Sony PlayStation Portable (UMD) Movies Taking Off

Slate is running a story (The Sin City UMD: Why Games are Watching Movies Instead) about the surprising success of the Sony PlayStation Portable UMD format movies.

To the surprise of tech pundits everywhere, UMD movies have been selling splendidly since the first discs came out in April—American consumers have purchased more than 500,000 so far, according to one industry estimate. The DVD, by comparison, took a full year to ship half a million units in the United States after its 1997 debut. There's not yet a formal list of UMD best-sellers, but the current chart-topper at Amazon is Sin City.

Does anyone that reads this site buy UMD movies? Isn't there a way to move your legally-purchased DVD movies to a memory stick? Would you be interested in renting UMD movies?

Comments

I think this UMD thing is just a fad. No way am I buying a movie that I can only watch on a 3" screen (give or take). Plus, I probably won't be able to put it in my DVD drive and rip it. Not to mention the copy protection is probably stronger than DVD, although I wonder if that has been hacked already.

Forgot to mention one thing. UMD is proprietary. If the PSP breaks, I can only buy a Sony PSP to watch these movies. If PSP is discontinued, I'm screwed, and so is my expensive UMD collection. Stick with DVD for now. However, the DVD Forum should make a DVD-portable format. I'm not talking portable DVD players, I'm talking entirely new format, with something that resembles PSP, but many manufacturers can make (like with DVD players). The Movie DVD/cartridge will carry a MPEG 4 video/audio streams.

there is a place for portable movies of course, but UMD is nothing that should be taken to heart. memory stored movies and small hard drives in devices will be something useful where any media type can be stored.

there are plenty of portable media devices on the market now and apple plans to release a movie ipod soon enough. it will basically come down to people converting their existing dvd movies to a format accepted by these devices. currenlty people are trying to get their own proprietary system to the top of the list as always. but of course there are ways around that and the consumer will eventually win out on this one.

there are many articles and howtos out there for converting your movies to play on the PSP.

I do not own a PSP but plan to purchase a portable media device once the smoke clears. much like the blu-ray/hd-dvd battle.

[Rich Drees]

I buy a movie to watch, not squint at. The PSP screen is too small to appreciate a movie. BLECH!

First the psp screen is not to small.

Second, there are dozens of devices on which to watch films that a smaller lighter and better than portable dvd devices. Heck, I watch converted dvd's on my treo 650!

Ultimately proprietary standrads are failing.

to answre Mikes quetion: is there a way to move your legally purchased movies? Yes for every device there are simple and quick and all over the net. BUT although your movie may be legally purchased, changing the format is asserted to be illegal the same way the MPAA says is backing up your copy protected dvd is.

As long as the MPAA insists everything is illegal, even with owned dvd's, they create a situation where people figure: why buy and use on different formats, when downloading from the net is no more illegal?

[nickb]

I think UMDs are more like Laserdiscs. They're a nice first try at something but we'll get a better standard down the road pretty soon.

[nflx0wnzU]

well you got to think of it from netflix point of view as a company too, if they don't do it someone else will, and they are also going to be supported HDDVD and Blu-ray when they become available. i believe netflix is definately on the right track, just look at the stock, stats dont lie...

guy above me, since netflix will not be carrying UMD, your commetn is misinformed.

Netflix is not going to be better position than Amazon or Blockbuster for HD and Blueray.

"just liek their stock"? what on earth are you talking about. I am sorry if you took a bath on their stock, but you seem misinformed as to the future.

ok dumbass, their stock has risen 10$ in the past 5 months, so please just stop talking.... and yes they will be carrying umd, and blu-ray and HD-DVD, and that is 100% for sure so shut the fuck up.

[Jon]

Yes there is a way to put a DVD (movie portion) on your PSP memory stick, you would need at least a 1GB memory stick and a neat little free program called PSP video 9. Have fun!!!!! U can find it on cnet.com

Anyone who buys or likes these things is an idjit.

Idjit...I can't seem to find that word in the dictionary. Possibly you are the idiot instead. UMD movies are portable and good for travel and commute time and whatever. I like them and I also rip movies to my memory stick but since memory sticks large enough to hold a movie are not cheap, I can only rip one movie at a time and then delete and start the process over. IF I find a movie I really, really like on UMD, then I can watch it several times without going through the ripping process. Works for me.

[Dave]

What size memory stick is needed to hold a full dvd movie ?

[edplumb]

having travelled alot and still do I find PSP and UMD format perfect for movie watching and as Apple a bit behind Sony in producing a ipod video then well done Sony in getting out a must have. You talk about screen size a Treo is too small, Laptop is too bulky and a portable DVD player is just too much hassle.

[Andy]

ih have news for the dumb people who think that the psp screen is too small, HAVE YOU LOOKED AT THE FREEKING MACHINE LATELY????!!!! THE SCREEN IS LIKE 75% OF THE WHOLE FREEKING THING!!!!!