Best UMD Movies?

[J7.]

What UMD movies do you recommend and why?

[phreak5k]

The ones on sale for less than $5 because they aren't worth more than that.

[J7.]

Why not you can watch them on the go and at home, DVDs need to be decrypted often to get portable.

[AndrewCP]

I'd rather go through all that than buy the same movie I've already got. If I did have to recommend one I'd recommend The Matrix because it's the remastered version (which is not obtainable on DVD itself, you have to buy the 10-disc collection). I'm actually currently looking for a good in-store deal for that one but I'll pass on everything else. You can see a comparison of the old DVD and the new UMD edition here: http://psp.ign.com/articles/681/681831p1.html

[phreak5k]

Why not you can watch them on the go and at home, DVDs need to be decrypted often to get portable.
There are plenty of free high quality podcasts out there to enjoy without having to rebuy movies that were meant to be seen on a large screen with better sound. I actually own several UMDs but I never watch them because I'm too busy watching the TED talks and Revision3 shows to bother.

[J7.]

I don't own many DVDs so to me UMD seems appealing because I can watch it on the PSP or the TV. Am I wrong about UMD being worthwhile for people who don't own tons of DVDs?

[phreak5k]

I don't own many DVDs so to me UMD seems appealing because I can watch it on the PSP or the TV. Am I wrong about UMD being worthwhile for people who don't own tons of DVDs?
UMDs are gernerally going to be more expensive with only a fraction of the content on the disc and the movies available to purchase. UMDs will be a dead format after the PSP becomes upgraded to the next version. You'll be able to play dvds for years since it was such a successful standard. My suggestion get a 1, 2, or 4 gig memory stick, download a copy of Videora (or any other copy system) and buy all the dvds you want to play. On the plus side if you run movies off the memory stick you'll also save battery life since there are no moving parts.

[carpwrist]

I concur with this UMD bashing.
The only purchase i've ever justified to myself was the Samurai Champloo volumes, its kinda nice to watch those on move.

[Ruahrc]

Yeah I went to bestbuy one day looking to drop money on a UMD so I could try it out on the airplane. Couldn't even bring myself to spend the money on any UMD they have. Later on I tried playing around with decoding my own DVDs and encoding them for PSP format- it works really well so I have resolved to just buy the DVD and encode it if I ever want to see a movie on PSP rather than buy the UMD. Besides with a 4GB card I could carry 3 or 4 movies on it whereas I'd need to tote along 4 UMDs for the same content. Also, I have the DVD that I can watch on a bigger screen if I wanted to.

I have to say however, I was pretty impressed by watching movies on my PSP. The screen is pretty good IMO for a compact portable device. I never thought I'd be into watching videos on a portable system but I am glad I can do it with the PSP!

Ruahrc

[Milkyman]

yup, the only UMD movies I've purchased were 5 dollars or less, and I never watched any of them, even when I was waiting at the court house to be called for Jury selection.

I've watched plenty of video off the memory stick, the only thing that bugs me is that the psp's screen response time is slow so dark stuff like people's hair will blur a bit (nostrils are the worst!)

[DiscoJer]

I actually like UMD movies, except the price. Sure, you can convert DVDs to PSP video, but you have to decrypt them, then convert, which can take an hour or more (at least on my PC)

That said, considering UMDs are often priced more than DVDs, I'd rather spend the effort to convert. But I picked up a bunch for $5 each at Gamestop.

Anyway, I only have 4, though. Ghostbusters, The 5th Element, Godzilla Final Wars, and Totall Recall. But all pretty good movies, IMHO.

[Slade555]

Ali G show aiiiight.

Beavis and Butthead maybe.

[SynGamer]

Just rip (or download the movies you already have) and put them on your memory stick. $5-10 for UMD movies versus $40 for a 4 GB stick where you can swap out movies...pretty simple decision. A 22 minute episode came out to be about 100 MB. So an average sized movie of an hour and a half would be 400 MB. Assume 600 MB for a 2 hour movie. Not bad if you ask me. You could fit at least 6 movies of that size (600 MB) on a 4 GB memory stick...