BBC DVDs: FFS
Two things really annoy me about DVDs of BBC programmes. Given that these faults in interaction design are present on DVDs that have been produced under licence from the BBC by companies such as 2entertain (now defunct, along with Woolworths, of which it was a subsidiary), I can only assume that these are the result of corporate guidelines. What I can't understand is the aberrant thinking behind such guidelines; perhaps somebody here can enlighten me.
Irritations in increasing order of irritation:
I could go into further depth (such as, why don't they put the second chapter marker at the point where the title sequence moves into the actual programme, rather than putting it about ninety seconds into the first scene in the middle of a line of dialogue) but those two are sufficiently baffling to provide much food for thought and, perchance, discussion
Irritations in increasing order of irritation:
- When a BBC DVD is inserted into the player, it inevitably defaults to the "Play all episodes" option. Why? I myself have never, ever wanted this option. Normally I want to play an episode or two, but I can't imagine sitting through (for example) the entire first series of Yes, Minister in one unbroken session. I can see that there might be occasions when such an option is useful, but I doubt they are frequent. So why make the default option one that will only ever be used by a tiny proportion of users, and then only under rare circumstances? Why not make the individual episode selection option the default, with "Play all episodes" as a further option?
- Whilst at that default menu screen, the damn thing insists on playing a loop of a fragment of the theme music to the show - well, usually it's that; The Office plays a background murmur of office noises, which is a slight improvement. Again, why? If I stick the DVD of series one of Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? or The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin into the DVD player, and then nip off to the kitchen to get a beer while the stuff about not playing it on oil rigs is going by, what possible reason could there be for me to want to have a thirty-second snippet of the theme music looping endlessly when, as soon as I switch to the episode selection menu and select the episode I want, I'm going to hear the theme music anyway? And if it's one of those rare occasions when irritation 1 might make sense, such as having a bunch of friends round to watch The Office in one solid block, surely the time when you're making sure the dips are sorted out and what have you before the "Play all episodes" option is selected will be time they use to chat to each other? Why the fsck would they want a thirty-second sound loop blasting out while they're waiting for you to dig out the rosé?
I could go into further depth (such as, why don't they put the second chapter marker at the point where the title sequence moves into the actual programme, rather than putting it about ninety seconds into the first scene in the middle of a line of dialogue) but those two are sufficiently baffling to provide much food for thought and, perchance, discussion
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