
We've heard the argument
before. For whatever reason you may have, there seems to be a widespread reluctance to purchase the UMD movies that
Sony bragged about in the beginning. Because of this, they're going to cut back on the production of the movie format.
While comedies seem to be the best-sellers, average sales fall at about 50,000 copies.
The
Variety
story points to pirates as one reason why this may be the case. But who really wants to purchase an extra copy of a
movie they may already own just to watch it on the PSP? Wouldn't it be better if TV DVD players could somehow support
the UMD format? Of course a price drop couldn't hurt either.
[Via
/.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-16-2006 @ 3:55PM
Steve S said...
Price them at $10 and I'll buy a few, not going to buy an inferior quality to DVD only playable on the PSP format for $20. What were you smoking Sony?
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2-16-2006 @ 4:01PM
Henning said...
I got a PSP recently and use it for several things. But I have no intention of watching movies on it. They look and sound so much better on my (HD)TV!
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2-16-2006 @ 8:00PM
Virtuous said...
I'm going to keep buying UMDs. Studios got greedy by releasing old titles no one wants. The same thing will happen with HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.
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2-16-2006 @ 8:03PM
Murphy said...
Price drop and content increase is all they need. Allow the UMDs to be a higher resolution for playing on TVs (if you're on the go) and add more extras into the mix. Variety and putting the UNIVERSAL back into Universal Media Discs is all they need. Don't cut back, just cut prices.
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2-16-2006 @ 8:12PM
Lomax said...
You americans e japanese are really luck. Here in Brazil PSP costs 4x more than the minimum wage and the UMD's cost a little less than the minimum wage. I wonder when I'll be able to buy one.
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2-16-2006 @ 9:38PM
CP said...
"In a bid to boost the format, execs from SPHE and sister unit Sony Computer Electronics America, which sells the PSP, are touting a new adapter that would allow a user to watch a PSP pic on a TV."
So is this going to be another bulky strap on or a real video out ?
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2-16-2006 @ 11:30PM
Viperlin said...
well i certainly AM smoking something
doesnt mean im stupid enough to spend £17 (thats like $35) on a film i allready own, i consider normal DVD's to be overpriced, im happy with my Fear_And_Loathing_In_Las_Vegas.mp4 on my PSP and my free spiderman2
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2-17-2006 @ 1:41AM
Soatari said...
It's easy to blame piracy for your problems, but honestly who the hell wants to spend that much on a movie? Hell, I only buy DVD movies when they are at their cheapest ($15 usually). If my DVD player had a UMD slot, or if my PSP had a really good quality video out, then I MIGHT buy them if they lowered the price alot.
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2-17-2006 @ 7:19AM
soupbun said...
"In a bid to boost the format, execs from SPHE and sister unit Sony Computer Electronics America, which sells the PSP, are touting a new adapter that would allow a user to watch a PSP pic on a TV
So is this going to be another bulky strap on or a real video out ?"
The real questions are how good will it look on the TV, and is it really going to be an adapter , or some stand alone peripheral that will treat the PSP as a UMD reader? The answer to the second question will most likely influence the quality of TV output, in a trade off between convenience andperformance.
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2-17-2006 @ 11:20AM
KettLe said...
In return the umds to be a higher resolution for playing on TVs and add more extras into the mix. Variety and putting the universal back into Universal Media Discs is all they need.
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2-17-2006 @ 1:55PM
Nicky said...
My opinion is that Sony has to drope the price of PSP's games and UMD. Some games are around $50 same like the PS2 but with less feature. Maybe the high price for a PSP Game would be $40 US. And for UMD it has to be $10 because a DVD is around $20 in Suncost.com or Suncost Video. A DVD is 720 x 480 vs 480 x 272 (PSP). It is less quality although in the PSP it look good. The DVD can be watched in a TV and for that many people can watch a movie. In the PSP only 2 can watch a movie, maybe 3 maximum. For that I say that UMD has to be not more than $10 each.
For one person watching movie I have to say that a PSP is like a LCD or Plasma TV for these reason: When you watch a movie in a TV it is around 6 feet or more far of you. You'll see the screen of the TV around 4 of 5 inch at that distance, same as the PSP size. The PSP is around one foot far of you
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2-19-2006 @ 1:42AM
jc said...
Here in Canada, a lot of UMD movies are actually priced HIGHER than regular DVD. Some of them are actually $28US.. Insane. Worse pictures than DVD, no extra features, only plays in one damn machine that has a tiny 4" screen and it's priced higher than a fully featured DVD movies.. Yeah Sony, what the hell were you thinking? I mean I would've bought a few UMDs if they were priced around $10 and if there were some Sony dual UMD/DVD players available.
Wasn't UMD supposed to be "Universal" Media Disk? Typically Sony..
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2-21-2006 @ 10:25AM
PSP Fan said...
I know a lot of you are tired of the UMD "game", and I am too. I can NEVER find UMD movies that I really want to see. And just as all of you have said, they are priced way too high!
I want to tell you about this site I found. They are small and building up, but I like their premise. They will convert your DVDs to PSP format real cheap, and send you the converted files.
Check them out at http://moviezone.myfreelinuxcds.com --
I don't know if I am supposed to post this, but I just wanted to let you guys know about this. Thanks!
Reply