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Sony To Bundle UMDs With DVDs
Eurogamer has the word that Sony is planning to bundle UMD versions of movies with DVDs in order to increase the public's exposure to the PSP-specific format. From the article: "From March 28th, PlayStation Portable owners will be able to purchase DVD-UMD bundles for movies The Grudge, Resident Evil, Underworld, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and The Terminator. April 25th will see the arrival of Ghostbusters, Mad Max, The Fifth Element and Snatch, and more bundles will follow in May."
Lets all rush out to buy sony PSPs so we can have something to do with that extra silly disk.
Finally! Coasters for my shot glasses!
Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
This is all well and good, but it still doesn't make the psp an attractive video player, to steal from a comment I made earlier:
Multimedia:Theoretically, this is where the PSP should really shine what with that oh so sexy screen. However, there are tons of devices that do it better, not the least of which is the iPod video. How can the iPod video do it better? Simple, unless you are watching UMDs Sony limits you to 320x240 for your movies, the exact same as resolution as an iPod. And if you are watching movies it makes no sense not to buy the giga-pack, priced at $299, the same price as the 40 gigabyte iPod. Now granted the battery life while watching movies is short on the iPod, but for most commuters 2 hours a charge is more than enough. And if you don't want to watch movies, you can still store a ton of music on the iPod. I would love to watch "Kill Bill" on that sexy psp screen, but I have already paid $50 to watch Kill Bill in other formats: $12.50 to see the first one in Japan, $7.50 for a matinee to see the 2nd one, and about $15 for the DVDs. I refuse to spend another $50($25 a UMD) just so I can watch the same content again. Sony artificially limiting the movie playback on the device killed it for me. I'm willing to buy a movie once, but I refuse to buy it multiple times just so I can watch it in different formats.
Monstar L
...or does that list sound suspiciously close to the list of first-release Bluray discs? How many times does Sony expect customers to buy these movies? Especially the Fifth Element. I mean, it was an 'okay' movie the first time. It's still an 'okay' movie, but now it looks dated. So why do I want to rush out to buy it on VHS/DVD/DVD-UMD/Bluray? Just so I can reach five copies so that I can call them my "five elements"?
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
One day, companies who control the "intellectual property" behind music, movies, games, and books (and other similar things) will realize that we only want to pay for the "content" once. Period. I don't want to have to pay $20 for a Beatles LP, then $20 for a Beatles cassette, then $20 for a Beatles CD, then $20 for a Beatles holodisc... I want to pay $20 for the Beatles LP and a license for personal use of the music on it, then-- should I want to buy a CD of it-- a reasonable fee (say, $5) for the cost of producing and distributing that CD.
If I pay $20 for a movie on DVD, why should I have to pay another $20 for a UMD of that same movie? The UMD probably cost less than $5 to make and distribute.
With spending like this, exactly what are "conservatives" conserving?
I have no idea what this means, but it sounds dangerous.
You buy the DVD, sell the UMD on eBay to someone who doesn't want/need the DVD, and you both get a discount.
120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
UMD???
Ueapons of Mass Destruction?
I kid of course, UMDs are Universal Media Discs, in case, like me, you had no ideia what UMDs are.
Ash nazg durbatuluk, ash nazg gimbatul Ash nazg thrakatuluk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul
Call me paranoid, but you just never know what zany copyright enforcement Sony's going to dream up next.
Sexually Transmitted Disease ---> Sony Transmitted Disease
Whatever happened to the standard journalistic practice of spelling out an acronym the first time? Is a UMD some sort of WMD? Is it something I should fear? Is it DRM? WTF is it?
Does anyone else find it ironic that something named the Universal Media Disc, plays only on the PSP?
This seems like a very interesting shift in their marketing. Originally, they were using the PSP to get people to buy UMDs; now it appears they're trying to do the opposite.
Maybe they should focus on creating actually decent games for the PSP (that aren't more tired gangsta, racing, or sports simulators) to get people to buy them. I know the only game that interests me on it is Lumines, but I'm sure as heck not going to buy one just for that...
Is anyone really surprised by this? The UMD format is not catching on all that well because only one hardware platform on earth uses it. It's a reasonably popular platform but not popular enough to support its own video disc. Sony can't exactly abondon the video format on the PSP since they promised to give PSP customers a good video player in addition to a game player and I imagine they don't want to outright support playing ripped movies via memory stick for possible lack of selling the same movie 12 times (the marketspeak for this is "piracy concerns").
So now Sony has to bungle (oops, I mean bundle) UMD videos with the DVDs if they have any prayer of establishing UMD as a vaiable format. Too bad they didn't think to do that with VHS and Betamax tapes.
I already own all these movies, so who cares.
If Sony added it to new releases, and those releases didn't cost a dime extra, then fine, go right ahead.
I can't stand watching movies on the PSP. The screen doesn't refresh as quickly as it should, and fast paced action blurs and causes me to get a headache. Sitting hunched over a small screen for more then an hour makes my neck sore.
If Sony ever considered making the PSP connect to televisions, the UMD might have caught on, but I think this is a last ditch effort to promote yet another failed Sony media format.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
So, if I understand this correctly, Sony is bundling the UMDs with the regular DVDs to try and get the regular public more interested in the PSP, right?
But, from the article, the bundles will cost around US$25. Most, if not all, of the movies listed are already available for $15 or so. Why would the average consumer spend an extra $10 to get another copy of a movie that they wouldn't be able to use? The only time I can see them buying this is that they either don't know what they're getting, or they have a relative with a PSP and want to get a cheap gift.
All this will accomplish will be increasing the amount of UMDs sold, as those with both a PSP and DVD player will be more inclined to get the bundle, so he can choose when, where, and how to watch the movie. I don't see anyone buying a $200 portable gaming system because they paid an extra $10 for media for it.
Sony can, of course, spin the result, saying that there is a higher UMD saturation in the market after the fact, or there is now a bigger system:UMD ratio.
I looked at the PSP. My buddy got one the day it came out, and I was tempted, but then my brain kicked in and reminded me this is Sony. It reminded me this friggin sexy machine uses TWO proprietary Sony formats for storage, both of which my $5000 uber-PC can't even touch. The concept of movies on UMD struck me as idiotic from the very beginning. They cost the same as a full DVD, but at a tiny fraction of the resolution and image quality, plus I can't even play them on my home entertainment system. Why couldn't they have used standard 3-inch mini-DVD discs (1.46gb) ? Instead Sony went along with it's good old fashioned lock-in and invented a new format that does NOTHING more than the standards. This is like Minidisc, only worse.
If the UMD were only used for games, then I'd treat it like game boy carts and accept it, but for them to tout the thing as a multimedia gadget..... sorry but I've been mastering my own media for over a decade, this stuff is a hard sell.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
What's worse is that there are plenty of people that haven't even been exposed to a PSP and they'll be pissed that they paid money for something they can't use (or don't know how to use). In their minds (and in mine), "If it comes in the box, my money is paying for it. Make it cheaper and get rid of the shit I don't want." Even if the price is the same, you're pennys are paying for it, it ain't free... ugh...
And, no, I'm not bashing the PSP. All in all it's a pretty amazing device. I'd like to own one to emulate older games, but they're too spendy for me. Doubt I'd ever watch a movie on it, though.
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
Wait, you mean there are still people out there who don't own The Terminator and Ghostbusters on DVD already?
You must think in Russian.
Sony: "Well, what's the big deal on Space-Shifting? Were giving you a bargain on this one. You don't really have to buy it twice, it's already packaged together, and now at a discount."
...you want a rootkit in your whiskey...
Seriously, UMDs are cool and all, but it'd be much more newsworthy if they were bundling WMDs.
If I won a new PS2 game and didn't have a PS2, but had any slight want of a PS2, I'd probably buy one then. If I've got a library of 20+ UMDs and nothing ot use them in, It would probably also have the same effect. But the key is you need an interest in it in the first place. In this situation, since PSP != DVD companion, They are just going to have people giving friend A with a PSP the UMD disc, and friend A will no longer have a reason to buy the movie. Good idea Sony, but not well thought out.
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
When I first read the title I thought it said "Sony To Bundle WMDs with DVDs." Weapons of Mass Destruction!?! So Sony's been hiding them. I knew they were hiding out there somewhere...
Tell that to people who don't own a PSP. Then it makes no sense at all.
Heute die Welt, morgen das Sonnensystem!
The bundling with DVDs is nice, but I'd like some more games too. UMD is not likely to become a very popular movie format unless it is licensed for other platforms. I like the idea of watching movies on my PSP under certain conditions, but as memory stick capacity increases along with broadband availability, distributing video on little discs makes less and less sense except as an ineffective anti-piracy measure.
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
but I also have a DVD player =\ I will probably look for these anyway.
Fascism is the greatest political ideology ever conceived. Sorry.
With decent portable dvd players available as low as $100 that can play THE DVDS YOU ALREADY OWN + avis I just don't see why Sony insist with UMD.
Fortunately, all these companies that insist on DRM'ing everything will soon find themselves out-competed by public demand for more open-source, unrestricted stuff. Myself, I refuse to buy a DRM'd iPod, and refuse ardently to rip my music to the iTunes format. Give me MP3 all day long.
The PSP is now suffering from the same problem that the PS3 will soon have: feature glut. Why is it that Sony is pushing UMD's on the world? Is the PSP actually a video-player, or a game machine. From the way things have turned out, the PSP currently is a video-iPod competitor that also plays games, not the reverse.
So then, why is it selling so badly in Japan and the US compared to the DS? Well, when you try to sell a horse by calling it a pig, you tend to confuse ppl. Sony is primarily a content creation company. No wonder they've pushed UMD's and the PS3's video-playing ability. That's what it's all about for them. And it looks like the PS3 will be the same thing. Sony never did much in-house dev'ing for the PS2, nor will it for PS3, 'cause it's all about the movies.
the ps2 still won't play dvd-R's right because Sony's behind +R, for years their portable "mp3" players only played ATRAK and included conversion software and they're cameras (and psp) need an expensive memory stick instead of cheap flash. It's just how they do business.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
I would've ridiculed PSP owners a lot less if Sony actually had the brains to do this from the get go. Rather than letting their money grabbing greed shut down all considerations of common sense. But I guess when you finally wake up and realize your portable isn't the hot stuff it's supposed to be, dreamland goes bye-bye real fast. Did they really think consumers were willing to pay for a movie twice?
Maybe they'll realize their current marketing campaign is a joke...
Insert Sig Here
This is actually a good way to keep people from downloading movies, I would pay 15-20 bucks for the mobile and home version of a movie. As long as they dont charge way to much for it, and they include things like popular movies (not just nerd movies like resident evil, terminator fifth element etc) and more eclectic content like anime and television series I would be more than happy to buy this...it might even get me to consider buying a psp if it came down to the same price as a nitendo ds (around half what it is now).
If you look at it from the point of view that a DVD costs $15 and a UMD movie costs $20 yet lacks special features that DVDs have (commentary tracks, deleted scenes, the UMD is only 1.5GB) then it's way overpriced. Instead of adding on $5 to get a DVD, take away $10 from the price and make it $5 cheaper than a DVD. Then maybe I'd buy it...