options. I use them exclusively. Much better then trying to figure out what creative genius has figured out yet another way to build a settings menu.

I love Warner movies cause they start right away. A simple audio button press and your all set.

For those that like menu's they can just press the menu button and be taken to the menu.

Most annoying is disney discs with a crapload of trailers. THEN all the trailers are in special features in the "Trailers" section!!! Luckily for them, all their discs are gorgeous, which makes people forgive the trailer thing

I don't mind a nice, simple, unanimated menu screen but at least give me the choice to go to it right away, not "this operaration is not...." and make me fast forward through every damned preview and commercial.

Disney is the worse
but also others when the menu launches loudly and gives a lot of the story with abstracts, photos etc!
all this kills the cinematic experience
and as for sound you can on many disc on the fly with yr remote select what you need
i find it far less a problem that blocked and forced by compulsory menu

I love Warner movies cause they start right away. A simple audio button press and your all set.

For those that like menu's they can just press the menu button and be taken to the menu.

Most annoying is disney discs with a crapload of trailers. THEN all the trailers are in special features in the "Trailers" section!!! Luckily for them, all their discs are gorgeous, which makes people forgive the trailer thing

I agree, Warner has the best menu system. If I buy a movie I want to see the movie, not 12 commercials before it.

.

I agree, Warner has the best menu system. If I buy a movie I want to see the movie, not 12 commercials before it.

.

Agree... Especially when you watch the movie 5 years later, and all of those trailers/commercials are old. The worst are the blu-ray promos. They are advertising to people who already own blu-ray... I don't get it. HD DVD did the same annoying thing too.

Agree... Especially when you watch the movie 5 years later, and all of those trailers/commercials are old. The worst are the blu-ray promos. They are advertising to people who already own blu-ray... I don't get it. HD DVD did the same annoying thing too.
This has always seemed weird to me. All I can think is that the studios see this as an opportunity to advertise to visitors of people who own Blu-ray players.

Here's how you create the "cinema feeling" at home...first a slide show of local ads, then a bunch of trailers, then a cute "turn off your cell phone" clip, perhaps a pitch for on-line ticket purchases, the TI and Christie splash logos (for digital theater), and then the movie.

Here's how you create the "cinema feeling" at home...first a slide show of local ads, then a bunch of trailers, then a cute "turn off your cell phone" clip, perhaps a pitch for on-line ticket purchases, the TI and Christie splash logos (for digital theater), and then the movie.

:D
i'd add the guy behind you bumping his feet into your chair back, the bunch of couples late as the movie as started already, your neighboor opening his chips with the green sauce one hr after the movie has started right at a calm, tense moment :D
a few gums under yr seat, old coke on the floor, sticky

We have theaters that serve alcohol--so add the occasional obnoxious drunk. (Though the Drafthouse tosses noisemakers out fairly quickly.) Moreover, add teenagers texting one another with bright, distracting cell phone screens. My favorite was this weekend when a couple brought their infant to a 9:30 PM showing of Star Trek.

The Warner-start-auto feature is especially annoying to me with TV season Blu rays... because it only works the first time when I want to watch all the episodes. When I later want to watch random favorite episodes, it always starts playing the 1st ep on the disc and I have to stop that and then start the one I want.

Heck, I'm not even entirely a fan of music CDs auto-playing in my CD player... but I learned to deal with that because the only thing I need to adjust there is skip to the right song... But there are so many other options with a Blu ray that I prefer to get the menu.

I could absolutely live without the pre-movie pre-menu stuff though. Then again, that's kind of how the movie theater experience goes these days with trailers and commercials before the movie... so it kinda is the theater experience if you think about it.

I will agree that the superfluous, CGI intros can be considered by many as unnecessary (I, for one, think they are fun if well done - i.e. the Star Trek SE SD-DVDs, The Abyss). And the commercials are completely inexcusable. However, I must respectfully disagree with the comments that the movie trailers before the show detract from "the movie experience." IMO, having a trailer core in front of the main feature (there was even a time when a cartoon was prerequisite) is part of what makes the "movie experience". Of course, it is a matter of personal preference, as many feel the movie experience to be incomplete without a $7.50 tub of popcorn complete with butter-flavored grease and a $5.00 box of Mike & Ike's (I never order concessions)...;) Many studios (cough...cough... Disney) do tend to overdo the trailer core somewhat; when I worked as a projectionist in the late 80's building the films (they typically were shipped in six 2000 foot reels to be built up on a platter), the standard core was 3 theatrical trailers (including the one in the can), the theater logo trailer, and the feature presentation (and no commercials).

As to the issue of being able to configure the audio options before the film via a menu system, I agree on that front as well, and am personally glad that most studios have a pre-movie menu.

Disney is the worse


+1


by a long shot.

I dont like the movie starting right away, but I do like the movie menu coming up as the first thing.


Paramount is good for this.

Most annoying is disney discs with a crapload of trailers. THEN all the trailers are in special features in the "Trailers" section!!! Luckily for them, all their discs are gorgeous, which makes people forgive the trailer thing


I actually like those. I just don't like waiting 2 minutes for the disk to load in my PS3. Sleeping Beauty took way too long to get started.

I really don't understand why it matters either way.

They start immediately: you can quickly and easily change the audio options...no big deal

They start with previews/ads/menus/etc: They don't delay the start of the film long enough for me to care

Seriously, it's an example of making a mountain out of a molehill.



becaus on some discs you can't just skip the previews and get to the menu. The "menu" button does nothing. You have to FF through each and every one!

I think that my preference would be for the disc to go to a tastefully-done menu as soon as you pop the disc in, with unobtrusive music and minimal animation, menu transitions, etc. Quite often, when I'm going to watch a film, I pop the BD in and go off to get a drink, close the curtains and whatnot, so I prefer for the disc to "wait for me" on a menu screen so I can make the necessary audio/subtitle adjustments where applicable and then start the film when I'm sitting comfortably and am good and ready. If the film started immediately upon putting the disc in, I could foresee a mad dash as I insert the disc, switch off the lights and then hurry to get seated (and probably trip over something on the way) before the film begins. :D

As for Disney's discs, they're so loaded with pre-movie crap it's unbelievable. Fox are also guilty of this sort of thing, not to mention playing a bunch of warning screens when you start the film, even if you do so through the chapter menu.

The Dark Knight is the best example disk I've played so far. Stick the disk in, hit play and the movie just starts.

The absolute worst disks by far are Disney disks where you are subjected to stupid trailers whether you want them or not. It takes several frantic stabs at the remote to clear them. I've resolved I'm not going to buy any more of them and if I do, they'll be ripped immediately into a less annoying form.

The frustrating thing is that a Blu-Ray disk could know when you've watched trailers and never bother you again - BD-J could check a property on startup which is set after you've been through the trailers once. Disney could easily change their disks so first play through you get the trailers, then you're asked if you want them again. Better yet if they replace them with a brief message saying they'll play AFTER the movie or are available from the main menu.

I get it all queued up while my guests are chatting and starting in on the wine/beer. Then when they're ready for the show everyone troops in and the worst thing they see is the "pause" symbol up on the screen. Is the whole process annoying? Yes. Do I wish I didn't have to excuse myself to get through all the crap first? Yes. Is it a big deal? Um... depends on my mood.

They start immediately: you can quickly and easily change the audio options...no big deal

Well, with Warner they start automatically and default to standard Dolby 5.1. Sure, it's easy to switch the audio tracks to True HD, but then the audio drops out for a second or two. Often the score has already started and you lose it for that second, which can be a mood breaker, especially on a carefully designed opening like "The Dark Knight". I hear Warner has fixed that on its most recent releases, but it still sucks for the many they've already put out.

I prefer a menu. Often, I'll come back to a disc to watch the special features at another time, so I like it to be at the menu where I can get to everything. I also sometimes only pop a previously watched movie in to look at a certain scene. Plus, with the long load time, I'd rather pop the disc in, go get my snack and have it waiting for me in the menu when I'm ready without "We have a bearing....here we go!" blasting out of my speakers.

However, the one item that continues to tick me off is that stupid ant-piracy PSA. You know, the one that blasts out about 20db louder than anything else on the disc. Seriously, I'm watching the disc. I either rented it or bought it. Don't hit me with that crap. If someone did pirate it, are they gonna go, "oh my gosh! I had no idea I was breaking the law! I should throw this copy away - or better yet, turn myself in!"

Well, with Warner they start automatically and default to standard Dolby 5.1. Sure, it's easy to switch the audio tracks to True HD, but then the audio drops out for a second or two. Often the score has already started and you lose it for that second, which can be a mood breaker, especially on a carefully designed opening like "The Dark Knight". I hear Warner has fixed that on its most recent releases, but it still sucks for the many they've already put out.

Yeah, that's my problem with the Warner discs... I always have to wait for the movie to start, switch the audio, and then rewind back to the beginning to start play over again.

That + as I noted with TV shows, it starts playing the first episode even if that isn't the one you wanted to watch.

While the pre-menu stuff sometimes drags, I have started using that time to get my coke and snack ready.

I don't mind a nice, simple, unanimated menu screen but at least give me the choice to go to it right away, not "this operaration is not...." and make me fast forward through every damned preview and commercial.

that would be my biggest issue with movie as some with have what seems like endless previews. 1 or 2 is OK but I've seen 10 before. this isn't HDNets Trailer show its a movie. if I want to know what else you have to offer put it as a extra on the disc. id rather have that. at the very least with blu_ray they could make it so when you watch the film once the 2nd time it will go right to the menu why must I watch them every time...

The movie should just play automatically when you pop in the disc. If you want to access the menu, hit the menu button on your remote.

Picked up Season 1 of Lost the other day. (never seen 1 episode before so I figured it would be a good way to start)

Well, there's a damn ad for Season 4 before I even get to start season 1. Not to mention 10 minutes of other crap before it even gets to the main menu

When Blu-Ray gets mature, I would assume that we will be able to get code free players that can override those forced commercials and skip directly to the main content.

Unfortunately, these "unknown" brand of players might not be what people want.

Now that I think of it some more, it is really "disrespectful" to force the users that has already paid $25-30 for a disc to waste 5 minutes or more of their precious time.

Now that I think of it some more, it is really "disrespectful" to force the users that has already paid $25-30 for a disc to waste 5 minutes or more of their precious time.

Maybe the studios soon gonna release premium priced product with no trailer before the movie, and at the same time release a budget version with alot of annoying trailers before the movie.

I know there's not much you can do about the all the previews once you pop in the disc, except skip them, but there is a way to avoid the FBI and anti-piracy junk.

For those like myself with projection theaters, that stuff is a real nuisance and not conducive to the theater experience. As soon as the main menu shows up (after all the endless trailers :mad:), navigate to scene selections and select chapter one. Viola! Now my guests really do feel like they're at theater!

All discs are programmed to show those FBI warnings when you press play, not when you scene select. Can't really do anything about those pesky trailers at the beginning though, unless you're using a media server. Then you can do whatever you want with your content.

my $0.02 :D

I just watched New in Town and the first thing that comes on is a commercial for Overstock.com. Stupid.

Heres a tip from a little birdie.

One prominent studio is going to be changing the way a Bluray disc starts.

Can't really spill the beans yet, but lets just say, the days of forced previews might be over soon with at least one studio.