Why is there so much hate on UMDs?

lilboo

lilboo

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Not trying to start anything.. But.. I'm pretty new to PSP. I never really followed up on anything until just recently. I just know that it seems like alot of people aren't fond of UMD's. The movies, the games, or both?

I can understand the hate on UMD as movies. It's a neat idea and all..but they really do charge full price as a DVD for these things. Sometimes even more! I think I can recall some of them being MSRP at around $29.99 when they first came out??? Is that correct?

I don't have any UMD movies..and I'm not totally against it really. But I'd probably on pick up movies on sale/CLEARANCE. I think DDD had a Buy 1 Get 1 Free not too long ago? (Or some other site?) I probably woukd pick up on it..

Soo yeah. What's with the dislike of UMD's? And are the movies selling well at all??
 
For me...

Games, no problem.

Movies, simple really, COST and lack of features. It is so hard to justify the cost vs. a DVD that I can watch any time on my Wega.
 
the only problem with UMDs in terms of movies was pricing... the $10 range is the sweet spot, but sony decided not to go there :(

I would also say the same thing for why so much hate for blue ray? geeze, is everyone becoming a sony hater?
 
Yo lilboo it's the price. There's no way those things are worth more than DVD's. Plus in Japan Warner Bros (I think that's the right studio) dropped the price down to like $9 and those things are flying off the shelves.

Straight up it's not fair to be buying miniature(resolution) versions of movies at a higher price than DVD. Those things simply can't be the profit grenades that DVD's are unless they make it up in volume.
 
Another main problem with UMDs is that they're slow to read from (unlike flash media) and thus it is not an ideal medium for a portable console where most people would prefer some quick gameplay rather than wasting their time at the long loading screens. Also the PSP has to use a lot of power to read from the UMDs and thus it cuts down the battery life. It would be ideal if sony just used flash media instead as it is much quicker and uses less energy.
 
The UMD simply can't compete because of price IMO. Also I think availability was a factor. With things like PVPs and PVRs starting to flood the market the UMD movies couldn't hope to keep up. People are either buying portable DVD players or putting their movie collections on the hard drive of a PVP device to watch.

Now I think the UMd could've made more of an impact on the home video industry had done something like selling UMD/DVD combos for about $5-10 more than the regular DVD version. They did attempt that a few months ago but it was too little too late by then. Had they done this or something like it from the start I think UMd's could've made a bigger impact.
 
UMDs suck because they cost more than DVDs, and they have less content/extras. Also, I could very well be wrong about this, but I think the PSP is the only thing that plays them. Its the only thing I know of.
 
I learned my lesson with Sony formats when I got a walkman and spent almost all night trying to make a CD with atrac songs, and then still didn't have a CD done at 4am.
 
[quote name='Duo_Maxwell']
Now I think the UMd could've made more of an impact on the home video industry had done something like selling UMD/DVD combos for about $5-10 more than the regular DVD version. [/QUOTE]

Which is what quite a bit of HD-DVDs are like. HD on one side, SD on the other. Sony should have done this from the start (including a UMD version for $5-10 more)
 
It's simply a propreitary format that has no real purpose other than strictly for the PSP. There is no cross conversion of any use. In terms of Video Media we've grown to accept that we should be able to use our media either cross platform across applications or to have the ability to convert. Therefore the UMD as a video media format was destined to fail, even worse than the minidisc.

However as a media for the psp games, since we've grown to accept games as single platform (IE You can't stick in that psp DVD to your xbox and expect it to play), there is no problem in that aspect.
Sony has a huge problem trying to force thier users to use proprietary formats and they haven't learned thier lesson very well. IT's the main reason why they've lost so much footing in the Digital Audio players to the IPOD. Instead of forcing the AAC format on users, apple allowed users to choose. Sony with it's first players forced people to use ATRAC3 for playback.
 
I don't like the high cost and how it drains the already short battery life of the PSP.

If I see a UMD I want, I'll try to grab it on EBay for next to nothing but otherwise I refuse to pay more anywhere near the MSRP price for them.
 
I dont mind them. However I found my self trying to find a way to watch it with out a glare. In the car the with the sun on the screen its hard to see. Though if its a movie I like I can just go on ebay and get it cheap.
 
[quote name='ziutek']Another main problem with UMDs is that they're slow to read from (unlike flash media) and thus it is not an ideal medium for a portable console where most people would prefer some quick gameplay rather than wasting their time at the long loading screens. Also the PSP has to use a lot of power to read from the UMDs and thus it cuts down the battery life. It would be ideal if sony just used flash media instead as it is much quicker and uses less energy.[/QUOTE]

You nailed the issues I have with it.

Also to the Blu-Ray person it's not Sony hate as much as HD-DVD is clearly a better format because of a few factors: 1.MPEG2 is used as the video standard when Blu-Ray playback of movies has clearly shown artifacts NOT present in the equivalent HD-DVD which uses a more compressed format that can handle the higher res. 2.Sony didn't make good on being able to realiably pull off Blu-Ray dual layer discs, only like 5 out of 95 or 5 out of 100 being produced work. Meanwhile HD-DVD can realiably dual layer for 30 gigs. and even triple layer for 45 though I don't know what the success rate is on the latter, you'd have to ask Ruined but I ASSUME it's better than Sony's abysmally low one for their dual-layered ones. I haven't heard anything about the Quad layer for Sony but I assume it would be the same if they're having this much trouble just adding another layer. 3.The data on Blu-Ray is close to the surface of the disc and to my knowledge can hamper playback if scratched. Now there was word about scratch protection by TDK but I read with some of the early discs at least that this was nowhere to be found.
Those examples are pretty much the glaring flaws in Blu-Ray which is why I want it to crash and burn so badly.
 
[quote name='gizmogc']Which is what quite a bit of HD-DVDs are like. HD on one side, SD on the other. Sony should have done this from the start (including a UMD version for $5-10 more)[/QUOTE]

I agree. But actually I hate the combo DVDs because two-sided flip discs like that are a major hazard and pain in the ass. I take care of my stuff very well but even I get some smudges and prints on double sided discs. And you can forget about renting them cuz one side is sure to be ruined. I'd buy into the HD-DVD combo format more if they found away around using flip discs, til then they are a waste IMO. Especially at the cost of $20 more than the SD DVD and $15 more than the regular HD-DVD version. In most new releases you can buy the HD-DVD and DVD for the same price or less than most of the combos.
 
I have an argument Duo, what if they dual or triple layered them and found some way to pull it off? There's GOT to be some way to do it like that hopefully.
 
Because my neck hurts and I go blind after watching a full movie. I also can't hear it without headphones.
 
[quote name='Sarang01']I have an argument Duo, what if they dual or triple layered them and found some way to pull it off? There's GOT to be some way to do it like that hopefully.[/QUOTE]

Well like I said, if they found a work around then I'd be all for it. However I don't know if that would work. The whole idea is to make it readable by both HD-DVD and standard, existing DVD players. HD-DVD uses a totally different laser to read the discs, which is the reason why I thought they used flip discs in the place and didn't just encode the DVd version into a second layer. But if that could be done that way more power to them and they should do it. However there's still the issue of cost.
 
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