DVDs are simple? Re:var is mysteriously clogged

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Sat, Jan 07, 2006 at 01:41:41PM -0500, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
> 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.

Well I have also seen DVD remotes that were nice and simple.  It all
depends how smart od stupid the person designing the remote was.  I
think some people just love extra buttons.

> 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...).

Most DVD players that are region free, also allow fast forwarding
through the 'no fast forward' sections.  I think those segments are an
incredibly stupid idea.  I have read the @#$@#$ FBI warning a million
times already.  Forcing me to look at it another 5 or 10 seconds for
every DVD I insert does not make me happy.

> 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?

On some DVDs it is quite handy.  DVDs with multiple TV show episodes on
one DVD make good use of it.  Some DVDs also seem to have indexes to the
start of each scene, which might be nice too, since you can just to the
start of a scene and play from there, where as by time you are likely to
start in the middle of something.

> - "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.

Some are pretty easy to find, some are not.  The extra hard to find ones
do seem silly.  I guess some people like hunting like that.  There are
web sites you can look many of them up on of course if you think they
are important to see.

> - 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?

Well I also have a DVD player for my TV which is region free, doesn't
tell me that I can't do something when I want to, and plays DVIX and
XVID files too (and MP3s and such too of course).  You can now get these
for about $60.

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

Well that would be a content producer problem wouldn't it?  At least
with DVDs there is the option that they can make it a menu choice if you
want to see it or not while watching the movie.  Some may not remember
to add such a menu option of course.

> 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.

Well I have used DVD players that had great interfaces.  They are
certainly not the majority of players though, which seems odd.

> 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.

MythTV is pretty (I think).  Having not used it much I can't say
anything about easy to use.

Len Sorensen
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