Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban DVD Disc Review

Being the cultural phenomenon it is, the 'Harry Potter' film franchise has quite a big image to withhold; although the films have all ranged from good to brilliant, do the DVDs that house them hold up so well? To find out I have got my copy of 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' off my shelf and will be reviewing it. Like last time, this is a review of the DVD itself! Not the featured content, so if you came here to read someone's review on the film then you'll have to go to another website; I will be evaluating the DVD menus presentation and representation of what it's a menu for, as well as how easy it is to use and how much content is included. With this in mind, let the magic begin.

Opening

As this is a DVD from the major film company 'Warner Brothers', you'd expect there to be a few trailers for their upcoming releases, this is true but if you just want to get straight to the point, you can press the MENU button on the remote to skip them. You are greeted with a very beautiful intro sequence after the trailers which is set in the clouds, within the clouds we see  scenes from the movie fading in and out of the clouds, all to the franchises beloved theme song; this intro really sets the scene for the feature film and everything else on the DVD, it excites the viewer and makes them feel delighted to be watching the DVD, as well as making them proud to be a 'Harry Potter' fan. After this sequence we are thrown straight into another one which shows a fast paced driving scene from the film which becomes the main menu, the nature of the scene is very adrenaline building and makes you very pumped to watch the film.

The Main Menu

The main menu itself consists of the of 4 links to the feature film and the other menus, they are presented in the 'Harry Potter' logos font in small, golden text along the top of the screen; this way the text is themed appropriately to the DVDs feature film, doesn't get in the way or distract you from video playing behind it and it is very easy to distinguish from everything else on screen making it easy to read. The banner structure of the links makes the menu very easy to navigate, all you need to do to get around is press LEFT or RIGHT on the remote and press SELECT to follow your desired link, the highlighting of where you are on screen is just as clear and effective as the links themselves, a yellow bar appears underneath the link you are currently on to let you see where you're at, it fits in perfectly with the rest of the text and looks very good on screen. As I mentioned earlier the video playing in the background is a very entertaining scene from the film where the {'Knight Bus'} drives through oncoming traffic as it does in the film, accompanied by the 'Double Trouble' song from the film and witty dialogue from the 'Dre Head' character (the shrunken head on screen) such as "Fasten yer safety belts, cletch yer buttocks, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!" and "Little old lady at twelve o clock!"; despite being a scene with flashing lights, lots of dialogue and fast moving imagery, it isn't at all distracting, in fact it's very appropriate as it engages and entertains the viewer and makes them want to watch the film sooner. There is another very handy navigation aid would be how if you don't press any buttons on your remote for 10 seconds straight then the 'Dre Head' character in the video will say to stop the bus and the feature film will start to play automatically; this is a very interesting feature for the visually impaired as they will struggle to read the links, it also benefits people who for whatever reason do not have a remote at the current time, the inclusion of the menu media interacting with the viewer is also a very nice feature as it makes the DVD feel magic and that is the fantasy of 'Harry Potter' after all.

Scene Selection Menu

In terms of presentation, the scene selection menu is simple yet effective, it simply depicts screenshots from 4 of the 35 different scenes you can select across 9 different pages; the screenshots are shown as panels in the 'Daily Prophet' newspaper from the franchise, along the bottom of the newspaper page is the list of pages and a button to let you return to the main menu. The menu is very well laid out and easy to navigate with LEFT, RIGHT, UP, DOWN and SELECT being the only buttons you'll need to press; all of the text that makes up the menu links is in the same don't and colour as that on the newspaper, the links are much bigger however and the newspaper text is blurred so as not to derive focus from the links. The screenshots that make up the links to the feature film start to move when you navigate onto them so you know where you are on screen, the text above the screenshots and the text on the bottom of the screen becomes transparent with a green glow around it when highlighted, this makes it so you can locate where you are on screen with ease in a stylish and effective way; my problems with this screen is how the screenshots don't even blend into the background at all, they stick out like a sore thumb which makes the screenshots and the newspaper acting as the background look tacky and horrible. Annoyingly enough the music that plays on the scene select menus is the music that ordinarily plays during the {'Knight Bus'} scene that is played in the background of the main menu, although the music is good it is a slightly annoying music swap for fans of 'Harry Potter'.

Special Features Menu

Keeping with the themes that the main menu set, this menu features more of the {'Knight Bus'} scene from the film, except it is now focusing on the 'Dre Head' character who continues to deliver humorous dialogue while swaying from side to side; the text is all the same type as it was on the main menu except the links are in a list structure going down the right hand side of the screen, the song that accompanies the scene in the film is used on this menu which is appropriate and well done too. Your current location on screen is showed by a little arrow appearing next to the link you are on, it is easily visible on screen and does not distract you from the media happening in the background d the other links on the list. Additional content on this disc is very limited with an interview with some of the cast and crew members as well as trailers of the first 3 films in the franchise, although it isn't much it is a nice inclusion for fans of the franchise.

Other Features

To my knowledge there is no Easter eggs on this disc, there is however a language feature which gives you the option to view the feature film with subtitles. The subtitles feature is not as well done as it should be considering the popularity of the franchise, you can only have English subtitles for the hearing impaired and no other languages; this is slightly disappointing as I know people who although cannot understand the English language find the original dialogue much more compelling than the re-dubs done in their countries language, some people prefer the film to be in English with foreign subtitles which is a service this DVD cannot provide. The subtitles that play during the feature film are very good nether the less, they are in a readable simple white font with a heavy black outline which allows them to be read in any type of scene, due to the position on screen they do not distract you from the film yet tell you what you need to know.

Conclusion

Being a DVD from one of the most famous film franchises ever made, the 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' disc had a level of quality to maintain; I'm happy to say that aside from a lack of multiple languages for the subtitles, this DVD meets that high level of quality. It is brilliantly made and should be an anchor point for DVD menus in the future.

Doctor Who Series 3 Vol. 3 DVD Disc Review

Ever since I got into Doctor Who back in 2006, I've been spending my money on just about every Doctor Who DVD I can get my hands on, so I decided to review the Series 3 Vol. 3 DVD menu as I recently had to re-buy it due to my original disc snapping. Just to clarify before I begin: this is a review of the DVD itself! Not the featured content, so if you came here to read someone's opinion on the included episodes then you've come to the wrong place; I will be evaluating the DVD menus presentation and representation of what it's a menu for, as well as how easy it is to use and how much content is included. With this in mind, let's begin.

The Main Menu
After getting past the obligatory 2entertain and BBC watermarks when you first put the DVD in, the menu you are presented with is very welcoming. We see a main menu banner resting just above the bottom of the screen which features links to the discs content and other menus, as well as the 'Doctor Who' logo and pieces of 'gallifreyan text'; behind the banner we are greeted with the 'Doctor Who' intro sequence from the TV show along with its legendary theme song playing too. The controls are a simple case of pressing LEFT, RIGHT and SELECT on your DVD remote, it's very easy to use and very easy to navigate too. The menu banner is green which helps it to stand out from the background visuals effectively, the text on the banner is very easy to read due to it being in block capitals in the 'Doctor Who' font in white with a black outline which makes it stand out from everything else on screen and help keep your attention; although these are all well and good I really think that the way the discs name is displayed on the banner and the way the text is highlighted isn't very good as it is in yellow which blends in with the green and makes it difficult to read, the highlighting of the text is also very blurry compared to the other text on screen which makes you want to look away from it. The background video, logo, music and 'gallifreyan text' work very well in creating a welcoming feel that will delight both hardcore and casual fans alike, it gives the menu a very unique science fiction charm without going too over the top; for the most part it doesn't distract you from the banner, the exception to this is when the music and video loop as it has a very sudden 2 second gap between ending and starting again which is distracting and annoying to say the least.

Episode Selection Menu
As the DVD features 3 episodes of 'Doctor Who' this menu had to be here, it features links to the episodes and main menu on the left, a screenshot of each episode on the right, green 'gallifreyan text' in the background and the noise of the 'TARDIS' playing too. The menu as a whole is very well structured, the text is in the same style it was previously and is easy to read and distinguish from the background, the images are all appropriate, in order and are very subtly faded into the background so as to not draw your attention away from the text too much; the controls are simple and easy to use too with UP, DOWN and SELECT being the only DVD buttons you'll need to press. Although the screen is very welcoming it does suffer from a few problems: the way the text is highlighted still makes the text go blurry and difficult to read although it doesn't fade into the background as bad as it previously did, the biggest problem is the soundtrack, although the 'TARDIS' noise is a brilliant 6 second sound effect when used in the show, the full 20 second version being awkwardly looped is very annoying, although you won't be spending a lot of time on this menu it is still very obnoxious and you really wish they had used a different audio track.

Scene Selection Menus
The scene selection menus aren't much different from the episode selection one, the main difference is how the links are both screenshot and text to help the audience visualise which scene is the one they need to watch, the screenshot relevant to the image is on the left of the screen with the links on the right and the episodes title is in yellow text above the links (which thanks to its size is actually readable); the music, background, text and 'gallifreyan text' is all the same as it was previously and shares the same pros and cons. Navigating these menus isn't as easy as it was in the other menus, and I'm not just referring to how you'll have to use UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT and SELECT to move around; if you want to view the scenes for a certain episode then you'll have to scroll through the scenes from each episode before it, you can't just jump to the episode you want to view the scenes of, which is rather annoying seeing as it'll take a minimum of 4 seconds to get through each screen on a DVD player. The issue of the text being highlighted is non-existent on these menus, instead of text being awkwardly highlighted in a blurry way, the image above the text gets a translucent yellow mask over it which make up the parts of a 'gallifreyan character' (refer to the gif); this method of telling the user where they are on screen is much more stylish and clean than the blurry highlighting, it makes you focus on the scene you are choosing as well as keeping to the 'Doctor Who' science fiction theme of the other menus.

Other Features
The subtitles feature on the DVD is quite lacklustre, only providing English subtitles for the hearing impaired, although it's important to include this it builds cultural walls as most DVDs feature at the very least other European languages such as French, German and Swedish; the subtitles themselves appear very clearly in a simple white font with a black outline to make it readable during bright scenes, it stays relatively small just above the bottom of the screen so as not to block the feature presentation but still be easy to read. For a dual layered disc you'd expect there to be various pieces of bonus features, however there is none to be found; this is a big disappointment as 15 minuet 'Doctor Who Confidentials' were broadcasted along with each respective episode which show the audience how said episode was made, the fact that these or any other form of additional content were not included leaves you disappointed. There is a hidden Easter egg on the DVD which can be found in the scene selection menu, if you go to the second page of scenes for the episode 'Blink', highlight scene 9: 'Keep Looking', press UP on your remote and press SELECT, you should be shown a clip seen in the episode in high quality; this is a very nice piece of fan service and a genius idea as the clip itself is an Easter egg on a DVD in the episode itself!

Conclusion
For a DVD that has only 3 episodes of a beloved TV show to offer, the menus are for the most part very well done. It's very easy to read and navigate, there is imagery and sound that relates to the main feature to provide a welcoming, fan-friendly yet simplistic experience; although the video and music loops awkwardly, the majority of the highlighting is rubbish and the scene selection menus are a drag to go through, it's a good menu overall.

DVD Conventions And What They Entail

Have you ever wondered what the difference between a DVD-R and a DVD+R is? Have you ever pondered why you can’t play an NTSC disc on your PAL DVD player? Have you ever wanted to know how a DVD gets made it the first place? Don’t panic! Because in this blog post we have the answers to all your questions and more to equip you with the knowledge of DVD conventions you could ever want to know, just refer to the list of subjects bellow and find what you need to become a knowledge pool of DVD conventions.

DVD-R – A DVD-R is a single layered disc that can be used as a data storage/playing device. Information is burned onto it via a series of microscopic pitch pits (think like a vinyl record but much smaller), unlike CD’s, more smaller pitch pits are created which results in a much higher memory of around 4.7GB; these pitch pits are read by a computer or DVD player by a laser which translates them into 1’s and 0’s which the device can enterprise into either a data storage file or an image with sound accompanying it.

DVD+R – DVD+Rs are almost identical to DVD-Rs (despite being more expensive), the difference is though that DVD+Rs are double layered discs that can have up to 8.5GB of memory on them, they also burn faster and have a better quality error manager which keeps files in high quality when burned.

DVD-RW – DVD-RWs are essentially DVD-Rs that can be re-written, meaning they can be used over and over again for up to 1000 times! Besides the higher price tag, the only other differences are that they require a more powerful computer and burning drive to do the job.

Duel Layer Discs – As I mentioned earlier, a Duel Layer Discs is a disc with another disc stuck on top of it using a thin layer of reflective solution (a liquid DVD), this enables a disc to have double its original memory so more data can be burned on to it. The discs are more expensive than single layered discs and most modern disc burners are capable of burning these.

Writing Speed – A DVDs Writing Speed is how long it takes to burn information onto a disc, when burning a disc in a computer you are given a choice of what speed you would like to use; it’s highly advisable you choose the MAXIUM or FASTEST speed to ensure your disc burns as quickly and effectively as possible, a DVD burning at the 8X burning speed usually takes between 10-20minuets on most modern computers.

Dolby Digital – Dolby Digital is an advanced way of DVDs emitting high quality sound that is tailored to suit human hearing. When doing this sound can be projecting in both mono and stereo audio formats; in mono a DVD will play the exact same sounds through every speaker you have plugged into your media device, in stereo the DVD can play up to 5 different sound layers through 5 different speakers to create one very high quality soundtrack for the media, this is called surround sound and it’s used to truly immerse yourself in the DVD and keep you on the edge of your seat while watching. A good example of surround sound being used is in the following scene from the 1998 movie ‘Toy Story 2’, when watching with Dolby Digital surround sound you can hear everything the characters can hear and more happening around you as if you are in the movie itself, it makes for a truly brilliant experience and is why Dolby Digital has become a standard for DVD creators.

DTS – Digital Theatre Sound (or DTS) is another DVD sound system like Dolby but with many differences. Dolby transmits sound at a bit rate of 684kbps which is the standard quality of DVD sound, DTS is able to transmit sound at a bit rate of 1500kbps; this is due to the sound not being compressed making it in theory sound much better, most people are unable to tell the difference in sound quality however and the only other differences are the amount of memory used on the DVD disc and the cost which is more for DTS on both accounts.

DVD-Audio – DVD Audio is a specialised variant of DVD discs made for playing audio files in high quality. They are able to play audio at a fantastic 24-bit quality, when you consider that CDs only support 16-bit audio quality, it shows you just how good a DVD can sound; they also have the DVD standard memory space of 4.7GB when a CD only has 0.7GB of memory, plus the DVD can be dual layered so that it can have up 8.5GB of memory! The audio files can also be played through 6 different sound channels through surround sound, an example of this would be the DVD-Audio copy of Deep Purple: Live In Copenhagen in 1972, when listening to it you feel fully immersed in the sound coming out of every speaker and you feel just like you're at the original concert from over 30 years ago.

DVD-Video – DVD-Video is a system that can be pre-installed onto DVD discs that makes it possible for digital video files to be played on devices such as DVD players. Due to memory limitations, the videos can only be played in standard 480p video quality, this means that the pixel ratio of the picture is 720 x 576 pixels, when compared to Blu-Rays which can play up to 1920 x 1080 pixels it seems lacklustre, however standard definition play perfectly fine on most TVs and is used by the majority of TV channels; it's worth pointing out that DVD-Video also installs a Content Scrambling System (CSS) that makes it so the data on a disc cannot be copied or duplicated.

Menus – There is very likely that if you buy a DVD from a shop and put it in your DVD player it will have a menu. A menu is a navigation point (which is usually animated) on media DVDs where you can access all of a disc’s content and select it for viewing on a DVD player, you navigate it using the buttons on your DVD remote and when you find what you want to watch you hit play, sit back and relax; this system means that having multiple media files on a single DVD is convenient and much simpler to do and use, this is evident when looking at the menu of 'Skyfall', all the features on the disc can be easily selected from the list and a visually apealing video is playing in the background which makes the watcher excited to watch the full feature.

Subtitles – Subtitles are a text version of a piece of media’s soundtrack which makes it so everyone can understand what is happening. On DVDs they usually appear on the bottom of the screen so as not to divert attention away from the original media, they can be in many different colours which is necessary when more than one character is talking as it helps us to distinguish who is saying what; subtitles can be loaded in a variety of languages and has made it so films from other cultures in other languages can be understood, they have also aided those who cannot hear very well has they can read the soundtrack and dialogue and still find the film as enjoyable as everyone else does. Japanese anime DVDs utilise subtitles all the time as it provides audience members with the option to watch the DVD in the original Japanese recording with English subtitles so it can be understood, or in the English 'dubbed' version with all the voices re-recorded in English.

Easter Eggs – Much like the treat of the same name, Easter Eggs on a DVD are hidden pieces of media that the user has to find/discover for themselves to access it. They are usually found by pressing a certain combination of buttons on a DVD remote or by selecting a certain area on a DVDs menu, Easter Eggs are usually outtakes, others deleted scenes or some additional documentary footage that relates to the media on the disc. A famous example of this is the Easter egg hidden on the 'Doctor Who' Series 3 4th DVD disc where if you press the 9 button on the DVD remote on the episode menu you'll see the following video which is used in the 'Doctor Who' episode 'Blink', as the video is a DVD Easter egg in the episode as a plot device it is a really good example of how popular and effective Easter eggs are in DVD production.

Printable Discs – Printable discs are DVDs with a coating of inkjet ink layered on top, this allows DVD creators to print a graphic onto the disc directly via a special CD/DVD/Blu-Ray printer. Although printable discs are more expensive than regular DVD discs, they provide a much easier and effective method of applying graphics to discs which makes them look more appealing and more professional; they are also notably cheaper and safer than making separate labels and sticking them onto DVD discs as doing so risks messing with pitch pits.

Region Codes – DVD region codes are a method of digital rights management that allows film distributors to control aspects such as when a DVD is releases, how much it will cost and what content is on it according to where in the world the DVD is released. The different DVD regions are:

• Region 1: USA and Canada
• Region 2: Japan, Europe, South Africa, Middle East and Greenland
• Region 3: South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and parts of South East Asia
• Region 4: Australia, New Zealand and Latin America (including Mexico)
• Region 5: Eastern Europe, Russia, India and Africa
• Region 6: China
• Region 7: Reserved for unspecified special use
• Region 8: Reserved for cruise ships, airlines and other places like that
• and all-region discs which are un-coded and can be played worldwide

DVD players build in these regions are region-locked so they will only read DVDs from their respected region, this is to make it so DVDs that are cheaper in certain regions cannot be bought for the cheaper price then be played in a region where the DVD would be more expensive; it is also done to stop DVDs which have been outlawed (because of controversy or copyright reasons) in certain areas of the world being played in said area.

Parental Controls – When a DVD disc is being burned it can be programmed with a Parental Management Level (PML), PMLs are numbered from 1 to 8, 1 being appropriate for all ages and 8 being adults only. This is done to stop children from viewing media that they should not watch yet without adult consent but to allow adults to view content for all ages at the same time, the PML is burnt into the pitch pits and dictates so when a child signs into the DVD player and tries to watch and adult rated feature, they are stopped; it can also be used to just block out certain chapters of a piece of media and allow younger viewers to watch everything else. Not many DVDs use this feature anymore and leave it to the parents best judgement on what their children can watch.

I hope this article has been enlightening for you and thank you for reading.