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Sony To Bundle UMDs With DVDs 93

Posted by Zonk 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."
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Sony To Bundle UMDs With DVDs More

Sony To Bundle UMDs With DVDs

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  • Lets all rush out to buy sony PSPs so we can have something to do with that extra silly disk.

  • Finally! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Digital Vomit ( 891734 ) on Friday February 10, 2006 @10:42AM (#14687565) Homepage Journal
    Finally! Coasters for my shot glasses!

  • Will they ever uncripple the video? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by antifoidulus ( 807088 ) on Friday February 10, 2006 @10:43AM (#14687575) Homepage Journal
    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.

    • Re:Will they ever uncripple the video? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Claws Of Doom ( 721684 ) on Friday February 10, 2006 @11:04AM (#14687794)
      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 [tech-recipes.com] http://www.pspvideo9.com/ [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)
      • Heh, I'm a American living in Germany, and I have no qualms about ripping dvds I own. But I just don't want to spend all that money on a screen I cannot use unless I rebuy....
        Plus I watch a lot of Mystery Science Theatre, harder to watch at lower resolutions.
    • Video iPod? Hah! If I want to watch a movie on the go I just encode it to 320x480 (whichever comes first) resolution and watch it on my Palm ($300+card). No problems at all. On modern CPUs reencoding is fast (up to several times the "normal" flow). One gig SD card takes _several_ movies in very good quality. And if don't want bothering with reencoding there's a good chance that 700MB AVI would play nicely as it is.

      Now if Sony would not be arrogant assholes and just used miniDVDs (3") and MPEG4 codec then ma
    • If you want a video player without a hard drive, there can be only one solution: GP2X [gp2x.com]. 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 [gp2x.co.uk] so you can afford a b

  • Is it just me... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by AKAImBatman ( 238306 ) <`akaimbatman' `at' `gmail.com'> on Friday February 10, 2006 @10:44AM (#14687580) Homepage Journal
    ...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"?
    • 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 wit
    • The only 'suspicious' thing about that list of movies, is how poor Sony are at finding any other decent films in their back catalogue. They keep milking the same 20-odd films through special-edition after SuperBit, BluRay after UMD, in the probably mistaken idea that they are all-time classics that everyone wants to buy over and over again.

      Meanwhile, bigger studios with a long heritage, like Warners and Paramount just go back and get some more movies they haven't released before out of the vaults, because t
    • exactly, where are the good movies. the only title there that was good was snatch. but why would i want to watch it on an iddy biddy screen. i can rip it to my pocket pc if i wanna watch it while traveling.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • 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.

      They may realize it, but they're not going to have the motivation to change their business model until people STOP buying every oddball (to use your example) Beatles release out there. Besides, the companies have it down now. Paying $20 for that Lord of the Rings DVD looked real good, until the mondo extended v
      • They may realize it, but they're not going to have the motivation to change their business model until people STOP buying every oddball (to use your example) Beatles release out there. Besides, the companies have it down now. Paying $20 for that Lord of the Rings DVD looked real good, until the mondo extended version came out two months later. I know several people who bought the regular versions of the movies knowing the extended versions weren't far off, plus the extended versions once they came out. Lord
    • I don't think I should ever have to pay for the same material just in higher quality. It's just a rip off. All my vhs movies are obsolete but to keep enjoying them I have to keep the extra player hooked up and degrade them further or spend 20 dollars a movie for the dvd which will be replaced with ultra quality blu ray later.

  • UMDs With DVDs (Score:5, Funny)

    by Rapsey ( 241302 ) on Friday February 10, 2006 @10:50AM (#14687642)
    I have no idea what this means, but it sounds dangerous.

  • It's kind of like a rebate... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by PFI_Optix ( 936301 ) on Friday February 10, 2006 @10:57AM (#14687717) Journal
    You buy the DVD, sell the UMD on eBay to someone who doesn't want/need the DVD, and you both get a discount.

  • What? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Universal Nerd ( 579391 ) on Friday February 10, 2006 @10:58AM (#14687731)
    UMD???

    Ueapons of Mass Destruction?

    I kid of course, UMDs are Universal Media Discs [wikipedia.org], in case, like me, you had no ideia what UMDs are.
    • Why Universal Media Disc? A disc that only works in one player doesn't sound very universal to me.
      • Actually, it's not that hard to understand. Universal Media Disc, as in all forms of media can be stored and read off of the same disc. Video, audio, games, data all on one disc, a universal media disc! Crazy!

      • Re:What? (Score:2, Funny)

        by CapnGrunge ( 233552 )
        But *all* players of that type read it ;)

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

  • Bundling WMDs?!!? (Score:3, Funny)

    by jdfox ( 74524 ) on Friday February 10, 2006 @11:01AM (#14687762)
    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.

    • never know what zany copyright enforcement Sony's going to dream up next.

      I imagine they plan on forcing users into purchasing a PSP. Perhaps they've built something into Blueray that would allow them to "lock" the DVD if you do not have a PSP with the same-titled UMD present connected to the player.

  • Big Marketing Shift (Score:2, Insightful)

    by glindsey ( 73730 )
    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...

  • UMDs can't hack it on their own. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by hal2814 ( 725639 ) on Friday February 10, 2006 @11:17AM (#14687917)
    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.
    • All they need to do is create a device that burns UMDs to DVDs, and I'd consider buying a UMD movie more regularly. But they won't because god forbid I'm allowed to make a legal copy of something I bought from them, so I guess I'm just dreaming.
    • It's not catching on? I don't have any hard facts, but I can go into Best Buy and there is a whole UMD section. I even saw one at my local K-Mart. For a disc that can only be used on one player by one manufacturer, that's pretty impressive. They're not going to outsell DVDs, nor is that the intent, but it looks good from this consumer's eye. This is despite the fact that I have a PSP and have never even considered buying a UMD.

      Now, as as PSP owner, I would consider buying a DVD/UMD combo. If the cost
  • 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 ef

  • Overall goal? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by RyoShin ( 610051 ) <tukaro AT gmail DOT com> on Friday February 10, 2006 @11:33AM (#14688076) Homepage Journal
    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.

    • Re:Overall goal? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by damsa ( 840364 ) on Friday February 10, 2006 @12:03PM (#14688364)
      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.
      • Tell that to people who don't own a PSP. Then it makes no sense at all.
      • And then that person can sell/trade off that unused UMD and maybe get a bit of money back.

      • 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.

        That's how Sony thinks..

        The problem is.. Sony was NOT selling the UMDs for 20 bucks stand alone. Who wants those?

        It's like saying, look, we can give you a swift kick in the groin for 20 bucks.. A DVD for 15 bucks.. OR.. a swift kick in the groin AND a DVD, for just $25! That way your DVD only costs $5! What a bargai
  • 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
    • 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.

      They say two wrongs don't make a right, but in this case they could have done.

      Sony's Hi-MD was a big step up from the original MD and as it stands I can't see a better portable device for the amateur sound engineer at a similar price.

      Yet at more or less the same time they

  • Anybody remember those AOL CDs that just would not stop coming to your house for years and years and years...? Well, they still do that, but it sounds like Sony can't even give the things away. People are seriously going to open these DVD packs and think, "What the hell is this?"

    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 come

    • I got a big AOL CD box today in the mail. It was much larger than the flismy little cardboard things we used to get. It might be because they bundled McAfee with it...

      It is so large, I can't even use it as a coaster. Well, I could, but it wouldn't go very well with my AOL 95 or whatever coasters.
  • Wait, you mean there are still people out there who don't own The Terminator and Ghostbusters on DVD already?
  • 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.
  • 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...
  • 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.
  • but I also have a DVD player =\ I will probably look for these anyway.
  • 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.
    • 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.
  • 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...
  • 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 wha

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