Dear Movie Studios

Hahahahaha! AMEN!!

My favorite is when I OWN a movie and I have to watch the stupid 30 second music clip on the main menu. What’s wrong with me? you ask. What’s 30 seconds? It’s hours when you have to start the movie hundreds of times through your child’s childhood. Didn’t the makers of Monsters Inc realize that the movie was going to be watched 7000 times per child? (Ok, the first 10 minutes would be watched that many times.) Sure, your monsters and doors sequence is cool the first 3 times. Did they ever meet a child? Did they ever stop to consider how many times the poor moms have to watch that thing in order to keep their children from climbing in the shower with them?

Great analysis Drummer. Similar arrogance by the industry has been illustrated by their hypocritical posture on editing offensive content. They have no problem taking millions from TV outlets that consistently edit content for profanity, nudity or sexual content for broadcast. But they often demonstrate indignance if individual viewers want options to block or edit identical content. Their defensive rhetoric of “protecting artistic expression” is disingenuous and transparent. Thanks for another insightful post.

That was some serious emotion. Try this, let me know how it goes:

When you get to the previews, hit “Stop, Stop, Play.” Should do the trick for you.

I tried that. But it wouldn’t let me hit “stop.” Seriously.

3 hyphenated words and 2 hyphenated words and one abbreviation: Pay-per-view and Blu-ray on PS3. If you have a TiVo that makes PPV all the more attractive. And i’ve never had an issue with skipping previews on Blu-rays on my PS3 (not sure about DVDs, however, as every DVD I own has been ripped to a hard drive attached to the PS3).

Couldn’t have said it better. I really like the “I hate you part.”
Funny stuff.

James – Yeah, but we’re too cheap to do pay-per-view (we’re Redbox folks) and a PS3 definitely isn’t in the cards.

Rob – Thanks.

James – out of curiosity what program did you use to rip all of your movies? I have been trying to do this, but it is painstakingly slow!

Michael – On a Mac, there’s nothing simpler than handbrake. It exists for Windows, too, but it’s not quite as simple. The Windows version requires an unlocked source, so you have to rip first with DVD Decrypter or DVD Shrink, then convert with Handbrake. I haven’t had to rip on Windows for a while, so there may be new, easier tools out there. And a tip, don’t rip your hair out over Disney movies if they don’t work the first time. Just give up.

Also, Michael… It’s slow. Only way to speed that up is to compromise quality or get a quad-core computer.

Thanks for the tips, that is what I was afraid of. I have been using handbrake, but on several DVD’s it rips them in the wrong order. Is there a easy solution to this? FYI I am using a Mac.