DVDs are simple? Re:var is mysteriously clogged

[Evan Leibovitch]

Fraser Campbell wrote:

> Paul Mora wrote:
>
>> Maybe it's age... I find idea of spending hours just getting a DVD 
>> movie to play or installing a new version of OpenOffice.org very 
>> unappealing.  I have better things to do with my time.
>
Heavens, you're not slipping into that "the computer is not an end in 
itself" frame of mind, are you? :-)

> DVD players are great, finally got one about 2 years ago $30 ... 
> connect to 110V, connect to TV, insert DVD, press play ;-)


And then you get to the remote control. IMO DVDs come with some of the 
worst interfaces of any household device. One that I have (Pioneer) has 
a remote with about 20 buttons on the bottom, most of which are 
dual-purpose and have ill-defined functions. There are two sets of 
up-down-right-left buttons, one set for play/pause/speed and the other 
for menu navigation. The supposedly-helpful feature of "consolidating" 
multiple devices on one remote usually leads to just more complexity 
without accomplishing the task very well.

Compounding the frustration are the frequent DVD "you can't do that" 
messages, such as when you try to skip past a segment that the content 
producer wants to force you to endure (such as the producer credits and 
anti-"piracy" threats). Maybe some of this is the content producers' 
fault (well, much of it actually) but the result is a crappy experience 
that makes one want to burn every DVD to hard disk before watching, just 
to make the viewing experience less painful. (This is in part why I was 
asking about Linux-based PVRs earlier...).

Other supremely dumb things about the current state of DVDs:

- Does anyone really use the "chapters" function of DVDs? Isn't it more 
valuable to be able to go easily to a specific time index?

- "Easter eggs", deliberately buried bits of content that "reward" you 
for spending more time than you want to, looking for unmarked menu 
choices. If you want to play a game buy a game.

- Don't even get me started about the region codes. It's quite the 
crowd-pleasing feature of Linux-based video that I can play European, 
North American and Asian DVDs on the same laptop. This has allowed me to 
buy foreign DVDs (like Asterix movies) that aren't available in Region 1 
at any price. Otherwise I would have had to pirate them in other to see 
them -- what's the logic?

- "Unrated" extended versions which usually add stuff that was cut out 
of the theatrical release for very good reason

In summation, I can't share Fraser's delight in the "simplicity" of DVDs 
and their players. I can navigate one on Xine more easily than on a 
regular player, especially thanks to the option of a mouse instead of 
navigation buttons. A little time invested in a PC-based video system 
strikes me as a worthwhile investment in simplifying the experience 
later on.

Then again, I see the evolution of Linux-based PVRs being similar to the 
evolution of Linux-based systems in general. First you make it work 
well, only then do you concentrate on making it pretty and easy to use.

- Evan

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