Forced pop-up menus at end credits on recent Sony titles

[BNex99]

I wish things like this didn't bother me, because in the grand scheme of things, the pop-up isn't a huge deal.

BUT... it is completely unnecessary. I can almost guarantee that anyone still buying physical media at this point knows where the pop-up menu button is on their remote. There is absolutely no reason to have that automatically appear.

I really thought Sony had stopped doing this, at least on their UHDs. Disappointing to see it's still going on.

[rooboy78]

Originally Posted by BNex99

I wish things like this didn't bother me, because in the grand scheme of things, the pop-up isn't a huge deal.

BUT... it is completely unnecessary. I can almost guarantee that anyone still buying physical media at this point knows where the pop-up menu button is on their remote. There is absolutely no reason to have that automatically appear.

I really thought Sony had stopped doing this, at least on their UHDs. Disappointing to see it's still going on.

I know, and seriously, why do they really care if someone watches the special features or not? Why is that a priority? The person already bought the disc and Sony got their money for it!

[James Luckard]

LIVING has a popup as the credits start. So annoying.

[8traxrule]

That title was reviewed on this site and the reviewer didn’t even call that out. Pathetic.

[Canadian_Thunder]

Originally Posted by 8traxrule

That title was reviewed on this site and the reviewer didn’t even call that out. Pathetic.

Hard to see when fast forwarding I guess.

[8traxrule]

A prominent reviewer on another site who claims to have trademarked the term "A few words about..." once gave the Resident Evil set a "Highly Recommended" rating. I commented "But what about the forced pop-up menu at the credits?" and he replied "I can't comment on that, I didn't watch these all the way through." If you didn't even watch it all the way through, you shouldn't qualified to review it let alone give it such a high rating.

That review of "Living" is odd since the writer seems very thorough, even pointing out some slight video flaws in some parts, but doesn't even mention the popup menu. Did an editor possibly edit that out so as not to upset Sony?

[CarbonUnitM78]

Can somebody create a sticky post of all the discs that have this so we know which titles to avoid?

I really hate when things like this happen. That's why I prefer physical media over streaming and I hardly watch TV channels like MeTV that "disfigure" classic TV shows by squishing credits, speeding up the video and chopping the top and bottom off of the picture.

[8traxrule]

All known titles are mentioned in this thread, I’ll try to add the later ones to the beginning when I have time. I don’t know who is able to make posts sticky. This would be a good one to have as sticky but I’m suspecting the people who run these sights aren’t pointing this out like they should as they don’t want to make Sony upset. It blows my mind that this hasn’t even been MENTIONED as a good, bad or neutral thing in any reviews. I also haven’t heard a word discussed about the “consent to share viewing information” that’s been on their recent discs. I assume that’s done through the rarely-used anymore BD-Live function.

[witheygull]

Originally Posted by 8traxrule

I also haven’t heard a word discussed about the “consent to share viewing information” that’s been on their recent discs. I assume that’s done through the rarely-used anymore BD-Live function.

I hadn't heard of this chicanery before; is this an option based on a player setting, or is it just part of a disclaimer where they're telling us to bend over and take it if we want to legally access their content?

[8traxrule]

It’s the first thing that appears when you first play the disc, it’s then stored in the player’s memory but you can turn your “consent” on or off through the disc menu afterwards. I assume they monitor when you play the disc and do anything else like pause or skip.

[CarbonUnitM78]

Originally Posted by 8traxrule

It’s the first thing that appears when you first play the disc, it’s then stored in the player’s memory but you can turn your “consent” on or off through the disc menu afterwards. I assume they monitor when you play the disc and do anything else like pause or skip.

That's really creepy! Makes you wonder if you really own the disc if they know when you play it and how you play it. Who knows? Maybe they'll find a way to make the player not to be able to play a disc at all if they want to get all totalitarian about it. Like if they feel you shouldn't own a particular disc anymore because they want you to buy a newer version.

[surfinhank]

I watched the 4K of "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and it didn't have the pop-up.

[8traxrule]

Originally Posted by CarbonUnitM78

That's really creepy! Makes you wonder if you really own the disc if they know when you play it and how you play it. Who knows? Maybe they'll find a way to make the player not to be able to play a disc at all if they want to get all totalitarian about it. Like if they feel you shouldn't own a particular disc anymore because they want you to buy a newer version.

It wouldn't be possible to disable playback; before the Blu-Ray format launched there was talk about if the encryption on any specific disc were broken, then all existing copies (legitimate, purchased discs) could be disabled but I've never heard of that happening.

I went back and looked at the 4K of Ghostbusters Afterlife (which doesn't have the offending popup) and the included Blu-Ray (which does) and verified that nothing having to do with this appears if you have BD-Live turned off- it seems most people don't have that activated which is why it largely failed in the first place, and likely why this new thing hasn't been mentioned before. (I kind of liked BD-Live even though it was never used to its full potential; I liked menu sound effects also but those are also mostly gone now, yet Sony has decided to introduce this far worse annoyance that intrudes on the actual movie). It also only appears if your player is set to Region A; it does not appear if set to regions B or C. Again once you've selected "Accept" or "Skip" when it first appears, it will then appear as "Data Options" under the "Subtitles" option in the Setup menu, which then shows a similar screen where you can either "Accept" or "Disable" data collecting.

[CarbonUnitM78]

Originally Posted by 8traxrule

It wouldn't be possible to disable playback; before the Blu-Ray format launched there was talk about if the encryption on any specific disc were broken, then all existing copies (legitimate, purchased discs) could be disabled but I've never heard of that happening.

I went back and looked at the 4K of Ghostbusters Afterlife (which doesn't have the offending popup) and the included Blu-Ray (which does) and verified that nothing having to do with this appears if you have BD-Live turned off- it seems most people don't have that activated which is why it largely failed in the first place, and likely why this new thing hasn't been mentioned before. (I kind of liked BD-Live even though it was never used to its full potential; I liked menu sound effects also but those are also mostly gone now, yet Sony has decided to introduce this far worse annoyance that intrudes on the actual movie). It also only appears if your player is set to Region A; it does not appear if set to regions B or C. Again once you've selected "Accept" or "Skip" when it first appears, it will then appear as "Data Options" under the "Subtitles" option in the Setup menu, which then shows a similar screen where you can either "Accept" or "Disable" data collecting.

That's good to hear. So about the pop up at the ending credits, what you're saying is it won't show up if the BD-Live option is turned off?

[8traxrule]

I didn’t check that, but it likely still does given that more people have noticed that than the data-sharing thing. I should check it under different regions also.

[emailking]

The animated Resident Evil : Death Island has a credits popup right when the montage credits begin (before the scrolling credits). When the credits finish, the specials start playing automatically.

It also has that consent agreement when you launch it but if you have no internet connection it doesn't appear, I didn't check with internet but BD Live off.

[8traxrule]

Reports are that the new Resident Evil box set does NOT have the forced menus. They should send free copies to everyone who bought the first one.

[emailking]

I think only the first movie was tested though. In the original Box set some had pop ups and some didn't.

[HorrorBlu]

Thanksgiving has the pop-up.

[8traxrule]

****. That’s why I watched it on the high seas.