Interactive Menus
"That sounds pretty de‑luxe."
From the Late Nite JengaJam interview:
>MIKE: DVDs do still advertise "interactive menus," though, which should be illegal.
>MATT: Of course it's interactive! "Interactive menu", all that means is that you have to press up or down and hit enter.
Interactive menus are a primary feature of DVDs, allowing the viewer to select specific scenes, bonus features, or adjust settings. Although initially a large factor in the adoption of DVD as a standard over VHS, menus became so commonplace that mainstream video releases quickly stopped specifying their inclusion. However, for many years lower-quality DVDs would continue to list "interactive menus" among their bonus features to pad out an unimpressive list of featurettes. This practice is parodied in several Homestar Runner toons and DVDs that champion the inclusion of interactive menus in a tongue-in-cheek manner.
Appearances
- Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 10.2 — Strong Sad reads "interactive menus" off of a list of bonus features for the V.I. Warshawski DVD.
- HomestarRunner.com: PAY PLUS! — The first page boasts "Interactive Menus!!!" as an extra.
- Everything Else, Volume 1 — The back of the case reads, "tons of bonus stuff, commentaries, and interactive menus!"
- strongbad email.exe Disc Five — On the back cover, Strong Badman wonders if the DVD has interactive menus.
- Sbemails' 50 Greatest Hits DVD — As seen on the back cover, one of the features that this DVD has is "Interactive Menus!"
- Everything Else DVDs Three Disc Set — The back of the case boasts not only "interactive menus", but also nonsensical homophones "enter, active menus" and "in teract men, you's".
