[UK] Fantastic Four 2 - how do you go back to the menu... - Blu-ray Forum

2099net · 10-11-2007, 04:07 PM

... on the supplements?

Like my UK Night at the Museum and UK X-Men 3, there is no "main menu" on this disc, only the pop-up menu. I believe the US releases have a "main menu" as well as the pop-up menu.

But the silly muppets at Fox had disabled the pop-up menu when you're viewing a supplement. Both menu buttons result in a helpful "not available" message on the screen. So you can't just quit and go back to the menu. You can chapter skip forwards, but its an inelegant solution.

Surely somebody can tell me how to properly go back to the menu?

BTW I am using a PS3 with the latest firmware and a PS3 remote.

jamacianman83 · 10-11-2007, 04:28 PM

I think you can press triangle then select top menu.

hollywoodguy · 10-11-2007, 04:30 PM

Sorry, there is no other way to go back to the feature (and then re-open the pop-up menu) than to chapter skip forward. This is done intentionally for authoring reasons and cannot be circumvented.

hollywoodguy · 10-11-2007, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamacianman83

I think you can press triangle then select top menu.

Won't work because there is no top menu.

2099net · 10-11-2007, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hollywoodguy

Sorry, there is no other way to go back to the feature (and then re-open the pop-up menu) than to chapter skip forward. This is done intentionally for authoring reasons and cannot be circumvented.

Did you author this, or know people who did Hollywoodguy?

Why is it done intentially? Why can't we get a top menu like the US does?

I don't expect the earth from the BD format, but I expect to be able to get to a menu from viewing any content. Even a DVD does that!

hollywoodguy · 10-11-2007, 05:02 PM

Disclaimer: This is not official information. It might all be wrong.

-There is no top menu for whatever reason (probably cost), therefore "Top Menu" button is disabled.
-When you watch video extras, the pop-up menu is disabled because most of the menu functions are not available (Chapters, most languages, etc.).
-The "Return" button is also disabled because on discs with multiple audio & subtitle streams for the feature and less streams for the extras (usually only English audio, for example), the return button can mix up your feature audio/subtitle configuration.

This leaves you with only one choice--> chapter skip out of it and re-open the pop-up menu. There are different ways to handle the details of that and FF2 does not use the most elegant way to do it, but in principle there's no other way to do it.

I might be missing something, so take this for whatever it's worth.

2099net · 10-11-2007, 06:12 PM

But why would it cost more to do a top menu, if the US releases have it? OK, it would only be in English, but the pop-up menu is all in English anyway.

I'm sure you can agree its confusing and frustrating. It really does seem like a step backwards over DVD (incidently, Sony and other studios seem to be able to offer a Main "top" menu in the UK).

hollywoodguy · 10-11-2007, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2099net

But why would it cost more to do a top menu, if the US releases have it? OK, it would only be in English, but the pop-up menu is all in English anyway.

I agree that it would be convenient to have Top Menus (and I'm not in the loop as to why exactly there are no Top Menus, additional cost is just my guess), but in fact you can't simply re-use the American Menu only because it's in English. For example, look at the set-up menu on the FF2 disc for all the languages that aren't there on the US release (Icelandic? Arabic?). And you would also have to make top menus in all the other menu languages on the disc, which adds considerable cost. Set the BD audio/subtitle/menu settings on your PS3 to Dutch or French and see what happens when you start the FF2 disc.

2099net · 10-11-2007, 07:03 PM

Well, the soundtrack options are only in English, French and Czech - although there are 8 subtitle languages. I hate to sound elitist, but the other languages for the subtitles (Dutch, Hebrew.. etc) are generally pretty good using English.

So at a pinch you could probably get away with just French, Czech and English top Menus, defaulting to English for the rest. I hardly think doing so would result in riots in the streets of Europe. Considering Fox didn't put a top menu on X-Men 3 but they translated the trivia pop-up track into several European languages, I don't think cost is that creditable a reason.

But if language/cost is a reason couldn't you just have an animated loop with no options, which you could call-up the top menu over? As long as this supports all the languages and soundtracks wouldn't that work? The chapters option could be replaced with "start movie" or "resume movie". If its written in BDJ I'm sure its possible as its supposed to be flexible?

I'm not trying to be awkward, but I'm just curious to understand this decision which, I'm sure, would fail any usability test were it part of a computer OS for example.

It seems ironic that Fox are boasting "Smart Menu Technology" in big letters on the back of the box, and the implementation that they have chosen is, in practice, much less than smart (I'd rather they removed the in-movie pop-up and just did a proper menu in each language).

hollywoodguy · 10-11-2007, 07:15 PM

It all comes down to one decision: include top menu or not.

As I said, I don't know the exact reason why they don't go with top menus for international releases, but everything else goes from there.

BTW, there are no Hebrew or Czech pop-up menus present. For them it's already the way you propose, learn English, dammit.

owa · 10-11-2007, 07:41 PM

I have the US version and I can't get out of the supplements (once they're started) either. Skip seems to be the only way. During the actual movie, I can bring up the menu using the pop-up menu button. The top menu button does nothing.

hollywoodguy · 10-11-2007, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2099net

I hardly think doing so would result in riots in the streets of Europe.

Well, I thought it'd hardly result in riots in the streets of Europe if you have to press chapter skip before you can access the pop-up menu again, but I apparently thought wrong.

[Meant in a manner of speaking. I didn't author the disc.]

2099net · 10-11-2007, 07:56 PM

Thanks owa, that's interesting. I really can't fathom Fox's thinking on this. It just totally goes against what people expect from everything they know about DVD and BD.

Well, its not just chapter skip, hollywoodguy. If you choose some options with a "play all" you have to keep chapter skipping until the whole sequence ends. Just like annoying forced trailers on other discs. Grrrr.

hollywoodguy · 10-11-2007, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2099net

Thanks owa, that's interesting. I really can't fathom Fox's thinking on this. It just totally goes against what people expect from everything they know about DVD and BD.

Don't tell anyone, but it's not really "Fox" who's authoring the discs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2099net

Well, its not just chapter skip, hollywoodguy. If you choose some options with a "play all" you have to keep chapter skipping until the whole sequence ends. Just like annoying forced trailers on other discs. Grrrr.

That's what I meant by "FF2 does not use the most elegant way to do it."

10-11-2007, 04:07 PM	#1
2099net Active Member Top contributor Member since:Feb 2007 Blu-ray collection:2021 Blu-ray reviews:5	[UK] Fantastic Four 2 - how do you go back to the menu... ... on the supplements? Like my UK Night at the Museum and UK X-Men 3, there is no "main menu" on this disc, only the pop-up menu. I believe the US releases have a "main menu" as well as the pop-up menu. But the silly muppets at Fox had disabled the pop-up menu when you're viewing a supplement. Both menu buttons result in a helpful "not available" message on the screen. So you can't just quit and go back to the menu. You can chapter skip forwards, but its an inelegant solution. Surely somebody can tell me how to properly go back to the menu? BTW I am using a PS3 with the latest firmware and a PS3 remote.

10-11-2007, 05:02 PM	#6
hollywoodguy Senior Member Member since:Jul 2007	Disclaimer: This is not official information. It might all be wrong. -There is no top menu for whatever reason (probably cost), therefore "Top Menu" button is disabled. -When you watch video extras, the pop-up menu is disabled because most of the menu functions are not available (Chapters, most languages, etc.). -The "Return" button is also disabled because on discs with multiple audio & subtitle streams for the feature and less streams for the extras (usually only English audio, for example), the return button can mix up your feature audio/subtitle configuration. This leaves you with only one choice--> chapter skip out of it and re-open the pop-up menu. There are different ways to handle the details of that and FF2 does not use the most elegant way to do it, but in principle there's no other way to do it. I might be missing something, so take this for whatever it's worth. Last edited by hollywoodguy; 10-11-2007 at 05:19 PM.

10-11-2007, 07:41 PM	#11
owa Blu-ray Knight Member since:Apr 2007 Blu-ray reviews: 96	I have the US version and I can't get out of the supplements (once they're started) either. Skip seems to be the only way. During the actual movie, I can bring up the menu using the pop-up menu button. The top menu button does nothing. Last edited by owa; 10-11-2007 at 07:50 PM.

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10-11-2007, 04:28 PM	#2
jamacianman83 Member Member since:Mar 2007 Location:Los Angeles Blu-ray collection:38	I think you can press triangle then select top menu.

10-11-2007, 04:30 PM	#3
hollywoodguy Senior Member Member since:Jul 2007	Sorry, there is no other way to go back to the feature (and then re-open the pop-up menu) than to chapter skip forward. This is done intentionally for authoring reasons and cannot be circumvented.

10-11-2007, 06:12 PM	#7
2099net Active Member Top contributor Member since:Feb 2007 Blu-ray collection:2021 Blu-ray reviews:5	But why would it cost more to do a top menu, if the US releases have it? OK, it would only be in English, but the pop-up menu is all in English anyway. I'm sure you can agree its confusing and frustrating. It really does seem like a step backwards over DVD (incidently, Sony and other studios seem to be able to offer a Main "top" menu in the UK).

10-11-2007, 07:03 PM	#9
2099net Active Member Top contributor Member since:Feb 2007 Blu-ray collection:2021 Blu-ray reviews:5	Well, the soundtrack options are only in English, French and Czech - although there are 8 subtitle languages. I hate to sound elitist, but the other languages for the subtitles (Dutch, Hebrew.. etc) are generally pretty good using English. So at a pinch you could probably get away with just French, Czech and English top Menus, defaulting to English for the rest. I hardly think doing so would result in riots in the streets of Europe. Considering Fox didn't put a top menu on X-Men 3 but they translated the trivia pop-up track into several European languages, I don't think cost is that creditable a reason. But if language/cost is a reason couldn't you just have an animated loop with no options, which you could call-up the top menu over? As long as this supports all the languages and soundtracks wouldn't that work? The chapters option could be replaced with "start movie" or "resume movie". If its written in BDJ I'm sure its possible as its supposed to be flexible? I'm not trying to be awkward, but I'm just curious to understand this decision which, I'm sure, would fail any usability test were it part of a computer OS for example. It seems ironic that Fox are boasting "Smart Menu Technology" in big letters on the back of the box, and the implementation that they have chosen is, in practice, much less than smart (I'd rather they removed the in-movie pop-up and just did a proper menu in each language).

10-11-2007, 07:15 PM	#10
hollywoodguy Senior Member Member since:Jul 2007	It all comes down to one decision: include top menu or not. As I said, I don't know the exact reason why they don't go with top menus for international releases, but everything else goes from there. BTW, there are no Hebrew or Czech pop-up menus present. For them it's already the way you propose, learn English, dammit.

10-11-2007, 07:56 PM	#13
2099net Active Member Top contributor Member since:Feb 2007 Blu-ray collection:2021 Blu-ray reviews:5	Thanks owa, that's interesting. I really can't fathom Fox's thinking on this. It just totally goes against what people expect from everything they know about DVD and BD. Well, its not just chapter skip, hollywoodguy. If you choose some options with a "play all" you have to keep chapter skipping until the whole sequence ends. Just like annoying forced trailers on other discs. Grrrr.

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