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More Movie Studios Consider UMD Releases
GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that several major motion picture studios are considering releasing some of their films on Sony's UMD format. The studios in question include Fox, Universal, and Paramount. From the article: "Fox is said to be closest to committing - with an initial line-up that could consist of Dodgeball, Napoleon Dynamite, I Robot, Super Troopers and Predator - while Universal could get involved by mid-summer and Paramount is currently evaluating the format's potential."
Of course they're supporting it - it's a new (therefore currently uncopiable) format, it's DRMed up to the eyeballs and they get to sell people yet another copy of films they already own, at premium prices too.
...haven't had the pleasure of trying to watch a movie on one, yet, though. I dunno, the whole portable-movie thing to me seems kinda silly, espicially when your power supply (battery) will last for only 4-5 hours. Spending half of that watching video seems a bit of a waste. This, of course, from the person who is content playing Metal Gear Ac!d until my eyeballs fall out.
The whole UMD video thing seemed kinda like a 'Hey! Great! We can do this, too!' idea, that should have been realized as being from the maybe-but-maybe-we-shouldn't dept.
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Can someone exlpain what UMD is?
GBA Videos, PSP Movies, The little pocket video players for kids, none do all that well but companies keep pumping them out. No one is going to buy a movie twice just so that they can make it less useful and portable.
When I first heard of PSP movie capabilities and since it was from Sony, I had thought the ultimate idea would be to bundle the UMD version in with the DVD of their movie releases. They've missed it so far. This would sell more PSP's because people would soon have a bunch of useless UMD's laying around and be curious to make them useful, combat piracy because people will buy the DVD to get the UMD... just a bit of creative thinking and sales and UMD movies could bloom... but oh yeah Sony would have to give a little bit of their DVD profits to sell tons more PSP's and games and then when they've got a huge install base reap the rewards. When will they learn?
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I hope the consumer doesn't fall for this ploy.
Imo, Sony should be focusing on releasing tools to convert your video-media to a format which can be played on the PSP, and not suckering people out into buying an, afaik, inferior format.
No way in hell am I going to buy movies in the format, coolness factor be damned. I want tools to get my already-purchased normal DVD's onto UMD media, it's that simple.
Having fought legal battles on behalf of its (albeit doomed) Betamax, you would think these guys would learn that their customers really want the flexibility and freedom to use that expensive PSP to its fullest potential. Sorry, Sony, but purchased UMD movies are going to be nothing more than a passing novelty.
All of the fragility of DVD disks, with none of the good movies!
Honestly, Napoleon Dynamite is the only movie given in the story that I care anything, and I mean anything, about.
Pirates of the Caribbean is $29.99 (USD). It's often only $13 on DVD at Best Buy, and you get all of the DVD extras. Let me see, just the movie in a reduced resolution, or a widescreen, high resolution treatment of the same movie with better sound and compatibility with almost every DVD player, TV, Video Game, and PC?
The rest are $19.99 and up. Instead, DVD movies should pack a water-marked file on the DVD that can be downloaded to your PDA or PSP.
UMD movies have to hit $12.99 before I consider them. I'll admit I'm overly picky, but all they did was reformat the digital content. They could get away with the higher prices if they were pre-DVD release, I suppose.
I'm not a Sony supporter and when I played the PSP I didn't think much of it. All it really is is a PS1 that is portable. They took PS1 graphics and increased the framerate. That said, the idea to put movies on the PSP is good but not well executed. The way they should have done it is make the system compatible with DVD's and UMD. The concept is what matters though, maybe, in the future, we will begin to see portable systems with longer battery life and compatibility with DVD's.
1. are there any other players for UMD devices aside from the PSP? 2. how is the quality of the video on a PSP and any other device with a screen larger than 3"x5" (or whatever the PSP size is) 3. Is UMD Sony's answer specifically for mobile media or just next gen media? i wonder if studios are just using a few movies (of interest to the PSP audience) to test the market. I cant imagine the cost of re-encoding the movie to a UMD format, and producing them on UMD doesnt outweigh sales, especially if the PSP is the only available player
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Call me crazy, but I want to play games on my PSP.
I have an iPod for music (something that can actually fit in my pocket), and should I ever want to watch a movie on-the-go, I'll buy a portable DVD player instead of re-buying movies on another format. (I'll save that for Blu-Ray, thankyouverymuch.)
I will admit I thought the idea of UMD movies on the PSP was pretty silly.
As everyone says, why buy another version of a movie when you can get better quality and more features on a cheaper DVD?
Having never owned a portable gaming device until now, I didn't realize the answer. It is the same answer to why you buy a laptop when you already have a desktop PC.
Its portable!
Yes, I know, there are portable DVD players. But really, the PSP is the best portable video playing device out there.
If someone knows a better one that is just as compact, please let me know.
At my work where many people travel, we decided to start a UMD movie library along with our game library. I went to buy my first UMD movie, and to my surprise, the local Target (Clairemont Mesa, San Diego, $15 per UMD movie) was sold out of UMD movies!
I was shocked because I thought nobody would buy UMD movies.
I mean, UMDs suck! They eat battery power, they have long loading times, they are limited to 2 gigs, the movies are region encoded, and the memory stick just seems like an all around better option.
But I will grudgingly accept they are easier to manage than a memory stick and they offer copy protection to movie companies. I think those reasons combined with the beautiful video playback on the PSP is reason why the movie companies are starting to sign up to the UMD.
So believe it or not, I have come to the conclusion that UMD movies are going to be a success, based on the movie studio support, my personal UMD movie viewing experience and that my local Target was sold out.
It will not nearly be the success DVD was, and it will still be a niche market. But I think this article shows that the movie companies also think UMD movies will be a success.
...before I even think of this kind of form factor. I'll go for the 4gb memorystick -> adapter and 3GP rips before I even touch media that doesnt have fully recordable/rewritable formats. Never mind the $250 UMD reader(already have) or the $25,000 + Sony's blessing devkit, I'll take UMD's that can read and write the way things I want it to - not Sony's way.
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I dunno, the whole portable-movie thing to me seems kinda silly, espicially when your power supply (battery) will last for only 4-5 hours. Spending half of that watching video seems a bit of a waste.
How long is a city resident continuously away from AC power?
I have not fully watched the movie that came with the PSP yet. I would do more than play games with my PSP but the memory is still too much for a 1 gig card. So for now its just games.
For thoes that want UMD burners or drives Sony says that its not going to happen...
Some of my coworkers seem to think [that GBA Video titles are] a good value for their kids, as they aren't that expensive.
Sure, a GBA SP (80 USD) costs half as much as a portable DVD player (160 USD), but the GBA Video paks are more expensive. For instance, two GBA Video titles with a total of 88 minutes of episodic content cost $40, while a DVD Video box set of 528 minutes of Garfield shows costs $30.
Great for keeping their kids occupied during car rides, and doesn't require as much of an attention span as watching a movie does.
If you're referring to the fact that GBA Video content is episodic rather than a single 45-minute show, then try looking at DVD Video box sets of 22-minute TV shows. The best thing going for GBA Video over DVD Video is that GBA media tends to be more durable in the hands of single-digit-year-olds than DVD media.
Uh... Ploy? You do realize that the PSP is portable right?
So is a portable DVD player, which anybody near a Wal-Mart store can pick up for $160, which is close to the price of the Nintendo DS without a memory card.
When I started to see some Disney/BV titles on UMD this week. Currently Pirates of the Carribean is the only non-Sony UMD on the market, but there are 3-4 more Disney/BV motie titles sitting my my stockroom for Tuesday release. I forgot the names though.....
Face the facts, we all know which kind of movies you'll be watching on your PlayStation Portable. (Oh, and even which kind of pictures, too.) Though the Nintendo DS will certainly attempt to have its fair share of the cake as well. And at the price of $48, it does seem like a much cheaper alternative for all the perverts out there. ("Masturbators of the World unite!")
AC power in buildings (115V or 230V depending on region) and 12VDC power in vehicles aren't exactly portable as much as they are ubiquitous. If you always make sure to charge your PSP's Li-ion battery when you have a chance, you won't run out in practice unless say you're camping (actual tent camping, not RV pseudo-camping).
i looked at some umd movies today to take on a long flight tomorrow... they are all 30+ bucks each. I refuse to pay 30 bucks for a movie that is available on DVD for much less and with more special features, esp since can rip that movie and watch it on the psp.
Studios really need to bring down the price of umd movies if they want it to take off
Oddly enough, here in Phoenix, Arizona, I am seeing most UMD video releases at about the $14 price point, with maybe one or two falling below that, and only one video selling above that (that I've seen). I've been looking at Fry's Electronics and Target mainly.
For those who care, the one UMD video selling for $20 here in Phoenix is House of Flying Daggers, and that was at Target. I haven't seen anything higher than that.
Superbit is just a standard DVD with a higher bitrate for the encoded video, sometimes at the expense of bonus material (since higher bitrate video means less space for bonus material). My copy of the movie Adaptation is in Superbit format; I don't even know if a non-Superbit version was released.
Of all the things you've mentioned, Superbit is the least proprietary, since it works with all existing DVD players.