Forced video AND forced audio from Universal

Universal's response to customer complaint's about FORCED trailers, is
that they are now putting FORCED advertising on ALL their dvds.

Every Universal dvd I have seen these past few weeks have the forced
trailers. They all have a note that says you can "fast-forward" through
them.

If you have to fast forward through a half dozen ads before you can
watch dvds that YOU PAID FOR, you're not much better off than VHS tapes.
Some dvd players can't even FF through them.

Only Universal is doing this, and they are doing it on all their discs
now. I will not buy a Universal dvd or even pay full rental price. I
rent tuesday's new releases on the following monday for 99 cents or not
at all.

Universal is also the only company that does not use the industry
standard for closed captioning.

We use a device called TVGuardian that reads the closed captioning and
mutes the sound when offensive language is being used. We can choose our
preference.. from "no censoring" to "strict censoring". User choice.

Universal takes that choice away, too, just like they take away control
of our remotes so we cannot SKIP trailers/advertising. Universal has
developed a way of closed captioning that disables our TVGuardian. Only
Universal does this.

Sooooo.... we have to SEE what Universal wants us to see, and HEAR what
Universal wants us to hear.

No choice.

How arrogant can one company get, that they would actually program their
dvds to disable features of your home dvd players and other electronic
appliances in YOUR home, that YOU bought and PAID for?

What's next, when you spend good money to buy a dvd player with all the
bells and whistles you want and someone like Universal can disable them?
It's appalling!

Let Universal get by with this, and other companies will follow. And
when other companies follow suit, our complaints will be fruitless.

Think seriously about this... Are we going to allow companies to disable
features of our home entertainment systems.

Folks, this is a most serious issue.

No mail, please .. [no incoming mailbox]

Invalid Address

On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 12:15:44 -0600 (CST),
(Invalid Address) wrote:
d for closed captioning.
>
>We use a device called TVGuardian that reads the closed captioning and
>mutes the sound when offensive language is being used. We can choose our
>preference.. from "no censoring" to "strict censoring". User choice.
>
>Universal takes that choice away, too, just like they take away control
>of our remotes so we cannot SKIP trailers/advertising. Universal has
>developed a way of closed captioning that disables our TVGuardian. Only
>Universal does this.

I don't think that is intentional. I don't like forced trailers, but
Universal is under no obligation to provide support for the
electronics you choose to use. They have nothing do do with any sort
of TVGuardian contraption.

And on a more personal note, I think the whole idea of the device that
you describe is rediculous. You can choose to use it, of course, but
if you don't like the language in some movies, maybe you should watch
other movies.

Mischa

Mischa van Dinter

Mischa van Dinter wrote on [Thu, 08 Jan 2004 20:31:15 +0100]:
> On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 12:15:44 -0600 (CST),
> (Invalid Address) wrote:
> d for closed captioning.
>>
>>We use a device called TVGuardian that reads the closed captioning and
>>mutes the sound when offensive language is being used. We can choose our
>>preference.. from "no censoring" to "strict censoring". User choice.
>>
>>Universal takes that choice away, too, just like they take away control
>>of our remotes so we cannot SKIP trailers/advertising. Universal has
>>developed a way of closed captioning that disables our TVGuardian. Only
>>Universal does this.
>
> I don't think that is intentional. I don't like forced trailers, but
> Universal is under no obligation to provide support for the
> electronics you choose to use. They have nothing do do with any sort
> of TVGuardian contraption.
>
> And on a more personal note, I think the whole idea of the device that
> you describe is rediculous. You can choose to use it, of course, but
> if you don't like the language in some movies, maybe you should watch
> other movies.

if you have to have such a device then what happens in real life when
real things happen, and real people speak?

Justin

> if you have to have such a device then what happens in real life when
> real things happen, and real people speak?

There may be little control in real life at times, but I personally think
it's commendable that this parent is taking an interest in his children and
what they see/watch on televison. That's his choice to make, and I see
nothing wrong with it. Better to have that type of parent in this world than
the ones who care ***nothing*** about their kids.

Bill

Bill wrote on [Thu, 08 Jan 2004 20:24:49 GMT]:
>
>> if you have to have such a device then what happens in real life when
>> real things happen, and real people speak?
>
> There may be little control in real life at times, but I personally think
> it's commendable that this parent is taking an interest in his children and
> what they see/watch on televison. That's his choice to make, and I see
> nothing wrong with it. Better to have that type of parent in this world than
> the ones who care ***nothing*** about their kids.
>

Then if this person is indeed a parent, they should preview every non
kiddie program their kid watches, instead of relying on technology to do
it

Justin

"Invalid Address" <> wrote in message
news:9352-3FFD9E50-...
> Universal's response to customer complaint's about FORCED trailers, is
> that they are now putting FORCED advertising on ALL their dvds.
>
> Every Universal dvd I have seen these past few weeks have the forced
> trailers. They all have a note that says you can "fast-forward" through
> them.
>
> If you have to fast forward through a half dozen ads before you can
> watch dvds that YOU PAID FOR, you're not much better off than VHS tapes.
> Some dvd players can't even FF through them.

I'm no fan of forced trailers, but the point should be made:

Why *should* DVDs be treateded differently from VHS by the studios? To them,
they are essentially the same product, serving the same market.

> Sooooo.... we have to SEE what Universal wants us to see, and HEAR what
> Universal wants us to hear.
>
> No choice.

You've already articulated your choice: don't buy. These are luxury goods
here. Nobody needs them. Nobody has to buy them, and nobody has to sell
them.

> Folks, this is a most serious issue.

I disagree. It's home entertainment. Nothing serious about it at all --
except to the people who feed their families by making and selling it.

RichC

Rich Clark

>I'm no fan of forced trailers, but the point should be made:
>
>Why *should* DVDs be treateded differently from VHS by the studios? To them,
>they are essentially the same product, serving the same market.

True, but, as mentioned, there are times where you cannot fast-forward past the
previews on certain DVD players.

But, for me it's a non-issue. Universal has simply not made many films that I
like and is probably THE most mundane and mainstream studio of them all. IMO,
they never had as impressive a history as Paramount, MGM, Fox, or Warner Bros.
Even Tri-Star is more illustrious and risk-taking than Universal, IMO. The
only studio I can think of that now currently caters to the mainstream moreso
than Universal is Disney (not including Touchstone, Hollywood, Dimension, or
Miramax). But Disney being most mainstream is understandable, given the kind
of material they usually produce: children's entertainment.

There are notable exceptions, like a few Universal pictures that were directed
by Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Robert Zemeckis, Alfred Hitchcock (arguably
though, as a few ,but not all, of Hitchcock's famous works, like "Psycho" and
"Vertigo," were originally released by Paramount), and Steven Spielberg. But,
they are most willing to cater to the mainstream to the point where they
compromised creative expression simply because what the director wanted wasn't
perceived as popular by the suits, particularly during the 1980s with Ridley
Scott's "Legend" being an infamous example. This is also exemplified with god
knows how many films from Universal that ended up being MST3K fodder.

Anyways, I would have a beef with them if I had a lot of Universal titles on
DVD. But, I only have one title from Universal in my collection, "Legend:
Ultimate Edition," so I don't have anything to complain about in terms of their
forced commercials. - Reinhart

LASERandDVDfan

Disney has force trailers as well, if you have the eqipment you can copy the
dvd leaving out the trailers

"LASERandDVDfan" <> wrote in message
news:...
> >I'm no fan of forced trailers, but the point should be made:
> >
> >Why *should* DVDs be treateded differently from VHS by the studios? To
them,
> >they are essentially the same product, serving the same market.
>
> True, but, as mentioned, there are times where you cannot fast-forward
past the
> previews on certain DVD players.
>
> But, for me it's a non-issue. Universal has simply not made many films
that I
> like and is probably THE most mundane and mainstream studio of them all.
IMO,
> they never had as impressive a history as Paramount, MGM, Fox, or Warner
Bros.
> Even Tri-Star is more illustrious and risk-taking than Universal, IMO.
The
> only studio I can think of that now currently caters to the mainstream
moreso
> than Universal is Disney (not including Touchstone, Hollywood, Dimension,
or
> Miramax). But Disney being most mainstream is understandable, given the
kind
> of material they usually produce: children's entertainment.
>
> There are notable exceptions, like a few Universal pictures that were
directed
> by Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Robert Zemeckis, Alfred Hitchcock
(arguably
> though, as a few ,but not all, of Hitchcock's famous works, like "Psycho"
and
> "Vertigo," were originally released by Paramount), and Steven Spielberg.
But,
> they are most willing to cater to the mainstream to the point where they
> compromised creative expression simply because what the director wanted
wasn't
> perceived as popular by the suits, particularly during the 1980s with
Ridley
> Scott's "Legend" being an infamous example. This is also exemplified with
god
> knows how many films from Universal that ended up being MST3K fodder.
>
> Anyways, I would have a beef with them if I had a lot of Universal titles
on
> DVD. But, I only have one title from Universal in my collection, "Legend:
> Ultimate Edition," so I don't have anything to complain about in terms of
their
> forced commercials. - Reinhart

Ian H

>Disney has force trailers as well, if you have the eqipment you can copy the
>dvd leaving out the trailers

Better not tell Michael Eisner that. Heheh. ;-p - Reinhart

LASERandDVDfan

In article <>, Ian H says...
> Disney has force trailers as well, if you have the eqipment you can copy the
> dvd leaving out the trailers

With the Disney DVDs I have (including the very recent Pirates of the
Caribbean and Lion King), you can skip from the "forced" trailers right
to the main menu by pressing the MENU button.

Edward

Edward Curtis