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Everyone Hates UMD
PSP-Fanboy writes "More bad news for the UMD, which is already dying a speedy death at retail: not only are stores not stocking them, but no one really wants to buy UMD movies either. Although 40% of PSP owners claimed UMD media was a big reason why they plopped down a few hundred on Sony's pixel-spurting game brick, the complaint from actual owners is there just isn't anything worth goddamn buying on UMD."
That's the same situation as is happening with recently released DVDs... coincidence? I think not.
My other sig is funny.
I would certainly embrace the UMD format if I could purchase a writer for it. I would rather buy a writer and blank media, and transfer my existing media to play on a PSP, but I am not gonna rebuy movies to watch on a PSP when I already have them on DVD.
don't stores not stock it because people don't buy it?
A proprietary format with no option of buying a reader/writer is dying? Hint Sony: your locked formats suck. I'm talking Minidisc, UMD, Beta, MS, etc. Nobody wants to support hardware when the only reason you're locked into it us because the parent company won't license third part manufacturing. You're a company that's on the rocks financially, and this has a lot to do with it. Join the rest of the world with standardized formats and your profits will jump. UMD itself isn't bad, but the fact that I can't write my own means I'll never buy a PSP. Yours truly, The known universe.
I don't think Sony still has any idea what kind of a giant PR disaster the PSP has been for them.
All the way through the leadup to the PSP the gaming press was falling all over themselves to fawn over the PSP, predicting glory and conquest for their new handheld overlord. Sony said the PSP would change everything for the handheld market, and the press believed it. Then the PSP came out and it was mostly a dud; the thing didn't get any games worth playing for nearly a year, the sales weren't even high enough to outsell the GBA week to week in America, and an awful lot of the things Sony promised just plain never panned out. Meanwhile in the Japanese market, embarassingly enough, the gimmicky, ugly little Nintendo DS wound up turning into a market revolution bigger than even the PSP's wildest dreams. As the months passed after launch and the PSP increasingly failed to take over the world, the gaming press began to get a bit embarrassed. They began to realize, in the runup to the PSP launch, how many times Sony had lied to them-- and, more importantly, they realized they'd been made to look like fools.
I think the PS3 coverage has just been one extended backlash from the media for the way Sony used them. Because the PS3 coverage has been if anything the polar opposite of the PSP. The gaming media for the last year or so has bought absolutely none of Sony's hype, and has focused only on the downsides of the PS3-- and if there aren't enough negative things to report about the PS3, they just make some up. The gaming press is gunning for the PS3 to fail just as hard as they once gunned for the PSP to succeed.
Meanwhile the UMD has been an even bigger disaster for Sony's public relations. Sony is, this year, attempting to promote a media format which is absolutely vital for their future success, the Blu-Ray. Unfortunately they're doing this right on the heels of the unmitigated disaster that was the UMD format. Sony's doing everything right with the Blu-Ray that they did wrong with the UMD; they have actual studio support, the blu-rays will be playable on devices of a wide variety of types and from a wide variety of vendors, and there is clear differentiation with the format the Blu-Ray intends to replace. But the public is seeing all this happen right on the heels of seeing the laughingstock that was the short, sad life of the UMD. And since UMD is still clearly in their minds, the public is seeing Blu-Ray colored through the lens of the UMD venture-- and many of them are expecting Blu-Ray to meet the same messy fate. That's a problem. With something like Blu-Ray, a public perception of failure can become a self-fulfilling prophesy.
I keep wondering how public perception of the Blu-Ray and PS3 would have been different had the PSP just never happened.
I think if you check with those people again, the REAL reason those 40% bought a PSP was PORTABLE media, not UMD specifically. DVD's are a bit unwieldy to carry and you certainly can't get a dvd player that small. It's about the convenience of a media device that size, not the format.
If there were an open media format with a multitude of player in that size, I think you'd find a LOT more takers.
Add in the ability to write that media at will and you've got a hit on your hands. (After the teething phase, of course.)
As a side note, DVD format suffered from other teething problems like 'low volume' and such. The real 'feature' was an amazing audio range, but that translated into 'too low/too high' audio when played back in any normal setting.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
The games aren't too bad. It's an effective way to deliver content, save for the loading times, maybe. I was surprised to find that spinning the disk didn't really eat that much in terms of battery life (note to self: recharge devices before road trip).
Atleast Sony added a flash-memory option to the PSP. I can rip and rerip to my hearts content. Even more... uh... well... stuff that you can't find on a UMD in the states.
If you're on a train, or a bus, or in the back seat of a car, the PSP is an awesome little gadget for a few hours of entertainment. Battlestar looks nice on it.
Sony did royally flub up though, with the whole UMD thing. If they really wanted it to take off, DVD->UMD USB converter + writable UMD discs would be a godsend.
Never gonna happen, though.
Informatus Technologicus
The biggest problem with UMD was the idea that consumers would buy movies on UMD. Which wouldn't have been too outlandish, if the UMD movies cost less than DVD versions.
Why would anyone pay 30 bucks for a movie that you con only play on that little screen?
UMD as a game-format isn't a bad idea - every portable game system has it's own format.
Whoo, signature!
DesireCampbell.com
Being able to store movies/video on the PSP and not having to lug around those UMD discs everywhere is the killer app of movies on the PSP. The last thing I want to do when lugging around the PSP is having to lug around a million UMD's discs.
When there's no content worth getting, it doesn't matter if it's on UMD, DVD or HDDVD.
Crap stays crap. No matter how high the resolution.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Why would I buy a UMD movie when I can rip it to my 1 GB memory stick and watch it from there? I can't really tell the difference between Spider-Man II on UMD and ripped from DVD to memory stick anyway. Of my friends that have a PSP they've done the same: bought a larger memory stick and used one of the half dozen tools out there to convert their DVDs. In the end it's actually more convenient than UMD even if I wanted to watch a UMD movie because I can put whatever video content I wish on the stick.
Blockbuster had UMD movies on sale not too long ago, but I just walked on by. I had them on all DVD anyway.
Does anyone really care if someone says goddamn? Why do you jesus freaks always get up in arms about it? Jesus christ it's not that big of a goddamn deal.
Yeah and also a reader.
... and where can I rent them ?
... unfortunatly in a few year there will probably a PSP2 that will requires yet another format ( I guess UMD will be to small ) and this year is the year of HighDefinition which another format war and really UMD is no match.
Even if I can purchase a new movie in UMD, what's the point since I can't watch it on anything else than the PSP.
Note that I'm not asking specifically for an external player, but you cannot even plug the PSP on the TV !
So, what does that leave me with ? I can by on UMD the movies I can only watch alone which are the one I generally rent
I takes years to create a new format. Years for the public to become aware of it, years for movies to come out on it, years before blockbuster stock them
Was it really necessary to use gratuitous cussing on the front page? Hey, I did my time in the Navy: I promise you nothing I could see here is worse than what I heard on ship. But that seemed like a total non sequitur in this instance. Since neither a speaker nor a print source were being quoted, why put it there?
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Maybe these points add up, and maybe they don't, but here:
1. I'm not religious in any way, shape or form.
2. I curse like a sailor.
3. Other people cursing doesn't bother me.
4. I felt that 'goddamn' was inappropriate in the article summary. Probably because it was unnecessary.
5. (Not for you so much) It's VAIN. V-A-I-N.
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
Honestly, yeah, it's fun to see you fucking idiots get worked up over something so stupid. Consider it payback for sticking the rest of us with that monkey idiot George W. Bush.
Jesus isn't real, and you goddamn (oh noes!) idiots need to wake the fuck up, or at least stop voting. Your religion is just as wrong as everyone else's (although at least some of the eastern religions don't make people kill each other). You have no idea how stupid a church service looks to anyone with an ounce of reason. It's like a fucking rain dance.
Yeah, I'm an asshole for saying this. But at least my worldview isn't based on an ancient, crackpot, self-contradictory book.
In my opinion UMD movies just cost too darn much, period! I purchased a PSP several months ago and purchased a couple of games. Basically, I like the system but don't like the prices. When I look at UMD's I then go over and check the prices out for full DVD's and realize that I would be better off purchasing a DVD. I think what would really have made UMD's successful is if their price was so affordable you could buy lets say 5 of them for the cost of one DVD. If that had been the case I think people would have started gathering huge collections of UMD movies. But when you have to choose between a DVD movie and a UMD movie in reality unless you are someone that never has time to sit down and watch a movie the DVD is the way to go. For example, hypothetically if I rode a bus back and fourth to work and never had many friends over then UMD movies might be the way to go. But if I am going to ever want to watch the movie with friends or watch it on a bigger screen then I won't have the option. I really like the idea of UMD's for the PSP. Also, I would love it if you could purchase episodes of TV programs such as battlestar galactica on DVD's for a few dollars. If that was the case I would have many by now. But once again, the price point is simply too high for many people.
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