I can't recall what DVD movie I was watching recently but one I popped in the machine went to a 'pick region' menu, I selected Aus and was bombed with the high octane anti-piracy ad ..
..you know the one, where the download meter suggests the movie can be downloaded in like a minute? - duh, lets give the marketing guys behind the ad a fail for that one! - I mean, if you're going to suggest downloading is a 'bad' thing, showing a movie can be downloaded in minutes will probably send people who've never downloaded a movie before straight to their computers to try.
but I digress.
I got the above, the multi language warnings (a minute or so each thanks), a few ads, then the movie menu, which played looong clips of the upcoming movie (which I HATE!) before I was given the option of selecting the main feature.
grr
Anyhoo, I had to stop part way through and so shut everything off. Came back the next day and when loading the disk again I noticed one of the regions listed was the UK so this time I selected UK and it went straight into the main feature! No menu, no ads, no bombastic anti-piracy crap. Now this isn't a smart DVD player that remembers where I was either, and reloading the disk again just to check, it behaved the same way. Clearly they were different.
I saw a kids TV series DVD release recently too, 20 episodes or so of about 5 minutes each. It was exactly as a good friend had described..
Nice one, whoever released it!
Sit the inattentive rugrats down and fire up the DVD for the usual (scary to kids) adrenaline driven anti piracy crap, multiple language warnings that can't be skipped, previews, ads and what have you. 5 minute episode finishes and it repeats the whole shebang! No way to go the next episode, the kids have to watch another 5 minutes of drivel before I can select the next episode (no they don't, they're already bored and wandering away to knock things over and start pulling each others hair)
yeah no..
no way I'd ever subject myself or anyone's kids to that again.
Maybe that is the studio 'product' but ..
So I buy my new car which plays 5 minutes of ads at me before it allows me to start the engine. There's an EULA that prohibits me from using aftermarket tyres. The industry lobbyists have successfully had the government legislate that doing any repairs yourself makes you a pirate or a pirates pet monkey or something. Everything is chipped anyway, so if I used a non Ford part I made up myself the car would call home and report me. Occasionally the stereo will go on full blast, advertising the benefits of The New Ford Captiva to all nearby road users.
I try to complain but people tell me I'm being unreasonable and that's simply the way the product is made and I should accept it. I point out that not all cars are made like this, and that were I in another country, the car would behave a bit more like the 'old' cars that would do what I wanted - and that the old cars still made the companies money.. but no, I am told this is just the way things are and I as a consumer should just shut up and take it. Oh, and I'm also being un-Australian..
bugger it? It's already buggered..
9:36 a.m. - 2009-04-21
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