AVGN explores the downside to DVDs....

[BTM]

James Rolfe (aka The Angry Video Game Nerd) explores the downside of DVDs in the latest ep of his "You Know What's Bulls**t?" series.  I agree with everything this guys says, especially at 5:49 on. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsdzaEVeFEE
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[Mofo Rising]

Wow. AVGN really came across as Andy Rooney in this segment. I mean exactly like Andy Rooney, with a bunch of swears.

The only thing I disagree with is having chapters in television shows. I get annoyed if they don't put a chapter mark immediately after the opening credits. I don't need to see the same intro five times when I sit down for a mini-marathon.

[Jack]

Here's the link since embedding is disabled on that video: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsdzaEVeFEE&feature=PlayList&p=679F52BDCED2A08F&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=39
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Excellent rant!  I'd add all the freakin' FBI warnings about piracy at the beginning of DVDs.  Does anyone think that's ever stopped anyone from copying something?  "Oh gee, I was going to copy this and sell it to 50 people, but it's got a warning, so I didn't."  Christ.  So hundreds of millions of people have to sit through that s***.  And absolutely no one ever reads it anyway. 

[Rev. Powell]

Excellent rant!  I'd add all the freakin' FBI warnings about piracy at the beginning of DVDs.  Does anyone think that's ever stopped anyone from copying something?  "Oh gee, I was going to copy this and sell it to 50 people, but it's got a warning, so I didn't."  Christ.  So hundreds of millions of people have to sit through that s***.  And absolutely no one ever reads it anyway. 

The copyright warning is a legal formality so no one can claim they didn't have notice that the material was copyrighted.  It's not there for deterrence.  It's annoying, but it's not put there just to annoy you, and it's not going away.

I kind of like the old Rhino ones on the MST3K discs where they draw a mustache on the Attorney General's face.     

[Psycho Circus]

I hate box-sets too. They update them all the time and miss stuff off!  My biggest gripe that I've mentioned on other threads is the box art. Why oh why do they have to change it and design something new? Old 80's VHS tapes had such awesome cover art (key word there "art"), now it's just massive pictures of the main actors face or computery text. Really bland stuff.

[Doggett]

I haven't encounted those snappy things on the cases...must be a US thing.

[Jack]

The copyright warning is a legal formality so no one can claim they didn't have notice that the material was copyrighted.  It's not there for deterrence.  It's annoying, but it's not put there just to annoy you, and it's not going away.

Wouldn't a simple "Copyright 2009, Metro Goldwyn Meyer Studios" suffice?  When I buy a book it doesn't have a page devoted to threatening me, the legal purchaser, with fines and imprisonment.

[Javakoala]

The copyright warning is a legal formality so no one can claim they didn't have notice that the material was copyrighted.  It's not there for deterrence.  It's annoying, but it's not put there just to annoy you, and it's not going away.

Wouldn't a simple "Copyright 2009, Metro Goldwyn Meyer Studios" suffice?  When I buy a book it doesn't have a page devoted to threatening me, the legal purchaser, with fines and imprisonment.

That's an easy one:  The masses DO NOT READ!!!!!!!! If it ain't on the Internet or in a video, who cares? I was taking a writing class that had a junior high English teacher in. She complained she was only in the class to get some requirement out of the way and that she hated reading. And we wonder why kids tend not to read or write in Internet speech?  I have to walk away when I hear some idiot actually say, out loud, "OMG, LOL, man, LOL!" because I just want to knock the snot out of them.

Okay, I'm stopping now.

[InformationGeek]

I remember the video, it was pretty good.  I don't tend to have the same problems he has with his DVDs or box sets.

[Jim H]

I haven't bought too many boxsets of that size, but the whole rant is a well-deserved one.  So many DVDs are badly designed it boggles my mind, both on the physical level and on the contents of the disc.  The only thing he missed is the audio ****ups I've mentioned on a separate thread on this forum, like when they alter sound effects, etc.

[BTM]

And what's really neat is sometimes they not ONLY give you the FBI warning in English, then they repeat it in SPANISH (hell, sometimes French.) 

And speaking of warnings, does anyone find it funny the whole "Contents of these interviews and commentaries are the opinions of the speakers and not necessarily the opinions of (whatever corporation) or its subsidiaries."  It's basically a CYA in case someone on the DVD says something controversial I guess, but seriously what do they think will happen?

Do they think some director is going to be like, "Okay, in this scene, we tried to get the lighting just right so it would appear that-SPEAR CHUCKERS-it was something out of an early thirties film...."
 

[Jim H]

I think they're worried about getting sued by someone for slander, that's probably the most likely issue.  Or would it be libel since it is recorded on a DVD?  I don't actually know...

[Rev. Powell]

I think they're worried about getting sued by someone for slander, that's probably the most likely issue.  Or would it be libel since it is recorded on a DVD?  I don't actually know...

It would likely be considered libel because, even though it's spoken, it's published in a fixed medium like a book or newspaper.  There's no real practical difference and both libel and slander and usually lumped together as "defamation."  Anyway, that's probably one of the concerns with the disclaimer, but I think they're also concerned about having deniability in case someone says something controversial or politically incorrect.  The disclaimer might not protect them against a charge of defamation anyway (they shouldn't assist in publishing something they know to be defamatory).     

[Torgo]

I hate DVD's that don't let you hit the audio button to switch audio tracks and force you to back out to the main menu and switch it there. Universal has always been particularly bad about that. If  I'm listening to a commentary track and decide that I just want to watch the movie or vice versa I shouldn't have to be forced to stop the disc instead of just changing the audio track via my DVD remote on the fly.