Forced to watch previews?!

[JSA]

Hello All,

Not sure if this is a player problem (Panasonic dmp bd60 with latest firmware) or a new gimick by the movie studios, but here goes. I bought my new blue ray player around Christmas time and just recently started purchasing some favourite titles for my collection ... Matrix & The Hangover - both blue ray. To my surprise and annoyance I was forced to watch all of the previews! I could not forward to the next preview AND the player would not allow me to access the menu either giving me the "this function is not available" message on the screen. I then tried Couples Retreat dvd and got the same result ... WHAT IS UP WITH THAT!!!! I should have the choice to watch the previews, not to mention the 10 minute wait to watch the movie I OWN. Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone think this might be a player issue?

[sadchel]

I have the Panny 35, and I have the same issue not being able access the menu during the previews, but I am able hit skip to get thru the previews

[JamesK]

I have also noticed this extremely annoying practice on a few disks. However, I can usually scan through them quickly. You have to wonder what these companies hope to gain by annoying viewers.

[57]

Depending on the DVD and the segment you're watching you can.

1. Do nothing - the logo indicating such usually comes on screen.
2. Skip past.
3. FF through.
4. Go directly to menu, depends on the menu key you use too, there are usually a couple.

[99semaj]

This practice infuriates me. Almost as much as going to a theatre and being subjected to 15-20 minutes of previews.

The studios are really shooting themselves in the foot here.

[Michael DeAbreu]

Also, the endless FBI, Interpol, multilingual warnings and legal disclaimers which are only seen by people who legally bought or rented the DVD. Any decent pirate removes those and the user operation restrictions.

[Proteosome]

Ahhh, I remember the days of VHS where I would always fast forward to the 5 or 10 minute mark (can't fully remember) to skip past all the previews and piracy warnings.

Then, along came DVD which immediately loaded the main menu with a quick way to start playing the movie. In fact, many DVD's didn't put the FBI warnings and Interpol warnings in the beginning.

Of course, the glory days can't last forever. Studios quickly started limiting ones ability to skip over these screens and began placing previews ahead of the main menu.

Now with Blu-Ray we get previews that can't be skipped and screen after screen of warnings, legalese and other garbage designed to scare people into not pirating the movie, which of course is ridiculous because as DeAbreau say's those are the first things to go in the pirated version.

[jumpy27]

And the added delays to watching the movie only encourages some to want to bypass them by any means possible--even if the methods are considered illegal. Why is it that corporations make decisions that usually end up with the opposite result than intended?

[Sam]

There are times when I actually spend like thirty minutes or so watching NOTHING BUT TRAILERS on HDNET. It's one of the ways I judge whether or not to buy/view a particular title. I have even recorded some episodes to view them repeatedly.

On commercial Blu -ray/DVD though, for as long as one can go to the ToP Menu to go right away to the feature film, I don't mind as much.

But I must admit, there are trailers I enjoy viewing every now and then.

[Costa]

This is why I've yet to purchase a BD player, heck even a DVD player, lol.

Sad how any movie you download is commercial free, yet what you pay for isn't.

I do also enjoy watching trailers, but only when I'm intrigued to find out about upcoming new movies.

[okcomputer]

On commercial Blu -ray/DVD though, for as long as one can go to the ToP Menu to go right away to the feature film, I don't mind as much

This is the problem - you can't go to Top Menu or Menu during some of these previews... very annoying.

The only thing that usually works is the skip button, but then you need to skip each preview individually.

Terrible practice. Just like when audio CDs have copy protection - who do these companies think they are pleasing? Don't they realizing they are alienating the people who are actually buying their products?

[JamesK]

This is why I've yet to purchase a BD player, heck even a DVD player, lol.

The vast majority of discs don't force you to watch previews and many don't even have them. Of all the discs I've watched, there have only been 3 or 4 that wouldn't let me bypass the previews. With those, I have been able to fast forward through them. I still wonder what these companies hope to gain by annoying viewers.

[macemuscle]

+1

Very very very annoying... at best it is tolerable first time you watch a movie but if one owns the disk (isn't that what the studios want?) and watches it multiple times why be subjected to the previews or the legal warnings nonesense everytime?? Do the people at the studios ever watch their own disks???

Either make the whole thing unobtrusive - say warnings visible on menu page and previews accessible as one of the special features. Or have the whole thing go away after the first time you watch the disk

To answer the first questions, usually you cannot skip the legal warning nonesense. You can skip the previews individually but cannot access the menu until they you skip all of them

[dmoes]

Yep its annoying for sure..

what I usually do is load the disk then go make a snack, bio break or whatever and by the time i'm ready the previews and warnings have passed and its waiting for me to hit play. This of couse works whether the disk allows skipping or not.

as one other posted I too dont mind to watch previews just not when I want to watch a movie. I like to watch Just Trailers and Traileramma when I am in the mood to see previews.

[reidw]

dmoes, you could miss the start of the movie if the disc goes directly from the previews to the movie without a selection menu of any kind appearing. I've got a few BDs that do this. The first time you see the menu is when the movie is over (unless you call it up while the movie is playing of course).