Mike86

I don't understand why some people in here get all defensive at times when someone points out something that is slightly irritating with blu-ray. Its a great format but I definitely agree that not having a resume function can be a pain at times if you hit the wrong button or want to stop a movie to do something else and come back later.

kefrank

If it takes a minute or longer, then you must be including disc load times. Personally, I don't count that, as you had to wait for the DVD load time, even with resume (at least on my Oppo). Resume on Blu-ray presumably would not eliminate that time.

I think my cynicism toward the "NOW generation" mentality is one reason I feel this issue is overblown. I completely understand that it's considered a nuisance, but I feel at least half the problem is simply one of impatience that has been bred by our culture. I have plenty of character flaws, including plenty of impatience at times, but this feature (or lackthereof) seems so minor within the context of what Blu-ray offers, not to mention the truly grand scheme of things.

kefrank

You honestly believe the VHS comparison is fair? I'd appreciate it if you would expand on that and explain how the underlying technologies are remotely comparable.

DVD Guy ATL

I never said that the underlying technologies are comparable. The comparison (one of convenience) is fair because earlier formats allowed users to resume viewing, either by default (the linear nature of the VHS format) or by tech features (DVD resume function). I believe the OP's point was that new formats should not remove positive aspects of previous ones.

Cheers.

DVD Guy ATL

I think most of us would agree with this assertion. It's just that the relative importance tends to become slightly exaggerated on a sub-forum where discussion of the minutia of a specific format is commonplace and expected.

OldWhore'sDiet

I always thought it was a bad idea to turn off a DVD player with the disc still in it. Am I wrong?

JZ1276

I agree with anyone who thinks no resume discs are annoying. Blu Ray players are slow to begin with, so everytime I want to watch a movie in multiple sittings I waste at least 5 minutes turning on the player, waiting for it to boot up, waiting for the disc to load, going through all the forced warning screens and logo screens, skipping through trailors, and finally, navigating to the spot I left off on.

obidawsn

I never even knew DVD players had a resume feature after powering off. None of my DVD players have that feature. I was so excited when I found season play on Lost, and saw that it even worked after powering the player off. I thought that Blu-ray finally brought in a resume feature, when I saw that. This entire thread confused me, saying that DVD had the feature, when I never knew it did. It always bugged me that I couldn't power off my DVD player if I wanted to resume a movie, so I can see the complaints if Blu-ray doesn't have it. But since I never had the feature, I never missed it, anyway, after not having it for almost 10 years (since I bought my first DVD player).

slop101

Yet another reason why blu-ray is less convenient than SD-dvd.

beebs

Blu-ray is pretty incredible, but this is one of those things that is not convenient about the format. Like firmware updates. Annoying. You can tell when you have a zealous Blu-ray supporter when they dismiss either as insignificant.

kefrank

Fair enough. However, in my opinion, you really can't separate the underlying technology from the discussion and call it fair. As has been stated already, resume was not a feature of VHS. It was the only way VHS could possibly work due to the format specification. Likewise, lack of resume on BD-J discs is the only way they can work due to the format specification. That, to me, is the only fair comparison you can draw, and it supports the opposite of what the OP intended, which is why I find that particular comment non-sensical.

That's not how it read to me. I read it as, "Even VHS was technically capable of resume, so Blu-ray should be too!"

Even if your interpretation of the OP's point is accurate, by that logic, DVD players should not have launched without recordable capability. I think we're all glad that it did.

Supermallet

Just for the record, I never dismissed resume as insignificant, I simply think the point about VHS was a poor one to make, because the technical limitations of VHS led to much more annoyance than this one issue on Blu-ray does, and the point is valid enough without saying, "Even VHS had resume!"

I do think bookmarking is a decent solution, but it would be nice to just have the disc pick right back up where it left off.

Snowmaker

I have yet to attempt, or even figure out how to use, the bookmark feature on disks that have it.

kefrank

I can only assume in the context of this thread that the above comment is referring to me, perhaps among others. The idea that I'm a "zealous Blu-ray supporter" is laughable. If you look through the history of my posts, you'll see that I've had plenty of critical words for the Blu-ray format, particularly during the format war.

If I'm zealous about anything, it's trying to bring some balance and accuracy to these discussions. The notion that it takes 5 minutes to get back to where you were in a movie (which has been suggested by more than one person in this thread, including the OP) is hyperbole that I can't help but address. On average it takes a minute or less to go from power-off to main menu for the vast majority of discs, at least on my PS3. It certainly doesn't take another four minutes to navigate the menus. Likewise, the VHS comparison that I've previously addressed is similarly absurd.

I'm not interested in blind format cheerleading, but I'm also not interested in overstated format criticism. I don't think the lack of resume is entirely insignificant, but I do think it's less significant than the OP and others have made it seem.

Mr. Cinema

You buy for convenience, I buy for the movie and the audio/video presentation.

Mr. Cinema

Wow, I thought we all moved on from this childish stuff. I guess not.

Sounds like baiting to me...

beebs

I had no one in particular in mind when I typed this, definitely not you.

I don't think this issue with BR players is particularly worrisome for sales or many users. But it is very annoying for a user like myself who watches 2+ movies a night, commonly. I believe it is extremely valid criticism, especially given that DVD players have been doing this for 5 years or so.

I do not think it would take much to enable this in a platform that is essentially a java-based computer. They could construct a system/hw modification that does what Laptop's do when they sleep or hibernate. The modest running memory of the BR player is stored and waits for the player to be turned back on. Then, the player could come up, see the presence of this saved session and prompt you, "Do you wish to resume your session or restart this disc?" Or, if while the player is starting it senses the play button was pressed, it resumes at that moment. And we are off. Set-up option could disable this feature for those who don't care for it.

DangerousG

*scratches head* I remember my blu-rays always resuming on the PS3... Maybe i'm tripping though.

Supermallet

Blu-rays without BD-J will resume, yes.

Vipper II

Fox and Disney titles still don't have that option, for some stupid reason.

lizard

I find the lack of "resume" annoying because, as some others said above, I have sometimes hit the stop button by mistake. And it is very helpful when watching TV series to cue up the next episode for the following night and skip the annoying intros, warning screens, and the like. Bookmarks don't help with any of that.

I wonder if I can program my Harmony 880 to require a double click on the Stop button to execute the Stop command? That would get rid of the first problem. I did program my Harmony to always turn on the player with the "Play" button to enable the resume function for DVDs.

Gizmo

I still have yet to figure out 'bookmarks' on Blu-ray or HD DVD.

d2cheer

Agree.

I can't understand at all why anyone would not think it is a good function...and the hostility that it bring up when others comment on wanting it and making comparisons to other formats.

milo bloom

I bought into DVD for convenience. I hated wearing out my Star Trek and Star Wars tapes. The a/v and extras were just gravy.

We love the heck out of the resume feature on our DVD player. I've put discs in that I hadn't played in months, and it will remember where we left off.

Everytime I start to think about going Blu, I just come here and remind myself of all the problems it still has and that cures my itch for another few months.

kefrank

If convenience is your motivation, I would suggest there's no need for you to start thinking about going Blu. DVD should serve you very well for years to come and there's no shame in that. Most of the perceived "problems" with Blu-ray are lack-of-convenience issues stemming largely from the increased complexity of the technology. The target market is people who are willing to trade some of that convenience for the sake of higher quality film presentation and more robust extra features. It doesn't sound like you're in that target market.