How to skip the previews at the beginning of the DVD
I can hear the cries of "Hallelujah!" from here, thanks to Christian's DVD hack:
Ever get frustrated with all the garbage loaded at the beginning of a DVD? [Um, yes. -- Ed.] Do you find it annoying how you usually can't fast forward or skip to the DVD menu? [Yes, yes, yes! -- Ed.] In most cases you can hit Stop (sometimes you have to hit it twice so it fully stops), then hit Play. Depending on the DVD and your luck, it will usually start the title track from the beginning, even skipping the menu.
(or any Amazon link at Parent Hacks), you throw some change into our tip jar without any extra steps or cost to you. Thank you!
I should note that sometimes you have to hit STOP as soon as the screen goes black right after you loaded the DVD. This works on 99% of the titles I own.
Now if I can only teach my little one how to do this, since she is capable of loading it herself.
Posted by: Christian Pearce | 12 January 2007 at 07:05 AM
When I make backups (backups mind you) of the kids films I take the extra time and burn them with out all the previews, intros and other junk hefted on the dvd by the megacorp who produced it. This way the backup rip and burn takes less time and i get on the disk only what the kids want to watch....or that I do not want to hear 10000x
Posted by: anon | 12 January 2007 at 07:20 AM
This has everything to do with which DVD player you own, obviously. My understanding is that almost every one sold has its own unlock code that you only need enter once. So Google for the model number and "unlock" or something like that.
(Mine had no such code : -8 (
Posted by: Allen Knutson | 12 January 2007 at 07:31 AM
On my dvd player remote there's a skip/ch. button I can sometimes use to skip through the previews to the main feature.
Posted by: Jennifer | 12 January 2007 at 09:30 AM
I hope this works! I'm trying it later!
Posted by: maggie | 12 January 2007 at 10:18 AM
I rip all my child's DVDs and consolidate them and burn them to fewer DVDs that jump right to the main menu. Its also fun that you can use photos of your child with elmo or whatever as the menu choice. (Making these DVDs is really easy with iDVD that comes with the Mac).
Posted by: Sam | 12 January 2007 at 11:18 AM
I do what anon and Sam do...just make my own copies and ditch all the junk (yay Netflix!). May I suggest DVD Shrink: http://www.dvdshrink.org/what.html
I have no guilt about this whatsoever since manufacturers have apparently decided they need to waste our time with 20+ minutes of obnoxious, unskippable crap at the beginning of all new DVDs, whether we like it or not.
Posted by: Twinmama | 12 January 2007 at 05:53 PM
I am definitely trying this the next time we watch a DVD. I don't even have to bother to "teach" my 7 year old, as he'll remember the hack after the first time watching me do it. :D
I also had not considered copying, er, making back ups of our DVDs. And even if I had, I don't know that I would have thought to consolidate them, though DH probably would have.
Thanks for the hack in the post and the hacks in the comments!
Posted by: Barb | 13 January 2007 at 08:59 AM
Tried this tonight with Bambi II, and it worked like a charm. Thanks for a great hack!
Posted by: jeff | 13 January 2007 at 06:00 PM
If you're like me and use a HTPC for playback of your dvd's, a neat bit of software called ANYDVD takes care of this for you and allows skipping of those annoying previews. I especially hate the antipiracy warnings you can't skip, the only people who see them are the legitimate buyers, all the pirated copies have them removed!
Posted by: benneh | 17 January 2007 at 09:36 PM