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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."

26 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. Finally! by Digital+Vomit · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.
    1. Re:Finally! by meringuoid · · Score: 2, Funny
      Finally! Coasters for my shot glasses!

      How unimaginative. Take a stanley knife to these things: free shuriken. Then you can flip out like a ninja, 'cos that's what ninjas do!

      --
      Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
    2. 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...

  2. Will they ever uncripple the video? by antifoidulus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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
    1. Re:Will they ever uncripple the video? by Claws+Of+Doom · · Score: 4, Informative

      While accepting that there's no good reason except pushing the UMD format for crippling the video, there's plenty of good software out there to convert from DVD to a format suitable (and eminently watchable) for the PSP. Sounds like you need DVD Decrypter and PSP Video 9. These might help: http://seamonkey420.tech-recipes.com/psp/dvd_to_ps p.html http://www.pspvideo9.com/ I live in a country that allows me to view the video as I please, having bought a copy of it. Just make sure you do to... (And yes, I advocate emigrating)

    2. Re:Will they ever uncripple the video? by BewireNomali · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Dude I totally agree with you.

      I've been watching video on a mobile since my Tungsten C.

      I walk around with 2 gig SD cards. One is music - one is loaded with various vids. My HP pocket PC serves all of my needs in one device - not to mention bluetooth (for DUN, etc) and Wi-fi for hotspots. ebooks, audiobooks, spreadsheets, instant messaging, etc. It's such a great device to have. In the past two years, all of my friends are $1000+ in on Apple products - and they make fun of me for being a holdout. I on the other hand - am in $400 (300 for the pocket pc - 100 for two gig sd cards) during the same span.

      --
      un burrito me trampeó.
    3. 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.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:Will they ever uncripple the video? by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Quarter-VGA. 320x240. It's an extremely common resolution in the embedded graphics market.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  3. 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"?

    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
    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.

      --
      For more information, click here.
  4. 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.

    --
    Linux - because it doesn't leave that Steve Ballmer aftertaste.
  5. UMDs With DVDs by Rapsey · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have no idea what this means, but it sounds dangerous.

    1. Re:UMDs With DVDs by fossa · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah right, who's the only one here who knows illegal ninja moves from the government? Uppercuts of Mass Destruction.

  6. 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.

    --
    120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
  7. What? by Universal+Nerd · · Score: 3, Funny

    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
    1. Re:What? by CapnGrunge · · Score: 2, Funny

      But *all* players of that type read it ;)

      Formal Logic 101: "Socrates is a man" is a universal proposition.

      --
      I see 57005 people
  8. Bundling WMDs?!!? by jdfox · · Score: 2, Funny
    Oh, just UMDs. Well that's a relief.
    Call me paranoid, but you just never know what zany copyright enforcement Sony's going to dream up next.

  9. Re:oh noes by generic-man · · Score: 3, Funny

    Then don't buy the bundle. You can buy The Fifth Element, The Fifth Element Superbit Edition, The Fifth Element Special Edition With Limited Edition Foil Packaging, and the new Fifth Element DVD-UMD bundle. Gas up the SUV and head down to Best Buy -- there's media to buy!

    --
    For more information, click here.
  10. 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...

  11. 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.

  12. 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.

  13. Only if... by djward · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...you want a rootkit in your whiskey...

  14. Re:oh noes by TubeSteak · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can't afford to gas up my car.... I blew my paycheck on the first three DVD editions of the Fifth Element. :sigh:

    I guess it isn't that far a walk.

    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
  15. 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.

    --
    Heute die Welt, morgen das Sonnensystem!
  16. 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.