Everyone Hates UMD

[wraggster]

Via Slashdot (http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/05/20/2031250)

More bad news for the UMD, which is already dying a speedy death at retail: not only are stores not stocking them, but no one really wants to buy UMD movies either. Although 40% of PSP owners claimed UMD media was a big reason why they plopped down a few hundred on Sony's pixel-spurting game brick, the complaint from actual owners is there just isn't anything worth goddamn buying on UMD.

You know, i actually thought the same until i brought my first UMD recently and i was impressed, the price is obviously too high but it played back great, perfect for movies on the move.

[mavsman4457]

if they made umd's readable on ps3 then that would boost the market.

[Video_freak]

i would by umds if i could watch them on my TV later. they are the same price as DVDs, so obviously people aren't going to buy them.

[sheng]

i would by umds if i could watch them on my TV later. they are the same price as DVDs, so obviously people aren't going to buy them.

Not lightly possible.... simply because their quliaty will be real bad on a HDTV or any TV above 28'inch... That why Sony want BlueRay... for HDTVs... and with the already high price PS3... they will most likly be putting something like that on the PS3... what may be possible in in the future is to stream the video from you PSP to you media hub(PS3 or XBOX360) ^_^

[PraiseBrad]

i dont see why anyone would want UMD movies because around where i live UMDs cost more than the DvD movies with not even half the stuff. i love the PSP but sony needs to let the Umd format just die

[shadowprophet]

This is what happens when you create a new format.
And then that new format grows to rapidly,
I mean the star that burns brightest- right?
Who really thought for even a moment the umd could compeat with the dvd market anyway:o
The storage space alone. was a huge downfall,
Not to mention that there are just very few devices that can read a umd. Some sony laptops now I think can. and the psp. thats freaking it :(
Still tho the umd is a great format for the sony hand held. I dont agree that people should hate the format so much it that it should effect the sales of comercial games for the psp.
Thats just unreasonible from a consumer stand point.
I mean our psp comercial games have to come in some format. and I think umd is perfect for this:cool:
But the last thing I want is music umds and movie umds, I used to feel differently about movie umds. untill, It was just unavoidible. the quality which is fair on a psp screen. is just not as good as dvd. and let us not forget after fiting an entire movie on a umd that usualy never leaves any room for extras.
I had the opertunity to get FF advent children on dvd or Umd. Which do you think I picked up :p
Movies are just somthing people want to see on a big lush screen, and the psp works great as a portible media device. But the fact of the matter is movies just arnt concidered largly as a portible activity:o
Its a sit down with friends or family and grab some popcorn kinda thing cause your not going anywhere if the movie is worth watching anyway.
Ehhh I could go on but I figure ive said enough:cool:

[Elsid]

i believe it would be kl having universal mini disc's playing on television other than the PSP itself, you may never know it could be the next replacent for DVD but the looks of it at the moment are thin as ICE.

[xXSujoXx]

Way to spensive

[gotmilk0112]

umd movies stink becuase they have JUST the movie and they are about 15$ more than a dvd which always has special features ect. i dont really take my psp places much anyways. :p

[Poem58]

Price was all that ever kept me from buying UMD movies....

[shadowprophet]

Saying umd movies are more expensive then dvds.
oddly at the store I get my umd movies from. there generaly cheaper then dvds. some of the older umd movies even go as low as $14.95
I just dont get why the prices are different in other places:confused:

[F9zDark]

Stores where they are cheaper may have marked them down to get rid of them. I know when I first got the PSP UMD movies were selling for 30 dollars and their DVD counterparts 20 dollars.

Sony is stupid for not putting in a UMD reader into the PS3. That would bolster the UMD market so much more, because then people would have more of a reason to buy UMDs. Then throw in some UMD only movie releases from Sony (you know, like the movies that only come out on DVD, not in theaters) then you'd have a substantial increase to the market.

[SSaxdude]

I only have 2 UMD movies: the free Spiderman 2 and Terminator 2. Sometimes they are cheap, but I still don't see a point in re-buying a movie. I just prefere to put them on my memory stick. Again, just another format Sony has created that has failed.

[Privateer]

UMD's (not movies, I mean the actual objects themselves) are great. They don't get scratched easily and they store an impressive amount of data for such small disks.
But yeah, for movies: too expensive.

[Accordion]

i like the size, the content, the fact you cant scratch the disc unless your thick

the price, usally £19.99 in the uk and the need to update with no current mostly legal work arounds is the reason i dont buy any.

i hate piracy(well atleast of current systems) and i like 1.5 for the ease of use with homebrew, if i didnt need to update i would own loads and loads of umds, both game and movie.
in an obscure way it IS good homebrew that is killing the software format possibly as much (or more?) as the b*****d ISO users. if no future exploits are found in future firmwares will we choose to keep the psp alive for sony, or for our own homebrew use.
of course the poor sales are also partly due to the lack of quality content

[muffinman]

umd movies are fair in quality (i have the free spiderman 2) but they really dont grasp me as cool. I don't watch full films on the go.

Also i bought advent children on dvd instead of umd.

[chrisrulz555]

the price, usally £19.99 in the uk

Damn that is about 55 new zealand dollars and i can go down and pick one up for $20-$28 NZD, thats the way it has been since they were released

[pkmusicmaker]

i highly doubt UMDs cost a lot to produce, so i don't understand where these high prices came from with such small demand.

[killurparents]

I say, it's about damn time UMD movies failed. The PSP is a GAMING machine. Why would anyone wanna re-buy their movies on a different format... just to play on a little box that you have to STAND UP somehow.. or sit there and hold in your hands. Just get a cheap portable DVD player. UMD's are ****ing stupid. Die, UMD.

[dan3127]

I buy most my dvds online anyway, lot cheaper you dont pay for the lighting of the shops ect. i picked up the green mile of internet for 4.99 english pounds sterling yesterday where as new movies are like 13.99 of internet,so i can see the points of people on the umd situation, i think thay are small and quite cool and it would be great if they were cheaper and they brought out all the latest movies for the Umd, to please the psp owneres, but with the small demand of someone going and paying that much for a movie they can get online for alot cheaper sadly i can see the fall of umd, especially as some people convert dvds to mp4 and watch them on there psp anyway.:confused:

[theblue]

I Love UMD movies I have 30 UMD movies and I have the same movies on DVD, I also bought advent children on dvd and umd.

[Voltron]

in an obscure way it IS good homebrew that is killing the software format possibly as much (or more?) as the b*****d ISO users. if no future exploits are found in future firmwares will we choose to keep the psp alive for sony, or for our own homebrew use.

I'm an avid ISO user here :eek:

About UMD Movies. I really want to like them. But there are only a select few I can think of possibly getting anytime. I had T2 & Saw, sold Saw. T2 is a cool movie so I'll keep that. They do really need to be much cheaper. But the concern with that may be too many people buying the cheaper UMD's and lose out on sales of more expensive DVD's. So the studio's are probably trying to create some sort of weird balance making DVD a priority.

Another thing I feel I need to point out is that the storage capacity of UMD's are not impressive anymore. 1.8GB is the MAX capacity of a UMD disc. Before the end of 2006 there will be 4GB & 8GB PRO Duo memory sticks available.

Now thats impressive. 4-8GB of data in something the size of a postage stamp. It makes it far more feasible to store video files & movies in digital format on memory stick. And yes, this also applies to UMD games on memory stick.

Yes, I am a b*****d ISO user. Here is the SHORT list why:

1.) Almost all games can be backed up to ISO or DAX and take up LESS than 512MB of space And I mean FULL games. I don't like ripping audio & video files out. Some games are remarkably small. The smallest FULL game I have on my memory stick is only 18.9MB. So point is that this allows for several PSP games to be always on the PSP. No interchanging of UMD discs.

2.) Almost ALL games are now playable on 1.50 PSP's including such new ones as Daxter, Siphon Filter, Monster Hunter Freedom, & NBA Ballers Rebound.

3.) Backing up your UMD's dramatically reduces battery drainage by bypassing the UMD optical drive.

4.) SPEEEED!!! Games load & play faster & smoother. Games like Y's Ark of Napishtim & Midnight Club 3 which have hair pulling load times have severely reduced or practically NO loading times. And you can also overclock the PSP to help speed things up even more.

5.) Best of both worlds! I can enjoy the enormous wealth of homebrew goodness on 1.50 while still being able to play NEW commercial games that try and force you to upgrade.

So whatever, call all ISO users names all you want but not all ISO users are pirates. Also I feel strongly that in the future, all games will be played off memory stick. With memory stick sizes expanding and speeds increasing, I think you'll see downloadable games with DRM protection similar to iTunes but for games VERY VERY soon. And probably on the PSP. (PS1 downloadable games)

This will also save company's loads on manufacturing, distribution, & supply costs.

[luis_05]

ummmm....22 dollars for an umd? Where as i can get it for free and with good quality. I love the umd idea, i own some myself but it is too expensive. Im in college and cannot spare too much money!! Sony should have drive the umd movies prices down since the movies dont include to many extra features!!!

[jwilds73]

UMD's are completely not UNIVERSAL they are a one device medium. The PS3 should come with a built in umd drive so we can play umd games and even movies on both consoles. They need to license the medium out also and even make recordable umd's but we know they won't do that. If Sony's lack of forsight and willingness to support this format is any indication of what will happen with Blue Ray it's a doomed format also. Make the damn things UNIVERSAL as you claim them to be Sony.

[SchmuckofNI]

I don't think thats entirely accurate. Where I work at we still have umd movie rentals and they are doing pretty well. Granted they are the same price as a normal dvd rental, but people get em for a week. Even on the sales side isn't all that bad.

[Illegal Machine]

I think UMDs are the dumbest thing ever


maybe if Sony had gived the PSP a Minidisc drive with new DVD like capabilities, and offered a write feature, Id be impressed but the whole thing sucks as it is so whatever.


and dont say that they couldnt make them minidiscs because people would pirate the games..

we already do left and right, so its not like they stopped anyone from doing anything..

[slayer2psp]

movies are free why would anyone buy umds when you can use a pmp player on the psp. and set at the hightest bitrate it looks just as good as a umd. the price should be 9.99 for umds not 19.99

[MasterBeef]

UMD Videos might be more popular if they weren't region-encoded. I still have a currently-useless copy of FFVII Advent Children on UMD bought at a premium price in Japan when it came out that won't work on my Australian PSP. Grrrrr...

Anyone know of a region-hack yet? I've been waiting ages for someone like Fanjita to make one, but to no avail....

[b8a]

UMD's are completely not UNIVERSAL they are a one device medium. The PS3 should come with a built in umd drive so we can play umd games and even movies on both consoles. They need to license the medium out also and even make recordable umd's but we know they won't do that. If Sony's lack of forsight and willingness to support this format is any indication of what will happen with Blue Ray it's a doomed format also. Make the damn things UNIVERSAL as you claim them to be Sony.Stop picking the name apart. It's UNIVERSAL MEDIA disk, not UNIVERSAL DEVICE disk. Sony has made no claims that UMD's will be multi-platform compatible. The name simply promotes the fact that it's capable of storing the full range of current media (data, movies, music) for playback.

That having been said, I still think the UMD format is a fiasco. At least MD's were recordable, and very unique and relatively affordable in their day, but UMD's are incredibly over priced and relatively useless. For games, they make for unnessecarily long load times. For movies, it's completely unrealistic to expect consumers to fork out more money for media that delivers signifcatnly less value. UMD movies look pretty super, I agree, but has others have pointed out in this thread, the urge to pull out a feature length movie on-the-go just doesn't occur that often, and most times that it does are situations (such as long airplane flights) where you could probably just pull out a (in many cases) cheaper, DVD compatible laptop or portable DVD player, and just use the media you already own with them. The whole prospect of music UMD releases is pretty questionable as well. If they released them at the right price, it would be pretty cool and fairly reasonable to buy one, but just like pre-recorded MD releases and UMD movies, they'd probably just be over priced, and, also just like pre-recorded MD releases, few people are likely to purchase them.

[jwilds73]

Stop picking the name apart. It's UNIVERSAL MEDIA disk, not UNIVERSAL DEVICE disk. Sony has made no claims that UMD's will be multi-platform compatible. The name simply promotes the fact that it's capable of storing the full range of current media (data, movies, music) for playback.

That having been said, I still think the UMD format is a fiasco. At least MD's were recordable, and very unique and relatively affordable in their day, but UMD's are incredibly over priced and relatively useless. For games, they make for unnessecarily long load times. For movies, it's completely unrealistic to expect consumers to fork out more money for media that delivers signifcatnly less value. UMD movies look pretty super, I agree, but has others have pointed out in this thread, the urge to pull out a feature length movie on-the-go just doesn't occur that often, and most times that it does are situations (such as long airplane flights) where you could probably just pull out a (in many cases) cheaper, DVD compatible laptop or portable DVD player, and just use the media you already own with them. The whole prospect of music UMD releases is pretty questionable as well. If they released them at the right price, it would be pretty cool and fairly reasonable to buy one, but just like pre-recorded MD releases and UMD movies, they'd probably just be over priced, and, also just like pre-recorded MD releases, few people are likely to purchase them.


Portable gaming needs UMD or similar format. With what is capable in hand held gaming (and home console) Developers need lots of storage for game data that is inexpensive. Nintendo's N64 lacked 3rd party titles because of the high cost of putting large games on carts the same can be said for their cartridge based hand helds. Many games that could've would've and should've appeared on the console didn't simply because of the cost to put on cartridges. I am just irritated with the whole UMD market. These movie companies expect us to pay equal or greater prices then dvd's for UMD movies when they are a limited appeal one device format. And Sony has a complete lack of vision or willingness to support the format beyond what it is now.

[younggunn1999]

I have about three umd's. I had them over 5 months and I haven't even watched them. The only reason I had brought them was because I was gone from my home for about two months but anyway's they are useless but I refuse to trade them in because I probly wouldn't get 25% of what I paid for them.

[Forever~Zero]

UMD games where i come from (Malaysia) cost 150-200 my currency. That is hell lot from my prespective. I only own only 4 games right now since i got my PSP back in December. The price is driving sellers here to load the Devhook onto PSPs and selling to consumers so that they can play ISOs. You wont beleive me how many shops are willing to do that. If SONY would do a check here i'd say 98% of the game shops here would be filed a lawsuit for their Modded PS2s and selling the PSP with eboot. But seriously UMD movies are somewhat stupid for me. I mean i can download those movies from torrents and convert it to PSP and it wont cost me half as much as those UMDs.