Movies for the PSP

[cdeener]

Here is an article I came across about some movies that Sony will be bringing to the PSP.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=599&ncid=786&e=3&u=/nm/20050211/media_nm/media_sony_dc

[tholly]

unless you can get these things really cheap, then i probably just get my free spider man 2 and be done with umd movies.....id rather dvd with 5.1 surround sound and s-video ( i need to get that component cable, i just never got around to it )

[phatbunbao]

im only waitin for FFVII:advent children to come out

[RedvsBlue]

If they cost anything more than $15 I don't feel like they will be worth it. With the UMDs capacity being 1.8 GB, that means they can't have hardly any special features on the discs without drastically sacrificing the picture quality. Not only that but all those titles are getting to be pretty old and are only about $15 on DVD as it is anyway. We'll see what happens.

[-o< Here's praying that the anti-PSPers don't crap on this thread too.

[Dr Mario Kart]

shouldnt all the video files be drastically smaller though, since its showing on a smaller screen?

[SOSTrooper]

shouldnt all the video files be drastically smaller though, since its showing on a smaller screen?

Yah thats what I thought; and they probably have to downgrade the sound option to accommodate the PSP's sound. I'm sure there will still be room for most of the special features found on the actual DVD.

[starboyk]

There're talks of the 3GP conversion- a full two hour vid in under 800Megs- being applied to the UMD movies. Tuck in chapter selctions and the like, and you a get a full digital vid file in under a gig, leaving room for the regular rigamorul of junk and featurettes not even fit for background noise...

-The_K

[peteyrose]

I'm just going to encode my own movies.

[Scrubking]

I don't think this will fly. Why spend $$ on a movie that you can only watch on your psp when you can buy a regular dvd and watch it at home and on a portable dvd player?

That is why I say game machines should stick to gaming.

[epobirs]

For comparison's sake, look at the data requirements for one uncompressed frame of video on an NTSC display vs. the PSP display

NTSC 720x480 = 345600 pixels

PSP 480x272 = 130560 pixels

Assuming similar color depth, the PSP frame is somewhat over a third of an NTSC frame. Add in the high efficiency of the MPEG-4 codec compared to the much older MPEG-2 and also that many feature films with a fair amount of extras fit fine on a 4.7 GB single layer used DVD. There should be a decent amount of left over space on a UMD to include some extras after the movie. A playable demo of the game associated with the movie might be ideal.

Even so, I don't see a big UMD movie market unless the price is very competitive. If a DVD release had a UMD copy as a bonus I might shell out another five bucks. But ripping the DVD you legitimately own and producing a file to be played from Memory Stick will be much more popular. The process will be largely automated within a few months.

[ransom456]

Has anybody besides Sony Pictures and Square Enix given any indication that they intend to support the UMD format for movies?

[epobirs]

Has anybody besides Sony Pictures and Square Enix given any indication that they intend to support the UMD format for movies?

I'm not holding my breath on that one until Sony demonstrates a viable business. OTOH, with Colombia and the recent acquisition of MGM, Sony has a massive library of material to draw upon.

When VCRs first appeared it wasn't the studios that took a chance on selling pre-recorded tapes of theatrical films. It was a guy in Kansas wholicensed titles from the studios for a miniscule amount and started a mail order business that still exist today long after being bought out by one of the big record clubs.

In a similar fashion we might see a company license material and take a shot at building a UMD business. Majesco would seem a likely candidate. Since the PSP is trying for adifferent demographic perhaps instead of Pokemon and Nickelodeon cartoon they'll have 'Girls Gone Wild.'

[RedvsBlue]

I don't think this will fly. Why spend $$ on a movie that you can only watch on your psp when you can buy a regular dvd and watch it at home and on a portable dvd player?

That is why I say game machines should stick to gaming.

Yeah that's the way I feel. While I will enjoy all the extra options, I'm buying my PSP to play games first. Sure I'll probably pick up the occassional UMD but that'll just be for when I go on trips and stuff. If there's a new movie coming out that I want, I'd definetly pick up the DVD version long before hte UMD version.

[AlbinoNinja]

Sony is overlooking so many opportunities for the PSP:

Novels: download them online for a small cost, and you can read it on your PSP. So simple its so genius!

Comic Books: Same as novels, except with purty pictures. Also you can click around the pictures and find small secrets (similar to Homestarrunner), maybe even add commentary from the creators

Choose Your Own Adventures: You know the drill: branching path novel/comic book/movie

Short cartoons: I wouldn't mind being able to watch a strongbad email wherever I go

and... that's all i can think of right now