Next time you talk to the DVD film industry, would you tell them that putting 15 mins of advertsing in front of a film and disabling the ability to FF through it is the best reason I can think of for buying a pirate DVD.

My nine year old grandson likes to go to the cinema, primarily because I get mugged for a few mins in the games arcade, popcorn, drink, Macdonalds & a comic. But, unlike me, he likes watching the films again & again on VHS. Now he's moved to DVD.

Until recently I've always found ways around the "this feature is disabled" screen, but the latest purchase defied my best efforts. After struggling to cut to the chase my grandson turned to me and said "I'll be as old as you by the time the film starts, grandad".

And of course he'll get this EVERY time he watches the goddam film.

Now I could copy the entire thing to a hard drive, and either edit it to disable the disabling (if you see what I mean), or get a bit more clever & remove the ads completely. Either of which could find me in court, even though I bought the real thing.

Or I could avoid paying £15 for the DVD, a blank DVD-R, and an evening's effort, and pay £5 to the guy who provides knockoffs with no ads. Preview copies or direct-from-the-industry full spec pirates seem to be the order of the day.

Even at full retail price, the knockoff would be more attractive because it is more convenient than the real thing. How crazy is that?

It's not about the price. I'll pay the full price BUT I just want the film, not video SPAM.

David Reynolds