Option #1: let the kids watch videos on the Apple TV.
Problem #1: the kids lose the remote, then throw a fit when they can't watch Cars for the thousandth time.
Option #2: let the kids watch DVDs, either on the television, or on the computer.
Problem #2: the kids render the DVDs unplayably scratched and/or smeared, then throw a fit when they can't watch Monsters, Inc. for the thousandth time.
(Also: when I'm king of the world, designers of DVDs will wake up one morning to discover that every single device or appliance that they use - televisions, toasters, toilets - will play two minutes of unskippable commercials every time they try to use it. Yes, that's a cute animation you've come up with for the main menu on your DVD. No, I don't want to sit through it every [censored] time Sam wants to watch the movie.)
While you cannot skip those annoying lead-ins, we have found that in most cases you can fast-forward through them. Perhaps that will work for Cars and Monsters, Inc. ????
It's usually possible to skip the 'coming soon' crap that launches when the DVD starts playing; but the copyright warnings and the main menu cannot be skipped or fast-forwarded.
When Sam is throwing a fit because Monsters, Inc. isn't playing, the last thing I want to do is wait an extra thirty seconds for some stupid animated menu to finish playing.