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According to an article released
by the Hollywood Reporter, Sony is losing support for its UMD format as a viable option for movie
distribution. Dramatic cutbacks in production of UMD formatted films have been made by many of the major
Hollywood film studios. In addition, it's been rumored that Wal-Mart is on the verge of dropping UMD movies from its
inventory entirely. Some of the more telling statements fired off by studio execs and representatives — and
published by the Hollywood Reporter [via Gamasutra] — include:- "[The PSP] is a game player, period" [anonymous]
- "Our focus right now is much more aimed at HD at the moment..." [Paramount]
- "[UMD is] awful. Sales are near zilch. It's another Sony bomb — like Blu-ray" [Universal]
[Thanks, Sense]
(Page 1) Reader Comments
My answer: Both HD-DVD and Blu Ray are stupid. Moreso Blu Ray because Sony is force feeding it down our throats with the PS3.
Way to force innovation! YAY!
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Personally, I am not looking forward to either format replacing DVDs. I'm happy with DVDs now, and pray whatever the next format is, it's backwards compatible. I do look forward to having mega storage though. Imagine, the entirety of, say, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or X-files, or Curb Your Enthusiasm on Whatever-The-Hell next format, an entire season or more per disc.
The failure of UMD is hardly surprising. It is a stripped down version of a DVD, that costs more than the DVD, made completely obsolete by video iPod. I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time, though.
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In addition, my guess is people who bought a UMD movie already owned the DVD. UMD's were marketed to compulsive, materealistic shoppers who need everything.
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They overpriced junk, carry disc media with you for portable video is already and archaic idea.
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Good news, every BluRay and HD-DVD player is 100% backwards compatible with DVD.
And the video iPod isn't as good a player as the PSP, though it does have better storage. What makes UMD totally pointless is that fact that you can just rip your DVDs to mpeg4 and play them from a memory stick. Of course you can buy a dedicated portable DVD player for about $100 which is easier to deal with still.
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Note: I do not often shop at walmart but was looking for a crappy movie in the dollar bins and happened to notice this trend. I never found my dollar movie treasure.
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Now, I could care less. They've basically locked out the majority of HDTV owners by only allowing HDMI connections. Only a very small percentage of HDTV owners even have this. Early adoptors, which still make up the majority, all have component out as their only option.
They can shove their formats up their...
Until they support all HDTVs sold, I wont be buying into either format. We adopted early to get this far to begin with, not to be locked out.
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Lets face it Hollywood isn't making to much money off the gamer, nobody is buying Fantastic 4 the video game or Chronicles of Narnia game. Sooner or later this is going to come to a boil. Now Do I Think UMD is a horrible idea and a bone head move, HELLS YES! But I do think there is some underline hate against the fact that PS2 and the gaming world is dealing monetary upper-cuts to them bad. Second they aren't happy with the DVD either making home entertainment of today possible. HD is great, but the exsistence of the DVD made people feel the need to make the movie experience at home better if not superior to the movie theater, and hollywood is angry that the sheeps are moving away from them. Hollywood doesn't want to change, but they are being forced to and this is what I think the strong comments are coming from.
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Simply because it wasn't the consumer that has demanded that DVD be replaced.
I for one like getting DVD players < 75$
Quality wise DVDs are just fine.
I went to CES and kept thinking... Who really cares? It doesn't look an order of magnitude better to me...
I think that Microsoft and Nintendo are playing this one smart. DVD has another 5 years under its belt before either format can begin to replace it.
Now if Hollywood stopped supporting DVD that might be something else entirely. But that would be suicide for them. Bootlegs would become a much larger issue in that case, just to refuse what they offer.
Like others have said, just make writable media, and let us make our own. That should be good enough SONY. You don't have to make money off everything under the moon.
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Actually, every Blu-ray studio except for Lionsgate has publicly stated they will not "break" the analog connections for HD resolutions. The only holdout is Warner, who's supporting both formats.
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I bought a DS a few months ago, solely for Mario Kart. When noone in wifi range has a DS, the DS is worthless to me, no matter how many other games I've tried they're all pretty poor. (though will sink hella hours into it when Phantom Hourglass gets released)
#11 - about increasing UMD usefulness/writers. Too true, PSP has already been hacked for games, and if their updates can stop homebrew from running from memory stick, surely it can do the same for UMD?
#13 - The new formats will now support HD through component.
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Digital is where it's at.
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And what's with the stars anyway?
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It has been doing a very good job of that either. 2 "bestsellers", while the NDS... That right kiddie systems don't sell. :P *Enjoys Tetris DS and Metroid, sadly without WiFi.*
As for the format war, may the cheaper priced format win. I don't want to spend $40+ on a movie I might watch once or twice, let alone a game.
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Both VHS and Laserdisc were developed by a company with nearly no ties to Hollywood, in a much less savvy time.
They saw the high development costs of the two formats get subsidized into both player costs and movie costs. Remember how VHS tapes used to be $70-100? Yeah...
Okay, couple that with a patent's lifespan, and you can see why the new media (both DVD and HDDVD/BluRay) are so anxious to get things rolling.
DVD's patents lie mostly with WB and it's technology partners.
When sony got wind of this, they wanted their piece, so birthed Blu Ray.
Toshiba and it's consortium got wind of this and wanted in on that sweet hollywood money too, so they created HDDVD.
The big push for a new media format has been these tech firms, not a greedy person wanting us to double dip on our movies. One could say sony is actively doing this, but Sony's so fragmented, it's like blaming the President for long lines at the DMV.
We've had multiple competing formats for some time. There's always been a clear winner in the end, but no one's been at a major loss for picking the wrong one, save for DIVX users.
#16, I'm glad you like cheap players, but there was a time and still is one where people who are in this for the WOW factor who will and do pay top dollar for components that will play back high quality video. The until I bought my panasonic 5 disc changer last year, I'd never bought a DVD player for less than $300. I didn't want one that was less, because they usually were inferior hardware.
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Blu-Ray, though, is another matter. Since it aims to replace the DVD, it will be universal like DVD. Whether it will succeed or fail depends entirely on its own nature (ease and cost of use, etc.) not because it somes from Sony like UMD, minidisc and Betamax.
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UMD movies are only a good idea if they are cheap. Where I live, they are about 25% cheaper than DVD, but from what I heare elswhere, that tend to be more than DVDs. Thats just insane. Once the PS3 comes out, UMD movies will go the way of the Dodo for the most part. Digital distribution will begin to take over.
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The jump from video to DVD made sense but there really isn't that big of a benefit this time out. Also, DVD didn't require the purchase of a new expensive as all get out, television set and a new sound setup.
UMD is trash. Why would you try to encourage the sale of movies on your portable in a custom format when the same portable can play movies from mem stick? Stupid.
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I had a PSP and I was not happy with it. It's got some good features, but you need to spend another $100 US just take advantage of them. The memory stick that came with the PSP is worthless. I don't want to drop $250 on the hardware and then spend another $100 bucks just to give it decent storage space. The games are getting better but they were garbage when I sold it.
Add to that the games are too expensive--sometimes more than their console counterparts--and I wasn't happy with it at all. I just can't bring myself to pay $40-50 for a portable game.
Just some thoughts from a former PSP owner.
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I have owned both a PSP (6 of them for defect replacements!) and a DS. I purchased a PSP on launch day, and let me tell you something, it was a piece of crap. I returned it and bought a DS, love it, even when it didn't have so many great games. In November I decided to give PSP another shot, and to my amazement, it still blew, even with all the 2nd gen games and the 1 gig memory stick included. Problem was, I had to go through too many steps just to get video on the damn thing. As an MP3 player it is huge and pointless, with poor controls. It's not a portable, it's too fragile.
PSP screens are only nice to look at when the images are static, otherwise, it's a consistantly blurry mess.
#25
You cannot compare broadband to these new disc formats for 2 reasons.
1. Internet was slow at 56k, and broadband was the natural adaptation for a newer network that wanted to deliver MORE. Streaming videos, high-speed music downloads, surfing multiple pages at once, all these things and more contributed to the popularity of broadband, and Microsoft was pushing for it also (for their Connected Home philosophy).
2. Most people cannot see the difference in HD. It is really not as big a difference as going from 30k streaming video to 700k+ (30k was unuseable for practicle purposes). HD is extremely expensive to get into, especially in today's world. I dunno if you have noticed, but the majority of the world is getting poorer, not richer. The HD physical media formats will be dead before they live, thanks to broadband downloading.
Also, I think we should all start to consider the huge social upheavels the world is going through. If you haven't seen them yet, now is the time to pay attention. These are having greater affect on so-called "consumers", then any of the above reasonings.
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Just went to Amazon to see if there is discounting yet and UMD movies are STILL usually more then their DVD counterparts. Sony should have just packed the UMD versions along with DVD versions to get the ball rolling.
The solution is easy.
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just some nice thrown in propoganda
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu_Ray#Digital_rights_management
i think it doesnt say much when noting that paramount and universal are in the HDDVD camp and not the blu-ray camp.
im skeptical of the sources quoted. did the execs have names? if no, then it could be anyones guess on the validity of these statements. no exec would go on board to claim something bombed before it has even been released.
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PSP is ass. I used to think it was just a bad GAMING system, but the UMDs are pointless and you can fit a lot more music on something that costs a lot cheaper and is a LOT smaller.
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i call BS on this article. an exec knows the ramifications of criticizing its partner[in other endeavors] and regardless of their own opinions, wouldn't go on the record saying something was a "bomb", even if it were.
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i know there were multiple things that contributed to broadbands success. and as that was a natural adaptation for a newer network that wanted to deliver more, one can say that blu-ray is the natural adaptation as well. and until storage media is cheap enough for downloaded / streaming media to be stored on - to satisfy those who like to actually own things - i dont think that will be able to compete with blu-ray, at least not yet.
you are saying that most poeple cannot see the difference in HD....and though that is true, can you really say that we have true HD right now anyway? people who can tell the difference is only as of right now, what makes you think down the road they wont be able to tell the difference?
and i wont discuss how society is getting poorer....that is a whole nother topic in itself.
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That said, BD discs are different altogether. They are for home entertainment. Studios want it to drive their revenues and would be stupid to move away from it.
One of the biggest if not THE biggest reasons for the initial success of PS2 was that it was a DVD player too. BluRay will drive sales of the PS3 initially until the game library is big enough to drive sales.
If Microsoft had been satisfied with their OS business and scared away after bad initial feedback on all their ancillaries, they wouldnt be the behemoth that they are today.
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How did they think people would feel about a Pacifier UMD (I don't even know anyone who's seen that movie at all) when there's no Perfect Dark game out for the system.
I think this is great because they need to concentrate on the good movies people want to take with them on vacation like the great trilogys instead of UMDing ever piece of crap Hollywood pumps out. Comeon, I can get the pacifier on UMD but not Star Wars or Fight Club?
What's that about?
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1. People don't want to re-buy their movies.
2. The re-bought movies can't be played on much.
3. Price.
Now other people are saying this will mimic Blue-ray and it will. Blu-ray WILL FAIL.
1. People don't want to re-buy their movies AGAIN. (you people do know that some movies are just now being released on DVD? I also think this point was proven with UMD)
2. Price. (most people will wonder what the point is? it's on a disc like DVD, no difference and most people won't see the HD graphics, why pay more?)
3. the only difference is there will be extra space for high-def (you'll need a HD-TV for this and the graphics won't be a big leap, if you serious believe that please tell me where you work because you obviously have more money than brains)
Going from DVD to VHS was a reasonable leap. Going from DVD to Blu-ray isn't a reasonable leap.
1. disc and tapes are very different (DVDs and Blu-ray are NOT, more space WOW, they both still look like a disc, people went to disc because we used them in music and disc seemed to be better than a tape)
2. graphics (DVDs were better than VHS, simple, Blu-ray's graphics ARE NOT good enough to put down $1,000 for a damn player and pay more for the movies, besides you have to have HD just to see them and they're not that big of a leap)
3. space (you may laugh but I know several people that enjoyed being able to stuff more DVDs into their old VHS storages, Blu-ray doesn't have that)
4. format change (people were ready for DVD, VHS had a good run but with the internet, cable, and satelite showing digital images that were much better it was an easy switch, people are not ready for Blu-ray)
5. time (as stated above, VHS had a good run, almost 20 years, everything you could get out of VHS had been done, DVDs have been around 10 years but have been really big for the past 6-7, DVD recorders are starting to become cheap enough for almost anybody, people are finally starting to get their DVD library equal to their VHS, as I said above some movies you could only get on VHS are finally being offered on DVD, computers are finally adopting DVD burners and all that good stuff to where you can make amature videos)
6. DVD has finally created a niche (this goes above with time, DVD has finally created a niche for itself and people are finally starting to leave VHS behind and fully embrace DVD, you can now get about any movie on DVD with several TV shows, people DO NOT like being forced out of a niche or have a new format thrown at them to get out of that niche)
One last thing I've heard that some may laugh at, look at where the porn industry goes. My dad got VHS back in 79 or 80 I forget when it first came out. The only movies he could get were from catalogs. Of every catalog he got for regular movies, he got about two to three catalogs that were for porn. The porns were for VHS and not BETA. While the regular movies offered both VHS and BETA. I know it's silly but it has some truth to it.
Blu-ray will fail. Don't believe me then go and buy one. I'll be the guy talking to you a year from now saying "told you so."
A whole lot of you guys are computer nerds (no offense I'm one too) that talk about HD, floating points, compression, ect, ect. I'm sorry but you don't speak for the masses. You know a whole lot but you're not average consumers and therefor don't act or think like one. You may see "this and that" as the greatest thing sinced slice bread but it'll be off the market in six months due to weak sales.
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http://imdb.com/news/sb/2006-03-30/
Sony is planning to release Blu-Ray discs in May, but Blu-Ray players could be held up until November. What exactly does one do with a disc you cannot play for six months?
I'm not sure if they're trying to generate interest in the format or this is an attempt to not lose ground to HD DVD, but releasing the media before the players is not a good idea.
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UMD movies would have had a little more life if there was a drive to hook up the TV or to the PS2. so one could watch the movie they bought or play PSP games on TV. peronsally I love the portability of PSP but no one would have made those awful add-ons so you could play PSP on your TV if there wasnt people who wanted that.
We are all in agreement that the UMD movies where insanely over priced & lacked any movie worth while in owning, when you already own the DVD which with the right software you could convert down to your memory card anyway.
Look for Sony totally running the same scheme with PS3. 1 half assed game a month & like 30 movies you dont care about.
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Overall, this whole piece is a bit of a red herring. Wasn’t it about six months ago that there were all these stories about UMDs were selling must better than anyone expect….Wow, six months later and the market is flooded with them and now they don’t sell a well…big surprise….The market was limited (price insensitive buyers with low tech skills) and now there are better tools for ripping movies to PSP formats (Neuros 2, anyone?) and cheaper large size memory stick duo cards. Oversupply of weak material and better DIY tools equals drop in UMD s and more people putting Revenge of the Sith on their PSP by themselves.
Everyone here is overlooking how immensely profitable these UMDs are for studios, so the fact that they aren’t selling pallets of them is not necessarily a huge problem for them…retailers may not be happy about slow moving goods but the studios aren’t hurting over these items. And even if UMDs have a relatively small market life, outside the raw materials costs and licensing fees, UMDs are all gravy for the studios…its not like it costs them more to add “and on UMD” on the DVD advertising they would be doing anyway.
UMDs acceptance or non acceptance has zero to do with Blu-ray and HD-DVD long term success…these are two vastly different markets with vastly different user expectations….All the people saying “HD ain’t shit’ will probably change their tune the first time they see Battlestar Galactcia being demoed on big screen HD at Best Buy
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And the guy who said I must know nobody with a PSP, obviously you know different people. But it's hard to deny that there is a fanbase, and whilst it may not rival the DS, the target audience is different and smaller. Different people need different things.
The only thing DS offered me personally was Mario Kart, to me everything else is wank and a gimmick. Though I do understand how people love Warioware/Mario 64 with lame controls, that BS just isn't for me. Just like the PSP's BS isn't for you.
UMD's are failures though, Sony needs to either slash prices or release writers.
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