For DVDs, if you press Stop twice during the ads (even if they're unskippable) and then press Play, it will start the movie immediately. Stop once saves your place on the disk, but Stop twice automatically defaults to the beginning of the movie. This works on all DVDs and all players.

However, this does NOT work on Blu-Ray. If you've got unskippable ads on a Blu-Ray, you just have to suffer. Or mute the TV while you do a Sudoku puzzle or two.

The studios can't negotiate these types of things in the US? But I thought that was the whole point behind the "HBO window", is it not? Studios determining what gets released how/when and things like that. Or am I confused and that's a different issue?

Once they start selling general copies, no, they can't control that individual copy. Broadcast is considered completely outside the whole "copy" thing so that's up for negotiation with the rights holders. I've not heard it called the "HBO Window" before but I assume you mean the time during which HBO shows the movie "exclusively", that's before the DVDs are for sale (or in the bad old days, VHS), they could never stop rentals before that so premium channel broadcasts always took place before the step of selling VHS/DVD or whatever. The 28 day Netflix/Redbox thing is different, though, it's mean to drive DVD/Bluray sales by making them for sale but preventing rentals during a period of time.

Ah okay - I see what you mean.

Pirates have ways of working around DRM anyway. Not much will change other than that it might be easier for some people who cant replace a single .exe file

release patches for old game they no longer, or won't for for long, support, so that others may continue to do so.
or something like that, then gradually move your way up to new releases.

OH and about EBOOKS they also getting rid of DRM, one pubisher is stopping it all together (tor I think it was). it's also way too easy to rip the drm off of ebooks.