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Do you 'Play All'?
I rarely sit down and watch a single episode on DVD, so I select "Play All" when I load a disc. Doing a disc at a time (usually 3 hours) allows me to burn through a set in a few days, especially if I have a huge block of time set aside for watching a series.
The "Play All" option also allows me to skip spoilers in menus, something that drove me CRAZY every time I watched 24 on DVD and had to navigate the menus for each disc. My Sony player remembers the position for a disc when I press "stop," even after ejecting it. That's very handy because sometimes I'm ejecting a disc I haven't finished, and I often have a hard time remembering which episode I finished watching, forcing me to refer to the episode guide.
So, do you "Play All"?
Gord
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Dec 19, 2007 10:50 PM
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I definitely use "Play All" when it's available on a DVD. It's not for spoiler reasons 99% of the time, but I feel the flow of the show is interrupted when I have to go back to select episodes. But maybe I'm just spoiled 
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Dec 20, 2007 12:00 AM
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I don't. I ALWAYS go to the "Episodes" list and pick from there. I think it's so I can know the episode names, because I love knowing episode names. I think another part is so I can skip the end credits (and, yes, I realize that I could do that on "Play All" with the "skip" button).
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Dec 20, 2007 7:53 AM
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My answer is that "it depends". One of the great things about TV-on-DVD (or at least, to me) is that you have a small burst of entertainment that you can squeeze into short periods of time that you're trying to kill while waiting for something.
For example, releases of new shows like My Name Is Earl or How I Met Your Mother is probably best seen using the "play all" option.
On the other hand, if I'm waiting for the heating repairman to show up, and I know I've got about 20 or so minutes to kill, then it's a good time to pop in a disc from M*A*S*H and watch the next episode. Heading out to meet some friends soon but got a half hour to kill? This is a good time to watch a single episode from Cheers.
If I'm sick and want to put a smile on my face, I might use the "play all" option on a disc from M*A*S*H or Friends to put a long-term smile on my face.
On the other hand, if I'm down in the dumps and need a pick-me-up, I'll stick in a particular episode of Friends or I Love Lucy or Titus (whatever show, whatever episode I think will help at the time) and have myself rolling on the floor in no time!
And of course the great thing about DVD is that you can jump straight to your favorite scene any time you want to. I can't tell you how many times I've watched Chandler first openly declare his love for Monica, or how many times I watched the 9th Doctor tell the Daleks he would rescue Rose from the middle of their fleet. Those are great scenes, well done and emotionally packed...always great for a quick look when you want those feelings triggered inside yourself!
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Dec 20, 2007 8:09 AM
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Nah, I never use the play all feature, I always go back and select each episode, even if I'm planning on watching the entire disc in one straight shot.
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Dec 20, 2007 8:14 AM
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Most of the DVD's I watch are of hour long TV episodes so they usually clock in at 43 minutes of play time. I usually only watch one or two at a time so I play the episodes individually!
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Dec 20, 2007 12:39 PM
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Mostly just with comedy shows - Friends, Arrested Development, The Office because I will want a solid two hours or so of a show to watch. Most hour long shows - it depends on my mood honestly.
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Dec 20, 2007 1:24 PM
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As others have said -- it depends: on time available and what I'm trying to do.
When I first get a DVD (set, movie, whatever) I always check it for manufacturing problems first. Sometimes I don't get around to watching the DVD for weeks or possibly months and I want to find out if I need to exchange it ASAP. I use the "Play All" feature when I do this, and then put the player into fast scan mode. So far, every disc that wouldn't play normally also would fail in Scan mode. Scanning through the whole disc is quicker (mostly) using "Play All".
I've found that some sets treat Play All as a single title and you can then scan through all the eps at one time. Other sets seem to treat Play All as multiple titles strung together. On my player, when it ends one title and goes to the next, I have to reselect the Scan mode again, which makes it slightly more complex to scan through all episodes.
When I want to watch episodes, I use Play All if I have enough time to watch all the episodes, or even if I plan to watch most of them on the side/disc. E.g. I may watch three out of four using Play All, then come back later and individually select the last ep.
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Dec 20, 2007 2:40 PM
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Almost never. I never watch more than two episodes of any show back to back. I prefer to stretch things out over a longer period of time, and that's a good way to do so.
However, there are two sets where I have used the play all option, simply because I'm watching the first episode on a disk with a special animation sequence only available when selecting play all. Even when doing that, though, I stop after the second episode.
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Dec 20, 2007 6:42 PM
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I only use the "Play All" option on my SpongeBob DVDs.
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Dec 20, 2007 8:43 PM
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If the dvds have a play all, I use it. (unless I'm just planning on watching 1 episode, or I stopped last time with only 1 episode left on the disc)
I LOVE my buffy dvds, but I really hate having to go through that menu for EACH episode. It really needs the play all feature.
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Dec 21, 2007 1:45 AM
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A correlary question occurred to me last night as I was scan checking a new TV series set -- how do you deal with Deleted Scenes?
Many TV sets have Deleted Scenes as a Bonus Feature, and they often also have a Play All selection, which results in playing deleted scenes from multiple episodes together.
Do you watch the Deleted Scenes? And if so, do you watch them together (Play All) separate from the episodes themselves, or do you prefer to watch one episode and then the deleted scenes from just that one episode before watching the next episode (and then its deleted scenes)?
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Dec 27, 2007 12:47 PM
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I play all, and I agree with you about menu spoilers (24 is an especially bad offender). I also don't like DVDs that take a long time to get from the Main Menu to the Episode Menu. Some of the Buffy discs take a good 10-15 seconds to get to the episode menu, which also has some spoilers. When you play single episodes, sometimes you can't just hit the 'next' button to get back to the menu. I don't know how hard it is to put 'play all' on a disc, but I can't imagine it is that hard. This goes hand and hand with not putting a chapter stop after the opening credits. I don't need to see the credits 4 times in a 3 hour block. Especially long and boring credits like Star Trek. DVD makers need to think about people who will be watching these shows over and over, and do the little things to make the experience more enjoyable.
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Dec 30, 2007 1:41 AM
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