We are all used to audio being locked into specific formats. This is a given nowadays, but what about video? Found this post in which Jason Dunn had to deal with the headache of discovering they he would need a specific media player in order to enjoy some DVD extras.

Designed to be played on the PC, the extra content was actually video footage that ought to have been available from the DVD player. Why should he have to walk to his PC and on top of it all, install a specific media player as well? Irritating indeed.

I watched Hidalgo last night, and enjoyed it quite a bit, but I saw something I’ve never seen a movie studio do before: they had a full featurette that was only playable on a computer with a DVD drive. I’ve seen scripts, photos, and other lesser content offered for computer playback, but never video content. But here’s what makes it worse: the content is only available if I install the Interactual Player. I don’t need extra software clogging up my system - why should I have to install it to access video content that I paid for when I rented the DVD?