So the UMD Movie is Dead, Finally

[quote name='Daddy']No Sony ships it in low res in their new packaged memory stick deal...you can (as I have ) decrypt it using PSP 9 in full glory on your own memory stick ....perhaps you didnt read the gamespot article.[/QUOTE]

I read the article but what it is discussing is a different product from what I'm talking about. The Memory Stick Entertainment Packs are purely promotional items. The article notes that they carry the same price as the Sony brand MSPDs sold by themsleves. The limited res is not suprising since they are essentially giving the movies away. It is little different form some giveaway DVDs having a logo bug on a corner of the screen throughout the playback.

That is a far cry from an iTunes sort of operation for online purchases of downloaded content. For that situation, especially if it is to succeed where the sale of UMD movies failed, there has to be full use of the display to make the platform more enticing than competitors such as entertainment oriented PDAs (a business Sony still has in Japan) as well as possible future products from Apple, Microsoft, and others.

Recent TV episodes are a strong seller on the iTunes store. Sony has the chance to do the same but only if they make paying a few bucks more enticing than doing the work yourself. Offering full 480x272 in addition to saving the consumer from dealing with the conversion can reach a certain market. There are people out there with money to spend who'd like to keep up with their favorite shows at the right price and are completely defeated by software like PSP Video 9 or Magix Movies2Go, nor have the time if they didn't lack the technical understanding. I deal with a lot of these sorts of people in my freelance IT work. There's one doctor who makes a seven figure income and will spend a thousand dollars at Audible.com in one shopping session. But he also pays me $30 an hour to deal with downlaoding th epurchases and getting them onto his iPod. This is a highly accomplishe professional and I've tried to teach him but it's proven futile.

If Sony can make thing accessible to those with the money and desire but not the technical appreciation, there is a market in which to compete.
 
[quote name='Apossum']I watched Akira once on UMD...it was cool, but too small. my eyes were fucked afterwards...especially after reading subtitles.[/QUOTE]

I had the same problem...kind of. I tried watching the free Spiderman 2 UMD when I bought my PSP but since it was a LCD screen and there was so much action, I noticed alot of blurring and stopped watching after 5 min (I used scene selection to get to a cool part). It was the first and only UMD I ever owned. Good riddance.
 
One thing that greatly reduced the value of UMD movies, that I don't believe has been mentioned, was the lack of an easy means to display the output on a regular TV.

The $39 Universal Dock accessory for the iPod Video models provides a simple S-Video port. Of the people I've met who use video files on their iPod, it is most often by using the Dock to connect a full size screen. Having a bus connector that would allow for a reasonably priced video output attachment (not the clumsy screen scanning hacks that exist now) would have been a major enhamcement to the PSP's value as a portable movie player by making it easy to share the output with someone who isn't an extremely close friend. (Price aside, watching a movie on PSP with an SO is practically foreplay.)

This wouldn't have solved everything but it would have made a far better value proposition for UMD movies if Sony had given it enough thought. They put tremendous effort into so much else on the product but missed that aspect or at least made the wrong choice.
 
did they honestly think people would shell out 25-30 bucks for each umd when u could buy the regular dvd at 15-20? The pricing system for these things was a joke, it could have worked easily if they were at least cheaper than dvds, it wouldve given buyers incentive at least to choose umd over dvd
 
[quote name='brainstorm']did they honestly think people would shell out 25-30 bucks for each umd when u could buy the regular dvd at 15-20? The pricing system for these things was a joke, it could have worked easily if they were at least cheaper than dvds, it wouldve given buyers incentive at least to choose umd over dvd[/QUOTE]

Very few UMDs were $25-30. Most were in the $14.99-$19.99 range. I can only think of a few of the early UMD released being that high...nothing as of late, unless it was aTV boxset.
 
[quote name='epobirs']Do they let you have anything sharper than crayons in that institution where you're kept?

I cannot imagine what 'old school capitlaism' you mean since the conditions you speak never existed in this nation[/QUOTE]


Wow... someone doesn't know American History.


"When American colonists declared independence from England in 1776, they also freed themselves from control by English corporations that extracted their wealth and dominated trade. After fighting a revolution to end this exploitation, our country's founders retained a healthy fear of corporate power and wisely limited corporations exclusively to a business role. Corporations were forbidden from attempting to influence elections, public policy, and other realms of civic society.

Initially, the privilege of incorporation was granted selectively to enable activities that benefited the public, such as construction of roads or canals. Enabling shareholders to profit was seen as a means to that end.

The states also imposed conditions (some of which remain on the books, though unused) like these:

* Corporate charters (licenses to exist) were granted for a limited time and could be revoked promptly for violating laws.

* Corporations could engage only in activities necessary to fulfill their chartered purpose.

* Corporations could not own stock in other corporations nor own any property that was not essential to fulfilling their chartered purpose.

* Corporations were often terminated if they exceeded their authority or caused public harm.

* Owners and managers were responsible for criminal acts committed on the job.

* Corporations could not make any political or charitable contributions nor spend money to influence law-making.

For 100 years after the American Revolution, legislators maintained tight controlled the corporate chartering process. Because of widespread public opposition, early legislators granted very few corporate charters, and only after debate. Citizens governed corporations by detailing operating conditions not just in charters but also in state constitutions and state laws. Incorporated businesses were prohibited from taking any action that legislators did not specifically allow.

States also limited corporate charters to a set number of years. Unless a legislature renewed an expiring charter, the corporation was dissolved and its assets were divided among shareholders. Citizen authority clauses limited capitalization, debts, land holdings, and sometimes, even profits. They required a company's accounting books to be turned over to a legislature upon request. The power of large shareholders was limited by scaled voting, so that large and small investors had equal voting rights. Interlocking directorates were outlawed. Shareholders had the right to remove directors at will.

In Europe, charters protected directors and stockholders from liability for debts and harms caused by their corporations. American legislators explicitly rejected this corporate shield. The penalty for abuse or misuse of the charter was not a plea bargain and a fine, but dissolution of the corporation."
 
[quote name='Hereticked']Wow... someone doesn't know American History.


"When American colonists declared independence from England in 1776, they also freed themselves from control by English corporations that extracted their wealth and dominated trade. After fighting a revolution to end this exploitation, our country's founders retained a healthy fear of corporate power and wisely limited corporations exclusively to a business role. Corporations were forbidden from attempting to influence elections, public policy, and other realms of civic society.

Initially, the privilege of incorporation was granted selectively to enable activities that benefited the public, such as construction of roads or canals. Enabling shareholders to profit was seen as a means to that end.

The states also imposed conditions (some of which remain on the books, though unused) like these:

* Corporate charters (licenses to exist) were granted for a limited time and could be revoked promptly for violating laws.

* Corporations could engage only in activities necessary to fulfill their chartered purpose.

* Corporations could not own stock in other corporations nor own any property that was not essential to fulfilling their chartered purpose.

* Corporations were often terminated if they exceeded their authority or caused public harm.

* Owners and managers were responsible for criminal acts committed on the job.

* Corporations could not make any political or charitable contributions nor spend money to influence law-making.

For 100 years after the American Revolution, legislators maintained tight controlled the corporate chartering process. Because of widespread public opposition, early legislators granted very few corporate charters, and only after debate. Citizens governed corporations by detailing operating conditions not just in charters but also in state constitutions and state laws. Incorporated businesses were prohibited from taking any action that legislators did not specifically allow.

States also limited corporate charters to a set number of years. Unless a legislature renewed an expiring charter, the corporation was dissolved and its assets were divided among shareholders. Citizen authority clauses limited capitalization, debts, land holdings, and sometimes, even profits. They required a company's accounting books to be turned over to a legislature upon request. The power of large shareholders was limited by scaled voting, so that large and small investors had equal voting rights. Interlocking directorates were outlawed. Shareholders had the right to remove directors at will.

In Europe, charters protected directors and stockholders from liability for debts and harms caused by their corporations. American legislators explicitly rejected this corporate shield. The penalty for abuse or misuse of the charter was not a plea bargain and a fine, but dissolution of the corporation."[/QUOTE]

Which looks great in a Wiki but has little bearing on real life. Numerous corporate entities that exist today can trace their lineage to that era. In reality, corporation were rarely given any difficulty when applying for a renewal of their charter. In most instances it was a mere formality.

In the real world, within that century after the founding of the country, some truly massive business entities came in to being and did pretty much whatever they liked. It's one thing to have legal strictures in a book and yet another to see them enforced. If there had been any teeth to those laws limiting corporate behavior and longevity, the era of robber baron empires would simply have never happened.

"Anything that isn't nailed down is mine, and anything I can pull up isn't nailed down." Apocryphal quote frequently attributed to various 19th Century tycoons.
 
[quote name='epobirs']Which looks great in a Wiki but has little bearing on real life. Numerous corporate entities that exist today can trace their lineage to that era. In reality, corporation were rarely given any difficulty when applying for a renewal of their charter. In most instances it was a mere formality.

In the real world, within that century after the founding of the country, some truly massive business entities came in to being and did pretty much whatever they liked. It's one thing to have legal strictures in a book and yet another to see them enforced. If there had been any teeth to those laws limiting corporate behavior and longevity, the era of robber baron empires would simply have never happened.

"Anything that isn't nailed down is mine, and anything I can pull up isn't nailed down." Apocryphal quote frequently attributed to various 19th Century tycoons.[/QUOTE]

Yes but this is getting to sound like a more than reasonable option ne? Laws like this and teeth in them. Corporations need moral standards since the only one they seem to adhere to now is: "So even if this kills millions of people will it benefit our bottom line in the end?" or "Even if widespread fucking with the genome to get people sick and perhaps eventually make humanity extinct will it make us filthy rich?". At least a lot of the big Multi-Nationals plus I don't like this extension of Public Domain rights to technologies and characters that should already be ours. Mickey Mouse is a very valid example of this. GOD I'm disgusted with the overwhoring of trademark characters, yes Nintendo yes, but Disney is the worst, let's be honest. This is the problem with long standing institutions, as little effort neccessary for character innovation, whore out the same property as long as neccessary. Bleh.
 
[quote name='Sarang01']Yes but this is getting to sound like a more than reasonable option ne? Laws like this and teeth in them. Corporations need moral standards since the only one they seem to adhere to now is: "So even if this kills millions of people will it benefit our bottom line in the end?" or "Even if widespread fucking with the genome to get people sick and perhaps eventually make humanity extinct will it make us filthy rich?". At least a lot of the big Multi-Nationals plus I don't like this extension of Public Domain rights to technologies and characters that should already be ours. Mickey Mouse is a very valid example of this. GOD I'm disgusted with the overwhoring of trademark characters, yes Nintendo yes, but Disney is the worst, let's be honest. This is the problem with long standing institutions, as little effort neccessary for character innovation, whore out the same property as long as neccessary. Bleh.[/QUOTE]

Do you get bulk discounts on tin foil?
 
[quote name='Sarang01']Yes but this is getting to sound like a more than reasonable option ne? Laws like this and teeth in them. Corporations need moral standards since the only one they seem to adhere to now is: "So even if this kills millions of people will it benefit our bottom line in the end?" or "Even if widespread fucking with the genome to get people sick and perhaps eventually make humanity extinct will it make us filthy rich?". At least a lot of the big Multi-Nationals plus I don't like this extension of Public Domain rights to technologies and characters that should already be ours. Mickey Mouse is a very valid example of this. GOD I'm disgusted with the overwhoring of trademark characters, yes Nintendo yes, but Disney is the worst, let's be honest. This is the problem with long standing institutions, as little effort neccessary for character innovation, whore out the same property as long as neccessary. Bleh.[/QUOTE]

WTF? Because you want to use Mickey Mouse for your own purposes you go on this little rant?
 
[quote name='Strell']I think your posting allowances should be restricted to the MS boards, because you have clearly no idea how to talk or think logically, so maybe we should just give you a padded cell and a helmet so you can't hurt yourself.[/QUOTE]Strell sticking up for Sony has made my day.
 
[quote name='TimPV3']Strell sticking up for Sony has made my day.[/QUOTE]

Heh.

I defend what is necessary.

I just do it more in the Nintendo boards and to their favor.

:)
 
[quote name='Daddy']SONY not lying crooks? you must be smokin something...and I want you to share b/c your losin it....lets see they remake stuff on their own products so YOU ARE FORCED to buy it like UMD,DUO-PRO STICKS, PS3 forces you into BLU-RAY I can go on for a while.....if your gonna argue think before you post

The only way to get around the UMD is to use an UN-SUPPORTED FORMAT on PSP9 for movies

The crook part is implied by the forcing of new formats used only by SONY, the lying part well...you can use many many exapmles of any system for SONY in that case[/QUOTE]

I don't see Sony hold a gun to you, telling you to buy PS3 & Blu-Ray Discs.

As hard as Sony sucks right now, they're not crooks.
 
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