Sunday, October 10, 2010

Disney fail

9:53 PM / Blu-ray / Comments11 Comments

So I'm watching BEAUTY AND THE BEAST on BD, having a great time... I get to the end of the film, the final scene fades out... and then THIS appears on the screen:

Disney fail

Um... no. Disney, you don't DO that! It's not cute, it's not clever, it's a completely obnoxious interruption to my viewing, and the worst part is there's no way of turning this "feature" off. I'm guessing not many casual viewers stick around to watch them, but the credits are part of the movie, and overlaying them with a pop-up menu telling you to watch a featurette (which isn't even on the BD - you have to swap discs before watching it) takes you straight out of the experience.

I fear this is a slippery slope down the path to shrinking the credits into a tiny window, TV style, so they can hawk their next product to you. It reminds me a lot of seeing TREASURE PLANET at the Glasgow Science Centre's IMAX cinema, where as soon as the first credit appeared on the screen, the lights immediately went up, the sound dipped and a nasally Scottish twang informed us that we'd just seen TREASURE PLANET. No shit, Sherlock.

 
11 Comments

1. BobaFett said:

Oh no... such inserts are common on TV, but isn't Blu-ray considered home CINEMA?

Can this "feature" be avoided by watching the disc on an HTPC with an alternative player like Media Player Classic? Of course it's still wrong of Disney doing that. If you buy a BD, you should be able to enjoy a film without any interruptions in a standard Blu-ray player.

(Posted on Sunday, October 10, 2010 at 11:03 PM)

2. Paku said:

I agree, that's just wrong. Not many stay for them in theatres, usually the lights go on and people start getting up, but the credits are still part of the movie and should be sacred, at the very least in your own home.

(Posted on Sunday, October 10, 2010 at 11:26 PM)

3. David Mackenzie said:

@Bobafett: the "recommended feature" thing is implemented with BD-Java. It's not encoded in the video itself (thank goodness). So if your playback software only plays back the .m2ts files on the disc and ignores any authoring, you won't see it.

(Posted on Monday, October 11, 2010 at 1:18 AM)

4. tw said:

I haven't watched my BD yet but I was playing around in the menu after reading your comments and you might be able to turn off this pop up by activating FastPlay mode then starting the film directly from the FastPlay menu. When I tried this there was a brief pop up at the beginning of the film, then I went immediately to Chapter 22 and the credits ran with no pop up. With FastPlay in off mode, doing the same thing, as soon as I go to Chapter 22, the pop up is there.

I don't know if there are OTHER pop up's throughout the film in this mode.

There definitely should NOT be anything over the image for the entire film including the end titles.

(Posted on Monday, October 11, 2010 at 7:50 AM)

5. FoxyMulder said:

I agree it shouldn't happen but i simply clicked the x and switched it off which took oh lets see four seconds or so to do.

I love the Celine Dion song at the end and always watch the end titles on every film i watch, i can't stand the way television speeds up titles and talks over the end credits but at least here i can simply switch it off by clicking the x, i do hope this is not a new trend though.

The documentary they are talking about though is very good, i watched it straight after the film and it was fascinating to watch the early Walt Disney animations, i thought Little Red Riding Hood was a bit creepy though, the guy ( rather than wolf ) seemed to me to be a paedophile, surprised they put it on the disc but that was my interpretation of that short story as animated by Disney.

(Posted on Monday, October 11, 2010 at 5:40 PM)

6. Brian said:

"but at least here i can simply switch it off by clicking the x"


The same can be said for popup ads on websites.


If this wasn't a region coded Disney release, I'd personally go as far as looking for an import that doesn't do this.

(Posted on Monday, October 11, 2010 at 6:50 PM)

7. Kentai said:

Isn't Beauty and the Beast Region Free? Michael seems to think it is, at any rate.

(Posted on Monday, October 11, 2010 at 10:05 PM)

8. David Mackenzie said:

It is region free. It plays on the Region B Oppo player I have here.

(Posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 12:43 AM)

9. Author Profile Page Michael said:

David:

"So if your playback software only plays back the .m2ts files on the disc and ignores any authoring, you won't see it."

...though given the fact that the film actually consists of multiple .m2ts files strung together (given the differences between the two cuts, as well as multiple languages for the opening and closing credits), anyone attempting to bypass the disc structure will need some way of creating a seamless playlist.


TW:

Right you are, although unfortunately selecting FastPlay limits you to the special edition rather than the theatrical cut. That's a bit of a deal-breaker for me as I think the added "Human Again" song disrupts the flow of the film pretty severely.


Brian:

The US release certainly isn't region coded, so I doubt any other release will be. However, I'd be surprised if any of them will be any different in terms of the popup message.

(Posted on Friday, October 15, 2010 at 2:07 PM)

10. Anonymous said:

I found a way to disable this: go straight to the credits, and when the popup comes up, hit the x and disable it, then use chapter search to go back to the start, and it will not popup when it get to the end. A lame workaround but it works when you show the movie for friends.

(Posted on Friday, October 15, 2010 at 11:25 PM)

11. Parotaku said:

I got the french Blu-ray and this 'feature' is definately here...

I'm writting reviews for a french geeky TV channel... I'm totally going to point this out... >_

(Posted on Sunday, October 17, 2010 at 1:20 PM)

 
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