RISC OS

I see a lot of DVDs in the last year all having the same crappy round icons over a bg image. They used to try and make the options look like part of the BG image, now the all seem to be using some standard icons set for menu items.

Anyone know why this is? (My DVDs come from the uK and germany by the way, in case this matters)

thetao

I buy from Europe at least once a year, but it's typically older stuff. I've seen this only once so far, on the Universal Monsters Blu-Ray set (Dracula, Frankenstein, etc.). I assume you mean the interface where there are just icons and no text? It's probably a cost-cutting measure, very much like Ikea-style instructions, if you've ever bought any of their assembly-required furniture. Instead of making interfaces for multiple languages (each disk in my Monsters set has 9 subtitles choices), they go for a one-size-fits-all approach. As some countries have smaller populations than many US states (and may not get their own customized menus anyway), the studios probably figure this both saves money, and may even serve a broader audience.

My two cents...as long as their DVD/Blu-Ray packaging doesn't get as cheap as some of the things we're subjected to over here, and as long as they stay away from MOD's, I don't have a problem with a streamlined UI.


"No RISC...no fun!"

Alan Smithee

I remember Universal tried this briefly in 1999- was on Mallrats, Pig in the City and Patch Adams from what I can remember- They still had words next to them but they were colored circles with graphics, like a speaker for the audio selection menu, and there was a "help" screen on them that explained what each symbol meant. Didn't last long at all though. The menus Warner has been using lately look pretty generic.

PhantomStranger

European discs are usually authored with multiple territories in mind that speak different languages, so they have given up on fancy graphic designs for the most part to save some money.