Why do ppl buy UMD movies?

[jsh]

hehe no there was this thread about how we looked also, there are some more pics if you're interested

i also have every apperance by domo-kun on tv on my comp if peeps are interested

[nyanimefool]

Any Domo-Kun related UMDs? See signature

[BLACKOUT]

i like the idea of umd movies, i wouldnt have to remove some of my roms from the memory stick to get them on. but otherwise, i cant be assed

[nyanimefool]

Have more than 1 memory stick

[SilentSpartan]

Well I have 11 umds movies. I bought about 2 of them. All the others....five finger discounted...lol

[nyanimefool]

Yeah, UMD movies are only worth 5 five fingers.

[SilentSpartan]

Ive heard there coming out with UMD Movie players for your home....I also think that because the UMD is Smaller and because its got a protective caseing on it it makes it better but the UMD player should be great!

[jrmdb3]

this is just another way of sony trying to get more money..good i dea tho for those who have a psp/UMD movies

[redx666]

I recently found a few post concerning the vary issue of this thread, why bother purchasing UMD's when you can simply buy DVD's for the same price which is higher quality. Heres a quote from another forum I grabbed from slashdot, this should explain a lot and hopefully clear a lot of confusion.


"UMD Video will be on our tv's soon enough. People think the content was only designed for the psp screen but in all reality, UMD Video is actually encoded at 720x480 (Same resolution as a DVD Video). Think about the math for a second
1.8 gig umd encoded with mpeg 4 avc codec.
4.7 gig dvd encoded with mpeg 2

Mpeg 2 -> Mpeg 4 cut file sizes in half by itself
Mpeg 4 -> h.263 (avc) Cuts file sizes almost in half again
That really comes down to mpeg 2 dvd quality can fit in 1/4 the space when encoded with h.263
1.8 gigs a disc is really quiet a bit for a h.263 encoded movie at dvd resolution, just look at divx, where you can rip an entire movie down to 700meg and maintain most it's quality. H.263 pushes that even further.

If sony was to encode video for the psp at 480x272 with a bitrate of about 1 meg a second for video and 128kb sound, it would come out far smaller then 1 gig, but the reason you don't see umd rips (which could be played back on a computer using a special player) is because currently there are not many 2 gig pro duo sticks and it makes these movies hard to rip because they almost always take the full 1.8 gig of the umd.

This sony encoding at 720x480 is not just a hunch based on file sizes either, it's a little bird that wispered in my ear. I think in the next year or two, you can expect to see other umd format devices, such as home players and maybe higher resolution portable movie players.

People who take this path of scanning there psp to show it on the tv are morons, and they are potentially going to have the worst quality ever seen on a tv. The only way it would be bareable is if the tv your watching it on has a smaller screen then the psp itself, otherwise you'll just have a blurry mess."

There is another websites confirming this info. If it is true that all the movies on the UMD's are already at DVD resolution, the predictions made in this post is very likely. I agree UMD's should be priced lower than DVD's since they lack bonus materials usually found on DVD's. But looking at it from a business standpoint. They are selling a product of equal quality of DVD in terms of visuals, and they are also providing a product that gives us freedom to watch on the go, simply paying for convenience. I myself was worried about purchasing UMD's thinking it would be wasteful since the only thing that can play it is my PSP, it may be wasteful now, but in the future I'm betting there will be a home player, or another portable device that takes advantage of the full resolution.

[PSP_Bro]

well, what if they made like an 80 dollar dvd umd player for your tv, so say you are watching it on your psp, then get home, just pop it into the umd slot of the dvd player, would u guys be tempted to buy umds then?

[peedizzle]

even then i wouldnt, just because i have like 300 dvds... a dvd burner and i can make my own stuff. until they come out with umd burners and players, i dont see umd discs going much farther than psp's

[redx666]

I think its worth mentioning, why a lot of major movie studios will be pushing this format. Mainly b/c of what another poster already stated. DVD burners are all over the place, well its fine that people use it to store data and so on, but the movie industry is worried about piracy. Sony's UMD format might be the solution to cut down pirating of movies, but it won't ever kill it off completely. The advantage studios will have is, the general public do not have UMD burners. Depending on the popularity of UMD's in the future which seems pretty bright concerning how much UMD's are selling. In fact Warner had their own format for movies, that they were hanging on to trying to get it accepted by the industry. Even Warner folded in and accepted the UMD format, which was the last of the big studios to give in, so all of the major Movie studios are now putting all their best movies on the UMD format. That says a lot about the future of UMD's, but only time can tell what will happen. People may cite that the lack of UMD burners will slow the sales and acceptance of UMD's. Even though I do my own share of burning DVD movies, I'd say the majority of the public does not know how to burn DVD movies that play correctly on their systems nor do they care so much to spend the time to learn how to.

Conclusion: Majority of consumers will still purchase UMD's whether or not there is a UMD burner available, and the industry would put a dent into piracy in the UMD sector of movie sales, due to lack of UMD burners, which is pretty significant. The minority of consumers being the tech savvy, would be the main group upset with the lack of UMD burners.

UMD quality VS Memory stick quality

Lets face it, sony are some sneaky bastards, I always wondered what the point was of watching movies on UMD when you could easily load them up on the memory stick. I found out recently that UMD movies allow you to play the movie at full resolution being roughly 480x272, while movies on the memory stick can only be encoded at a max of 368x208, if you try to encode at anything higher or max res the PSP will not read it(bastard sony). So quality wise UMD's are superior to memory stick movies

[~Link]

I think that the UMD movies are well cool and the screen is just about watchable. Like you said the trouble is the price.

I will probably only buy one UMD movie to see what it's like. Due to the fact that it's way to expensive it's only going to be 1 im afraid. Lower the god damn prices Sony!

[rubanito]

i buy them in stores...lol