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Sony To Bundle UMDs With DVDs

Posted by Zonk on from the getting-the-format-out-there dept.

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."

12 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. Is it just me... by AKAImBatman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...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"?

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    1. Re:Is it just me... by generic-man · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why do you assume that someone will go out and buy every edition of a movie? If someone owns a PSP and a DVD player but doesn't have a hi-def TV, then the DVD-UMD bundle might be a good buy. For a PS3 owner, the Blu-Ray disc is the better buy. Sony's movie studio owns the rights to that "suspicious" list of movies and it can milk them for all they're worth. You don't have to buy them.

      I don't own the Fifth Element on any media, so I for one appreciate the fact that my patience is going to be rewarded with a higher-definition copy of the movie.

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  2. Re:oh noes by Cyphertube · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That's because we thought buying an extra disc for the PSP was stupid, which it is.

    Now we're just voicing the fact that when buy DVDs we'll have a useless disc because, well, we weren't going to buy a PSP anyway.

    --
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  3. It's kind of like a rebate... by PFI_Optix · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You buy the DVD, sell the UMD on eBay to someone who doesn't want/need the DVD, and you both get a discount.

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  4. Big Marketing Shift by glindsey · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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...

  5. UMDs can't hack it on their own. by hal2814 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

  6. Overall goal? by RyoShin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Overall goal? by damsa · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sony was selling the UMDs for 20 bucks stand alone. So consumers can spend 25 bucks for a DVD and UMD, meaning that DVD costs 5 bucks. It makes more sense if you look at it from that perspective.

  7. Re:Will they ever uncripple the video? by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you want a video player without a hard drive, there can be only one solution: GP2X. It's ARM9 powered, has 64MB RAM, USB2, SD, and the aforementioned QVGA-res TFT. It will do about 2500kbps video, which is enough to play your average MPEG4 movie (MPEG 4, Dvix 3.11,4x,5x, and Higher, XVID) without recoding at a lower resolution. It will play back 6 hours of video or 10 hours of audio on two AA batteries - and it takes AAs! That makes me happy. On top of all this, they're only $189.99 so you can afford a big SD card or two for the price of anotherp player :) It runs Linux and they provide SDL. But best of all, it has a composite video output. You can watch it on a TV if you have one handy (and buy or make the funky little cable.) The cable's about $15.

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  8. Re:Finally! by JavaMoose · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Creative? Depending on the cost difference, I would rather sell the UMD on eBay. Now, if the UMD/DVD bundle is $50 - that's a different story...

  9. It makes little sense by lowmagnet · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Tell that to people who don't own a PSP. Then it makes no sense at all.

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  10. I don't see the point by dalmiroy2k · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.