Go Back  DVD Talk Forum > DVD Discussions > HD Talk
Reload this Page >

Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

HD Talk The place to discuss Blu-ray, 4K and all other forms and formats of HD and HDTV.

Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

Old 05-04-09, 01:41 PM
  #1  
DVD Talk Special Edition
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 1,107
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

This is my biggest beef with blu-rays. With my dvd player, I can stop, turn off off the machine, and it will resume play where I left off.

With my PS3, I have to wait forever while the blu-ray launches through the intro screens, and then browse through the scene selection. Five minutes wasted just to start watching again. Heck, even VCRs could resume!
Old 05-04-09, 01:45 PM
  #2  
DVD Talk Gold Edition
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 2,120
Received 78 Likes on 56 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

From Josh Z from the other thread about this issue. About two or three topics down from here:

Originally Posted by Josh Z
Discs encoded with BD-Java cannot have the resume-play function, not on any player, ever. It's a limitation of the format design. ....
Old 05-04-09, 01:48 PM
  #3  
DVD Talk Legend
 
Mr. Cinema's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 1999
Posts: 18,044
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

Many BDs have included a bookmark feature to compensate for the lack of resume.
Old 05-04-09, 01:49 PM
  #4  
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
 
Arthur Dent's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Formerly known as "awil1026"/ Don't Panic
Posts: 3,406
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

Originally Posted by emachine12
From Josh Z from the other thread about this issue. About two or three topics down from here:
Fortunately, many BD-Java-encoded discs DO have bookmarks.

Honestly, I don't find this to be a big deal, but I guess I can see how some would be annoyed.
Old 05-04-09, 03:33 PM
  #5  
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
 
Joe Molotov's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Oklahoma, USA
Posts: 8,507
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

My biggest problem is sometimes I accidentally hit Stop when I meant to hit Pause on my PS3, and it takes you back to the PS3 menu. Then you have to wade through the corporate logos and trailers and all that crap again to get back to the movie.
Old 05-04-09, 03:41 PM
  #6  
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
 
Arthur Dent's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Formerly known as "awil1026"/ Don't Panic
Posts: 3,406
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

Originally Posted by Joe Molotov
My biggest problem is sometimes I accidentally hit Stop when I meant to hit Pause on my PS3, and it takes you back to the PS3 menu. Then you have to wade through the corporate logos and trailers and all that crap again to get back to the movie.
I'm guilty of doing the same thing. I think I've done it <5 times, though.
Old 05-04-09, 04:41 PM
  #7  
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
 
Join Date: Mar 1999
Location: St Louis, MO
Posts: 7,942
Received 306 Likes on 209 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

Originally Posted by jeffbase34
Heck, even VCRs could resume!
(pet peeve alert)

If the ability to resume is so important to you that you would go back to using a VCR just for that reason, then by all means, pull out your old tapes and have a ball. If not, then this particular comment carries absolutely no weight and should have been omitted. The respective functionality of the two technologies is so disparate that they're not comparable.

Originally Posted by awil1026
Honestly, I don't find this to be a big deal, but I guess I can see how some would be annoyed.
This is the camp I'm in. I never really used this feature much on DVD, so I don't find it that big of a deal that many BDs don't support it. Obviously it's a different story for people who used it heavily on DVD. That being said, it's hard for me to see how the extra seconds it takes to navigate the menus presents a significant burden (though depending on the disc, the up-front warnings can represent an annoyingly long wait).
Old 05-04-09, 04:55 PM
  #8  
DVD Talk Hero
 
namja's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: In Transit, HQ
Posts: 25,048
Received 19 Likes on 10 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

Originally Posted by kefrank
That being said, it's hard for me to see how the extra seconds it takes to navigate the menus presents a significant burden (though depending on the disc, the up-front warnings can represent an annoyingly long wait).
It could take a minute or longer to get to the spot that you were on. That can be very annoying. Remember, this is the NOW generation. If it takes more than a couple seconds, it's considered a nuisance.

And I don't buy that Blu-rays with BD-Java can never have the resume-play function. They can easily build the bookmark function into the stop button (as an option).
Old 05-04-09, 04:58 PM
  #9  
DVD Talk Reviewer
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: NY
Posts: 3,364
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

You should write the code, send it to the companies that manufacture the players, and make a mint.

Sorry. You did say it was easy
Old 05-04-09, 04:59 PM
  #10  
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 9,714
Received 881 Likes on 711 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

I find this "limitation" somewhat annoying. Seems like it would have been very easy to implement in the Blu-ray specs.

The other option is: find a player which allows you to bypass the logos, etc. I think these are called PUOPs... At least for regular DVD, this IS possible with a hacked firmware. As to whether disabling the PUOPs would also be possible with Blu-ray, does anyone know for sure? I do know AnyDVDHD can do it on a PC.
Old 05-04-09, 05:03 PM
  #11  
Senior Member
 
jackson walker's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 406
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

Originally Posted by Joe Molotov
My biggest problem is sometimes I accidentally hit Stop when I meant to hit Pause on my PS3, and it takes you back to the PS3 menu. Then you have to wade through the corporate logos and trailers and all that crap again to get back to the movie.
When that happens to me, I usually just change movies, since I have to go through the set-up all over again anyway. Sometimes this makes for a better video experience; sometimes not.
Old 05-04-09, 05:32 PM
  #12  
DVD Talk Gold Edition
 
beebs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Oregon, USA
Posts: 2,769
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

It's funny that we've progressed this far... and now we take a step back in this particular regard. This is a significant annoyance for me. I watch a ton of movies, 2-3 some nights with many breaks. One wrong key and I'm in the scene selector looking for the right point. It's gotten to the point that I make up little mnemonic devices to remember the time I was at when I paused the disc. For instance: Five Fox Execs shot with four bullets each, three die, one in critical condition for 54:31.

On the plus side, the scene selectors are pretty incredible on many of these releases.

But I'm baffled by this move and I'm not sure I enjoy the trade off foisted upon me.

Last edited by beebs; 05-04-09 at 05:36 PM.
Old 05-04-09, 05:51 PM
  #13  
Banned by request
 
Supermallet's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Termite Terrace
Posts: 54,150
Likes: 0
Received 8 Likes on 8 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

Originally Posted by jeffbase34
Heck, even VCRs could resume!
Sure, they could resume, but try going back to a scene half an hour away from where you currently were on the tape. Or starting from the beginning.

Edit: Come to think of it, why did we ever move on from VHS? After all, they were always packed with special features, commentaries, and stayed pristine no matter how many times you played them!

Last edited by Supermallet; 05-04-09 at 05:53 PM.
Old 05-04-09, 06:21 PM
  #14  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Formerly known as "GizmoDVD"/Southern CA
Posts: 31,779
Received 101 Likes on 87 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

Originally Posted by beebs
It's funny that we've progressed this far... and now we take a step back in this particular regard. This is a significant annoyance for me. I watch a ton of movies, 2-3 some nights with many breaks. One wrong key and I'm in the scene selector looking for the right point. It's gotten to the point that I make up little mnemonic devices to remember the time I was at when I paused the disc. For instance: Five Fox Execs shot with four bullets each, three die, one in critical condition for 54:31.

On the plus side, the scene selectors are pretty incredible on many of these releases.

But I'm baffled by this move and I'm not sure I enjoy the trade off foisted upon me.
Umm...does your player lack the Pause feature?
Old 05-04-09, 07:05 PM
  #15  
Banned by request
 
Supermallet's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Termite Terrace
Posts: 54,150
Likes: 0
Received 8 Likes on 8 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

I think he's saying if he intends to hit pause but hits stop instead, he's stuck.
Old 05-04-09, 07:38 PM
  #16  
DVD Talk Gold Edition
 
beebs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Oregon, USA
Posts: 2,769
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

Originally Posted by Suprmallet
I think he's saying if he intends to hit pause but hits stop instead, he's stuck.
Exactly. Luckily the 10A doesn't time out of pause, ever. But in the year and half I've had this... I'd done something to muck it up perhaps two dozen times.

In addition, sometimes I wait an hour or more to return to the movie, too. I'd like to shut the thing down and come back to it at the same point... like with SD DVD. Alas, no.

That someone made this design choice for BR is mind bottling.

Last edited by beebs; 05-04-09 at 07:40 PM.
Old 05-04-09, 08:31 PM
  #17  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 440
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

This is terribly annoying for those of us who watch films in multiple sittings. The resume function should be a complete given in 2009, given that we've had it in every home video format thus far. (The OP's point about DVD and VHS is a fair one, and I am baffled by the anger and sarcasm that surfaced in reply.)

Overall I find this annoyance is more than offset by the upgrade in picture quality offered by BD, but it *is* an annoyance nonetheless.
Old 05-04-09, 08:50 PM
  #18  
Banned by request
 
Supermallet's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Termite Terrace
Posts: 54,150
Likes: 0
Received 8 Likes on 8 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

Originally Posted by DVD Guy ATL
This is terribly annoying for those of us who watch films in multiple sittings. The resume function should be a complete given in 2009, given that we've had it in every home video format thus far. (The OP's point about DVD and VHS is a fair one, and I am baffled by the anger and sarcasm that surfaced in reply.)

Overall I find this annoyance is more than offset by the upgrade in picture quality offered by BD, but it *is* an annoyance nonetheless.
Resume on VHS wasn't a "feature." VHS was linear magnetic tape, meaning the only reason it "resumed" was because the tape had physically stopped at that location. Because of this, if you wanted to watch a scene before or after the place where you were stopped, you would have to rewind or fast forward, often for far longer than it takes for the people complaining in this thread to use the chapter select to get back to where they are on a Blu-ray.

And, in fact, I'd say the bookmarking feature is actually better than the resume features on DVD players, because you can choose multiple bookmarks and have several handy places to return to. So I find it funny that someone would hold up VHS as an example of a superior "feature," when in fact it was a limitation of the technology that was sometimes useful if you wanted to stop watching and come back later. But it was much less useful if you stopped and wanted to start over.

In fact, wasn't one of the selling points of DVD was that you no longer had to rewind the movie when you were done watching it and that you could jump to any point in the film without waiting for the fast forward or rewind?
Old 05-04-09, 09:05 PM
  #19  
DVD Talk God
 
Deftones's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Arizona
Posts: 80,960
Received 1,356 Likes on 921 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

it's funny that this thread came about today. i was reading sound and vision mag from last month today at lunch and there's a letter in there about this issue.
Old 05-04-09, 09:09 PM
  #20  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,598
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

It appears to be a disc function, rather than a player function (PS3 owner). When I watch Lost they have the season play and it picks up where I left off.

Old 05-04-09, 09:13 PM
  #21  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Formerly known as "GizmoDVD"/Southern CA
Posts: 31,779
Received 101 Likes on 87 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

Originally Posted by gimmepilotwings
It appears to be a disc function, rather than a player function (PS3 owner). When I watch Lost they have the season play and it picks up where I left off.

Certain shows and discs, yes.
Old 05-04-09, 09:24 PM
  #22  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 440
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

Originally Posted by gimmepilotwings
It appears to be a disc function, rather than a player function (PS3 owner).
Yeah, I've noticed that some discs will resume after "stop" is hit or you navigate to the main menu, but I don't recall coming across one that resumes after the unit is powered off (Panasonic BD30 here).

Bookmarking is a handy way to catalog and find favorite scenes, but I find it a bit of hassle as a substitute for something that should be so simple and effortless.

I mean, seriously. Machine on. Play. Machine off then back on. Play more. You'd think this wouldn't be rocket science.
Old 05-04-09, 09:27 PM
  #23  
DVD Talk Gold Edition
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 2,506
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

Not all DVD player do that, just some. I'd assume the same goes with Blu Ray. Or not.
Old 05-04-09, 09:39 PM
  #24  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 440
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

Originally Posted by Blu Man
Not all DVD player do that, just some. I'd assume the same goes with Blu Ray. Or not.
I think it's an issue specific to Blu-ray's technology and the lack of a seamless workaround for said issue. After all, resume works like a charm on my BD player -- when I'm watching DVDs.
Old 05-04-09, 09:47 PM
  #25  
DVD Talk Godfather
 
Michael Corvin's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 1999
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 62,508
Received 909 Likes on 644 Posts
Re: Is There No Way to Resume Watching a Blu-Ray?

I agree, for it being such a high tech device not having a resume standard is a nuisance.

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.