Consumer Friendly (or Disney Hostile) DVD Players? 590
solli asks: "After 13 years of relatively faithful service my Mitsubishi(!) VCR has finally kicked the bucket, and I am now thinking of moving on to DVDs. One of the only things preventing me from buying a DVD is the fact that some media companies like to make you watch FBI warnings, trailers, and ads before allowing you to view the actual movie (like Disney's Tarzan). Of course, there is such a large demand for region free players and other specialized needs that niche markets have developed to fill that demand. However, I have seen nothing about players that give you the freedom to navigate through the disk the way you want to, instead of how the content producer wants you to. What DVD players exist that let the viewer take full advantage of the nonlinear properties of the DVD media? Can any of the available players ignore the directives embedded on-disk to disable certain controls at particular times?"
Apex AD600 (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Apex AD600 (Score:5, Informative)
I got an AD1500 in January and it was software moddable (get the wrong serial number on it, and it's a hardware mod unfortunately). Burn the rom to a CD, stick it in the player, it whirrs, flashes the rom, ejects the disk. Bingo. Region free, no Macro etc... Google is your friend.
Best part about Apex? Very cheap, and yet one of the few DVD players on the market that can play PAL DVD's on an NTSC TV. I know, I've done it.
Re:Apex AD600 (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Apex AD600 (Score:2)
It does (at least, my old AD600 does) occasionally hiccup on a couple of DVDs I have (eg push the "back to main menu" button and it launches off into the middle of the movie somewhere) -- I remember "Stuart Little" as one such. But you can still navigate around using the block numbers. And most discs are fine.
Re:Apex AD600 (Score:5, Informative)
Check out Nerd-Out [nerd-out.com] for all of the info that you could ever want on the Apex and similar players.
I am not sure that there is a DVD player in existance that does what you wnat it to do, but the Apex players are the closest things possible.
Re:Apex AD600 (Score:5, Informative)
If you can find the 1meg-ROM unit you can reflash it to be MV and region free; the more common 512k-ROM just has the region-free hack right now but the MV fix is in the works. [check the Nerd-Out forums [nerd-out.com] - AD1100 section, pinned topic at the top] All the DVD's I've used on it, the thing just skips everything you tell it to. Even the sometimes annoyingly-long intros on play menus - don't have to wait for it to come up, press play and it actually PLAYS.
And it has some other nice features: plays MP3s, VCDs, SVCDs, and it'll even show you a CD full of JPEGs. There have even been reports it'll show you raw MPEG files burned to CD (haven't tried that one yet).
No I don't work for Apex, but a box that'll do all that for cheap is a pretty good deal. (Sorry, no component outputs, progressive scan or optical digital out [does have coax], but what do you want for $65?)
Re:Apex AD600 (Score:2)
Yes, but Apex DVD players also blow. (Score:2)
They're cheap, cheap pieces of crap.
- A.P.
Re:Yes, but Apex DVD players also blow. Or not. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Don't be silly (Score:2, Informative)
Regarding your ridiculous pro-Apex claims, I have a 4 year old Pioneer deck that plays VCDs, and has no problem with CD-Rs or CD-RWs. Virtually any desk sold in the past year plays MP3s. I have never, ever had the need to play a non-region 1 DVD (I'm not really a fan of Japanimation : It all seems a tad too pedophilic), so I really don't see the value there. My upcoming purchase of a replacement will be a Toshiba progressive scan player with every feature (including Windows Media playback, though I know that that feature won't go over well on Slashdot) for ~$168 US : I really don't see the value in going with a hack shop.
Re:Apex AD600 (Score:2)
Plus Someone replied about how the "Cd-noise" is rather common with the newer APEXs. The remotes/onscreen menus are quite horrible. (I own a newer apex ad-1100 also)
I bought a couple Apexs thinking it would be cool to play mp3s/vcd's in the living room. But really, I hardly ever do that, just DVDs. Burned twice with crappy quality, im sticking with name brand models now, most support vcd/svcd/mp3 and are of better quality. Plus my next dvd will have progressive scan. (And hopefully the ability to force skip over those damn commericals/fbi logos)
-
Do you DirectVNC [adam-lilienthal.de].
Re:Apex AD600 (Score:3, Insightful)
If I remember right, use the "Resume" button on the remote -- and as I type this I seem to remember that's a recommended solution for a few other discs with similar problems. A software glitch in the player firmware, which may well have been fixed in a later version. (Of course, the later firmware versions also disable the easy access to the "secret" menu that lets you disable Macrovision.)
The Apex is a nice little box for the price, perfectly adequate for watching movies on an old 21" (or whatever it is) TV with plain stereo in the playroom. When I move up to a 60" progressive scan wide screen with full 5.1 surround, I'll get a better quality DVD player too.
Re:Apex AD600 (Score:3, Interesting)
Even if you manage to pick up a player that is not, then making it region free is something most stores will do.
Re:Apex AD600 (Score:2)
flipbook (Score:5, Funny)
Use a software player (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Use a software player (Score:5, Funny)
While I realize this is probably illegal, it drives me up the wall to have to view these things. My solution was to buy a DVD burner and use IFOEDIT to rip my favourite DVDs (which I paid for), remove all annoying crap, and then re-burn them. Most players are fine with the modified disks and it lets me view in peace without those annoying warnings that say "dude, don't even think of doing what you just described..."
Re:Use a software player (Score:2)
Most blank DVD media and burners only do 4.7 GB (single layer, single sided), whereas most movies are probably in the 7 to 9 GB range. The FBI warnings don't take that much space!
(Don't tell me you actually recompress all the video to a lower bit rate. You are a looney, in that case.)
Re:Use a software player (Score:3, Informative)
When you consider all this that you can remove, you can almost always fit a single DVD movie onto the 4.7g available to DVD-Rs.
Re:Use a software player (Score:3, Funny)
Just close your eyes for the duration of the bullshit. Sheesh. Talk about your '30 pound sledge' solution...
Hey... wait a minute... You don't code for Microsoft, by chance, do you?
Re:Use a software player (Score:2)
Re:Use a software player (Score:2, Funny)
and your name is "COUP"land???
Re:Use a software player (Score:2)
Could be, if he watches the discs fairly often. Plus the satisfaction of being able to control your own property. I really don't need to sit for 30 seconds staring at the FBI warning every time I watch a DVD. Nor do I like to sit through the often mandatory studio animations. It may take a bit of my time up front, but it makes me happier in the end.
Re:Use a software player (Score:3, Funny)
Or you could just throw the DVD in and go take a big, stinky shit. By the time you get back, it'll be at the main menu.
I'm so fucking lame. 36 years old and I still laugh at poo-poo jokes..
Re:Use a software player (Score:2, Funny)
I think being an end-user isn't enough, you actually have to consume it, which I guess means eat it. Like taking the tamper-proof tab off orange juice before you drink it.
How Lazy do you get? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How Lazy do you get? (Score:3, Informative)
I never heard ~10 minutes called 12 seconds. Tarzan has the previews on that unskippable track
Re:How Lazy do you get? (Score:2, Insightful)
Granted, that advice is less helpful whenever Disney releases a good movie, but at least in this case you are good to go.
Re:How Lazy do you get? (Score:2)
It's not the 12 seconds. . . (Score:5, Insightful)
Okay, maybe some warnings are 12 seconds, but how long do you think it will be before there are more trailers and even must-watch commercials on DVDs? I've seen commercials on VHS, why not DVD? (Trailers ARE commercials, anyway.)
I like DVD's ability to pause, skip and jump in a random-access fashion (or I should say on-demand fashion).
Two things I HATE and am getting more and more irritated by daily:
1: Services that I pay for are forcing advertising upon me and/or harvesting my "consumer information" and using it against my desires (email spam, junk mail, telemarketing, etc..). Services include telephone service, internet service, cable TV, my grocery store and my credit cards. (For years I refused to get a store card, but now I moved and the only two close grocery stores have store cards; it's pay up, drive far or give in, and I gave in, put I'm pissed off about it and will switch in a second if something better comes by.) I understand some products and services (such as low cost ISP's , adware and broadcast TV) use these tactics to offer a lower-priced option to the consumer. If there's another reasonably-priced option and the terms are disclosed I'm okay with that. I've always paid more than the minimum for my ISP.
2: Products I legitimately buy intrusively warn me, nag me or inconvenience me with things like legal warnings and anti-piracy measures such as CD keys and copy protection. Frankly it's easier to install free (legitimately) or pirated software than it is to find *my* CD key whenever I reinstall.
Books don't have legal warnings beyond the copyright date. Print art has no warnings on it. My furniture and appliances don't warn me that I'll be sued if I use their design to build copies and sell them. Vinyl records didn't have warnings. Cassette tape (prerecorded or blank) didn't have warnings. My CD-R, CD-RW, VHS, VHS-C, 8mm, Betamax, DAT, TR-1, QIC-80, SanDisk, floppy disk and hard disk media didn't come with warnings. The movies in the theater have no warnings. By video and system BIOS don't have warnings. Why do VHS, DVD and software require intrusive and inconvenient warnings?
Re:It's not the 12 seconds. . . (Score:3, Interesting)
It would be an interesting experiment... but would also be a very difficult one to end, once the system had its talons in me.
Re:It's not the 12 seconds. . . (Score:4, Insightful)
(Listed in order of paranoia, a bit of description for each.)
1) The wide-eyed "Extended Warranty? How can I lose?" group.
Clearly, this is what the grandparent poster was talking about: Complete and total submission.
You get all the benefits of the Ignorance-is-bliss set, at first. As time goes by, it would certainly become harder not to notice that the only phone calls you get are from telemarketers, the only email you receive is spam, and there is so much noise that it won't even be worth looking for signal anymore (aka, the SETI@home project, har har, only joking). You'll have reached the prime consumer level, but that basically just means "easy mark" in the corporations eyes. It might be easier in the short term, but a society of total consumerism would be a mess. Probably best not to go in this far.
2) People that will occasionally go for an advertised bargain/discount club/etc., but do not think much of it. I would say this is the average person out there right now. There isn't much reason not to join a grocery club with the better prices always listed. They'll usually avoid most telemarketers and throw away their junk mail.
3) People that will sign up for said clubs/memberships, but will minimize their exposure. A large portion of the geek crowd lands here. Why not get the benefits of the grocery club, just under the name of J. Edgar Hoover? I signed up for a grocery club under a not-quite-real name, and they've not cancelled my card (as far as I know). They gave me two keyring tags and one card. I gave away the card and a keytag and have traded the remaining keytag a couple times now. Who knows what sort of information has been attached to that original pseudonym by now?
This is a more cautious group, giving out incomplete or outright fictitious information, but a bit more pragmatic than the others.
4) People that won't sign up for anything where they have to give any personal information.
These are the people that either have so little faith in the system that they won't get anywhere near it, or so against it on principle that they won't lessen themselves by it. I admire the idea, but unless something drastic changes, it's extremely difficult to opt-out entirely. It can be done, but you'd probably have to give up many conveniences, like credit cards or checks (they know where you shop), renting a residence (your rental and credit history is duly noted), insuring a car, health insurance (do you smoke? drink? have any prior ailments?), etc. The more extreme of this group lives in small shanties writing manifestos on their manual typewriters.
This isn't meant an an indictment against any of these groups. It's a matter of how much of your life you're willing to give up for others' profit. Until I feel that those controlling the information can be trusted to ethically posess such knowledge, I would advocate that most people should aim to be in one of the latter two groups (against the system by total disassociation, or against the system by misdirection).
-transiit
Re:It's not the 12 seconds. . . (Score:4, Insightful)
Uhm...nope. It is using the media exactly as designed. The ability to place those restrictions on the disc is part of the DVD design.
store cards aren't that big a deal (Score:4, Informative)
Re:store cards aren't that big a deal (Score:3, Informative)
That's easy to deal with too (Score:3, Interesting)
Well (Score:4, Insightful)
Premodded players (Score:5, Informative)
These guys supply premodded DVD players, I bought my Panasonic from here last Christmas. Apart from the long delivery time, they were perfect.
Mine has the fastforwarding through trailers/warnings, region free, and is demacrovisioned.
They also have the option that (if you're a bit scared of soldiering inside your new £400 gadget like me) you can send them your DVD player and they'll chip it for you, of course if they screw up they pay for it (when I bought mine at least, may have changed now).
ATI DVD Player will do (Score:2, Interesting)
But the ATI DVD player lets you go to a particular track without messing with the currently playing video.
Seems organized by track and index -- those two sets of numbers on most DVD players
For those times when the DVD authoring shop chose to lock soundtracks into those selected at the menu. -My Sony DVP-530A does this sometimes-
Some Sony player can be modified (Score:5, Informative)
Here is a page with a patch [brouhaha.com] for the firmware of the Sony DVP-S7000 DVD Player.
Even better.. (Score:5, Informative)
....is a site that has lots [regionfreedvd.net] of players
Re:Some Sony player can be modified (Score:2)
.....I went to the sony store to buy a player and the sales guy said they flashed the firmware of all their players coming into the country because of consumer demand.... simply no one was buying them before.
They must be using this patch you talk about because I can skip through all the FBI warnings.
And why do they even put the FBI warning on zone 4 DVD's anyway???.... the FBI has absolutely no jurisdiction in any contries that are zone 4 (New Zealand, Australia, the pacific islands)
Disabling DVD Controls (Score:4, Funny)
I live in Canada... (Score:2)
Re:I live in Canada... (Score:2, Funny)
Get the lowdown on most DVD players, searchable. (Score:3, Informative)
Of course, I have had my player about 2 years at least.
Here [vcdhelp.com]
Videolan Client (Score:5, Interesting)
Works under MacOS X, Windows, and Linux. Does DeCSS automagically. Somehow always starts playing the movie immediately, skipping over the annoying FBI commercials and lame pre-movie commercials.
Does subtitling, plays flawlessly under Linux, is GPL, plays DivX
As another poster pointed out, hardware players are a crapshoot, but VLC is just about guaranteed.
Re:Videolan Client (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Videolan Client (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Videolan Client (Score:5, Interesting)
I just went to the VideoLAN page (this is the first I've heard of it) and noticed this in the ChangeLog:
"This release fixes a bug preventing to read DVDs when the disc's region didn't match the drive's."
Now, I happen to know of one media cartel^H^H^H^H^H^H association that would insist that that was a feature, not a bug.
Re:Videolan Client (Score:2)
APEX 3201 (Score:5, Informative)
Re:APEX 3201 (Score:2, Insightful)
Hope this helped!
DVDCCA Licensing (Score:5, Interesting)
The DVDCCA license states that for region-coded disks, there must be one track that cannot be skipped. Most DVD publishers use that track for "required" legal verbage. Some place this chapter at the end of a movie, and use it to display the DVD authoring houses information. Some, like Disney, used it for advertising, and got quite a PR backlash for it. Newer Disney DVD's still have the ads, but have it as a seperate chapter so that you can skip them.
That information about which track is which is stored as a script file on the DVD. The players simply read and execute that script.
While it would be possible to do something like that (code something to skip required tracks), that same hack would break several of the fancier menu systems (Harry Potter extended DVD, etc.)
Just remember that changes always have consequences you may not be aware of. (The tester's motto)
Unexpected consequences. (Score:2)
In that case, you have an end human sitting there making the final decision. Want to watch the FBI intro? All works as normal. Doesn't want to watch it? Skip it. Chances are they'll leave the Harry Potter intro alone, as it's what they paid to watch. I don't pay the FBI anything, as a Canadian citizen, so I don't really care to see their warnings
Re:Unexpected consequences. (Score:2, Interesting)
It's even worse now that some region-coded disks are querying the box as to which region they are in, and if they are reporting region 0 (unlocked boxes), they're refusing to play.
As I said, everything has consequences...usually unintended.
Re:DVDCCA Licensing (Score:2)
That's horseshit. There's no such requirement.
Re:DVDCCA Licensing (Score:3, Informative)
You're quoting a player requirement. The disc is not required to use UOP control, as in the original post.
I have a copy.
Zoran based players... (Score:2)
Some can easily be changed to ignore region codes, or set to specific regions. Most support playing MP3s and atleast mine, always lets me skip a chapter.
While I can't fast forward past the FBI warnings I can hit the end of chapter button and skip it that way. Generally this gets me right the the credits...
A solution for the rest of us (Score:3, Informative)
Just go to the chapter menu and start watching from Chapter 1. The FBI warning's usually fixed between the main menu's play option and the first chapter. Skipping direct to the chapter usually skips the warning.
Re:A solution for the rest of us (Score:2)
Apex AD1500 (Score:2, Informative)
There is firmware available to make it Macrovision Free, Region Free, and RCE Immune(sp).
I did it to all three players, no problem.
Best part? They all work very well, and are dirt cheap ($60-80).
Philips DVD players (Score:3, Informative)
On the plus side, many of their other DVD players offer the same functionality. If there's a major company out there that's friendlier than most to consumers, it's Philips.
They still do that? (Score:3, Interesting)
Remote Selector and Xcard (Score:2, Informative)
Possible solutions. (Score:5, Informative)
1. Hit stop twice and then hit play. This may bring you to the beginning of the movie.
2. Some "protected" sequences only protect against "fast forward" or "skip forward" but not both. Try both, and both menu buttons.
3. Some DVD players allow you to skip directly to the title and chapter of your choice. My Toshiba does.
4. Some DVD players allow you to disable the menus entirely (PBC off.) Again, my Toshiba does, and many HK players do too. Look in the config menu.
Hope these help.
Apex DVD Players - AD-703 Especially (Score:3, Informative)
What puts Apex above the rest is the ability to flash update the BIOS of the player. There are
many [nerd-out.com],
many [yahoo.com] resources for hacking the Apex BIOS. This includes a great utility that's been developed called
EZ Patch [yahoo.com] which allows users to create custom BIOS images for their APEX players. Among the many modules for EX Patch is the ability to make the player region free and the ability to bypass the "locks" on DVDs that keep a user from skipping over the previews and other such items.
Sampo 631 CF is where it's at! (Score:4, Interesting)
Plus, the Sampo has many other great features such as the ability to play PAL and NTSC discs to EITHER a PAL or NTSC TV. It can play CDs full of MP3 or jpegs. In fact you can even easily hook up a spare hard disk to store and play your entire CD collection (as MP3s or WAVs). Or just put your jpeg pr0n collection on it. And it even has a compact flash slot on the front so you can pop in your latest photos or MP3s without having to burn a CD. You can also easily replace the default background screens as well.
If you can burn a CDR, then you can hack the Sampo. The Sampo has a small but growing and enthusiastic user group. Everything you need can be found at, or linked from, area450 [area450.com].
Daewoo 5800 and Nerd-out.com (Score:3, Interesting)
Aristocratic Media (Score:2, Funny)
- 11 CFR 100.7(b)(2)
- 11 CFR 100.8(b)(2)
- 2 USC 431(9)(B)(i)
Wouldn't it be great if your favorite media company encoded the "required" track of a DVD with political propaganda? That way, we could pay for a strict 2 party system all the while being exempt from campaign finance laws!If you REALLY want control that bad... (Score:2, Interesting)
Pioneer makes an industrial DVD-player DVD-V7400 [pioneerelectronics.com] that sells for about $800-900.
It's badass in all the ways that it's almost wrong to have that much control and robustness.
It plays back both NTSC and PAL disks (region 1 only
Has PS/2 port so you can used keyboard/ mouse for player control.
RS-232C terminal connection for deck control. (yeah hook it up to your computer, write a control program, forget just skipping the fbi warnings. Watch movies in a totally different way.)
Video black board support, with mouse connected, so you can draw on your movies.
It has S video, YC component, coaxial Digital and Composit BNC or RCA out.
Touch screen support.
Hell, it even tracks and stores user selections!
We have a few of them at work, I've never used any player that badass before, I'm thinking about buying one soon for an video installation project, where I am hoping to write a program that will do some fun random access video playback through deck control.
But then again all that just to skip 12 seconds of FBI warning is a little bit on the over kill side, but you asked, and here's an option.
Apex, Sampo, and UOP (Score:3, Informative)
And of course, you can disable macrovision, play MP3s (with a much better menu than the original Apex firmware), display JPG images, hook up a hard drive or compact flash unit, play discs from any region, etc. Check out the Nerd-Out forums HERE! [nerd-out.com]
Malata (Score:3, Informative)
I love it. Oh yeah, it's progressive scan too.
A very simple solution (Score:3, Redundant)
Sampo DVE611 (Score:3, Informative)
JVC DVD players (Score:3, Informative)
No UserProhibitions: Grundig GDV130/TYT/Scan2000 (Score:4, Informative)
Here is a post I made about this
I have bought a new DVD-Player which
has all the features I need. The Grundig GDV130 (a TYT / Scan2000 Clone).
Read about it here:
German [t-online.de]
English [t-online.de]
My personal experience with flashing that player: (only in german) here [dv-rec.org]
There is a forum on Yahoo-Groups for the Scan2000/TYT Clones here [yahoo.com]. You need the latest Firmware and a tool called GSK2 from the files Section.
With that tool you can make the Firmware Macrovision free AND Turn of User Prohibition.
So now you can switch off subtitles which you sometimes aren't allowed, you can go directly to the Title-Menu. It's really neat.
My new Grundig GDV130 DVD Player now has these cool features:
- Regionfree (Remote-Control Code)
- Macrovision Free (thru the new Firmware)
- No User Prohibitions (I can now switch of those subtitles, or go directly
to the title-menu without watching those nasty copyright notices)
- Good SVCD/VCD Playback
- CVD (China VCD Subtitles) with SVCD
Cheers
CodefreeDVD also do FBI disabled.... (Score:4, Informative)
They have been online for several years to my knowledge, and the site seems regularly updated.
They do their own mods, which instead of changing regions on the fly, allows you to select the region with a single keypress. This means that they tend to be slightly more pricey than a vanilla system.
They also do macrovision disabled (a technology which prohibits use in home projection systems) and they do FBI warning disabled (the point of the original question).
Codefreedvd [codefreedvd.com] is the site, using Google [google.co.uk] gets you exactly what you want, for example this 300 dvd [codefreedvd.com] sony (for UK power supply). They do ship around the world, you'll have to search for your own specs.
Me too... I want a book (Score:4, Insightful)
Although I don't like the FBI warnings (why not put them at the end, like VHS?) the ads are awful. You _can_ get 10+ minues worth on Disney discs. Luckily, the movies are short and I do intend on re-burning them before my daughter is old enough to watch. No sense in making her sit through the extra ads.
Copyright IP was explained to me when I was a freshman in college, many years ago, like a book. You buy your original. You can make as many backups as you like. You can have them anywhere you like. You can loan them out. BUT - like your physical book, it may only be used in one place at a time.
If I had a book with 50 pages of ads in the front, I'm allowed to rip them out and throw them away. I can rip out the title page, or blacken the copyright notice. It doesn't change what I'm allowed to do, but I don't have to look at it.
You bought the restrictions, suckers (Score:5, Interesting)
(Before you claim I'm a studio exec - you should know that I'm a [Li|U]nix SA in a different industry)
Do people really think that if you pay a measly 18 bucks for a DVD that you own the unlimited usage rights to a $50million movie? You don't, you only own the right to look at it in a really limited way (hence the discount).
Do you know why they include all the forced-usage and adverts on the DVD? BECAUSE YOU STILL BUY IT. Do you remember how much movies used to cost before DVD? A LOT MORE THAN THEY DO NOW. Why? The advertisements you say you don't want but buy anyway. When you buy a DVD folks, you enter into a bad, limited deal. Enter into a deal, live with the deal. (remember Micro$oft?)
Let me recap:
1) The ads serve to make buying the movies cheap enough that you can rewatch them over and over to save from reading books or spending time with your kids.
2) You oppose the ads and the format but lack any real willpower to NOT make this complete leisure purchase.
3) Because of #1 and #2 you are in a really tough spot because you are too cheap and/or lazy to really do anything but whine.
4) The MPAA execs can't hear your whining over the din of your living-room TV and the constant clanging of the Blockbuster cash-registers.
Translation: Until you make the tough decisions to live without constant video-entertainment the MPAA is a 10t more l33t than you and 0wns your fr33 t1me, d011ars, and your
[This space intentionally left burning]
Re:No, I bought a copy of a movie. Period. (Score:3, Insightful)
Just for the record though, I've purchased several DVD players in the last few years, and maybe 15 or so DVD movies. I usually just borrow or rent them.
While it's very disturbing and unfortunate that the motion picture industry has decided to make all these efforts to restrict what we can/can't legally do with a DVD, I don't think that means I'm being a hypocrite for continuing to buy the products while complaining.
I think the technology itself is sound, and stands on its own merits. Simply saying "I don't like the FBI warnings or the trailers, so I'm going to refuse to ever buy a DVD player or disc!" only helps kill off a perfectly good technology. (Does Hollywood really know that people aren't buying DVD because they're upset about those restrictions and trailers/warnings? I suspect, instead, they'd simply conclude that DVD technology wasn't offering enough value for consumers to keep purchasing the format. That would leave us with less ability to buy/rent/view movies at home in higher-resolutions.)
It seems better to me to continue to buy the products we like and want to use. Then, pinpoint the issues we have with them and complain, complain, complain! It may or may not fall on deaf ears, but at least they can't say they never understood the problem.
Re:Don't Be A Baby. (Score:2, Insightful)
No, they *earned* millions upon millions, because I (and thousands or millions of others) paid for the DVD. IF they start giving away DVDs, then I'll live with the restrictions. I don't go to a bank that gives me a lecture about not robbing them each time I go in, why should I repeatedly view an FBI warning?
Heck, I wanted to freeze the starting menu to see some detail on a DVD I was watching last night, but my Apex wouldn't do it for that section. How the frell is that doing anything for the media company, anyway?
Re:Don't Be A Baby. (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, yes, I am sure that Disney spent the millions of dollars for the betterment of all humankind, without any thought for the hundreds of millions they'd make from selling the DVD...
The issue isn't really the FBI warning (though I don't like being lectured every time I play a DVD). The point is, Disney and some others put commercials on that track. I wasn't intending to buy a commercial and I shouldn't be forced to watch it.
"Ah-hah!" say the rabid free marketeers. "Disney spent that money on the expectation that you would watch the commercial. Without the added economic benefit of that commercial, they would have had to raise the price to meet the economic expectation of profit. As it is, they count that 'forced eyeball' time as part of the profit, meaning they can sell it for less cash."
Bull dinky. If that's the case, then the commercial is also a cost (to me) and should be disclosed on the box, before I pay for the thing. Otherwise, it's fraud. In other words, there's a difference between "costs $20" and "costs $20 and two minutes of forced commercial viewing". My time is valuable, at least to me, and I shouldn't be bilked out of it.
Re:Why bother? (Score:2)
Re:Why bother? (Score:2)
30 seconds for an FBI warning isn't the problem. Loading up a DVD with commercials for other DVD's in such a way you can't skip them is.
Re:Why bother? (Score:2)
Re:What a lame question... (Score:2)
Re:against federal law (Score:2)
If I paid money for the DVD player, I will paint it, mod it, piss on it, or do whatever else I feel like with it (within reason). It's my property.
~Philly
Re:against federal law (Score:2)
2- I am NOT a "consumer," God damn it, I am a *human being* and an *American citizen*! Oh, and a taxpayer, though my money is not as green as that of the big corporations. But that's another thread.
~Philly
Re:against federal law (Score:2, Informative)
Re:why? (Score:4, Funny)
I called the tech support guy, but all he said was to format and reinstall windows, but my Xbox didn't come with a recovery CD so I don't know what to do. Any help would be hot.
Why not? (Score:5, Informative)
How many audio CDs do you have that start each track with "Federal law provides severe penalties..." and won't let you FF through it? Zero? That about sums up *my* count, and yet, I *still* understand that copying CDs to give to all my friends breaks the law. Freaky, eh?
Honestly, though, the FBI warnings don't bother me so much as the damned ads. If I *buy* a movie, why do I have ads on it? Presumeably ads justify our "free" TV reception, so how do they belong on a DVD I purchase? *That* really pisses me off, and I would not even *consider* owning a player that honors a button lockout, forcing me to watch them.
besides there really isn't any "better" way to access content on a dvd.
Yes, actually, better ways *do* exist, which seems to me like exactly what the original poster here requested. I've seen a few comments on players that ignore software button lockouts, ways to rip-and-reburn DVDs to get right to the point, ways to just do it all in software with a DVI-out video card, and a host of other ideas. So yes, "better" ways *do* exist.
Personally, I back-up all my DVDs to MPEG4 (WITHOUT including the FBI warning and ads), then lose them in a drawer somewhere (the same drawer as my obsolete-physical-audio-CD collection, incidentally). They look better on my monitor than my TV anyway, and I have a million choices of players with more features than I could ever use. And, if I want to just watch one scene of a movie, I don't have to actually figure out where I left the disc, if I've loaned it to a friend, if the dog ate it, whatever. I have it on my file server, just waiting for me to watch it at the touch of a button. I pop it open, move the slider to the scene I want, and I've found and finished watching the scene I want in less time than I could have gotten the actual movie playing in a physical player.
Quicky scene selection.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re: **** own Disney, control RIAA (Score:2)
Re:PC DVD players (Score:2)
Yea, but so do all VCRs. And most movies worth watching are only on VHS - go to any decent (i.e. small, privately-owned) video store and 3/4ths or more of thier stock will be in VHS. The tapes are butt-ugly, I hate them, but it's still like the early days of the CD when if you wanted to listen to anything less-than-mainstream you still needed your trusty record player.
My vote, replace the VCR, and buy a DVD if you have the spare cash.
OT:Fight Club DVD (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:hmmm (Score:3, Funny)
Oh, very helpful!
The "Ask Slashdot" topic question was asking what DVD players let you skip the FBI warnings & stuff, and the answer you gave was "mine."
Could you at least include your address, so he can go watch movies at your house?
Honestly, the things that get modded up as "Informative" these days...
Re:Here's a thought... (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Abuse of the must watch bit... (Score:5, Interesting)