Dec
10
DVDs – One of the Worst Designed User Experiences?
December 10, 2007
DVDs in general have to be one of the poorest designed user experiences. When I drop $25 – $30 on the newest release, I just want to watch the movie, and being the geek I am, likely the bonus features as well, (I’m especially fond of the ‘making of’ videos).
First, it takes me 5 minutes to rip through the packaging – but that’s best left for another discussion. Once you get the DVD into the machine, you are likely faced with a number of previews, copyright notices and then some sort of animation to get to the main menu. Sometimes you can skip through these, many times all the control functions are locked, meaning you can’t skip right to the menu. That’s simply a pain.
I understand that the studios want to promote their other titles, and good on them for realizing that the best market is their existing customers – just don’t force us to sit through them. If its my second or third time watching the movie –anyone like myself with kids has probably seen some movies about ten too many times – do I really need to endure the torture of sitting through all the previews each time?
Even after you get to the menu, why the necessity of the 30 or 40 second animation to get to the screen I wanted to get to? If I choose to ‘view movie’, do I really need to see some sort of animation to get to the start of the film? Does it enhance my experience? In most cases, not likely. And again, at the very least, don’t lock the control functions so I can press the skip button.
Now, the movie starts and you’re watching, the volume is set and everything is great. All of a sudden the soundtrack will kick in, or there’s some sort of dynamic effect like an explosion – the house shakes, the good china and crystal fall off the shelf in the buffet and all your fillings loosen. I understand that some people would like the theatre experience, I certainly do, but at least add a second surround track (rather than simply using the 2.0) that has a more narrow dynamic range.
This would allow people to get the theatre experience on surround systems, that is a little more appropriate to home viewing rather than in a theatre. Luckily, I discovered that my receiver does have setting for this. I still get great surround sound, but at a more narrow range. I can hear everything people are saying, and my windows don’t blow out when there’s some sort of effect.
Like with anything else, when designing a DVD, look at the end users’ goals. Try to enhance the experience, rather than add roadblocks that detract from it. Keep it simple.
Tags: Design Stuff, Experience Design Stuff
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