UMD movie format novelty dies as sales fall to a mere trickle

[joepic]

Check out the complete article at:
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/13253

About a year ago when Sony launched its PlayStation Portable (PSP), sales of movies on the proprietary UMD disc took off very well with over 100,000 movie UMDs sold in two months. Unfortunately, sales began slipping after that despite an increasing number of titles being made available on UMD. In just the five months after the launch of the PSP, 239 video titles have been made available on UMD, more than the number of games made available on UMD!

Around the time of Apple's launch of the video iPod, UMD movie sales fell very rapidly. The sales fell so far back that the two major studios Universal and Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment have stopped releasing movies on UMD altogether. Between sales grinding to a halt and fewer titles to choose from, retailers are cutting their shelf space allocated for UMD movie titles and there are talks about Wal-Mart planning to drop the UMD movie format altogether. According to a high-ranking Universal executive, sales of their UMD movie titles are close to zero. A Paramount spokeswoman said that their focus is on High Definition.

Unlike the video iPod, the PSP does have a fairly significant drawback in that it cannot be hooked up to a TV. Another potential killer for the UMD format is the ability to rip content from DVDs to a memory stick for playback On the PSP. In an aim to overcome the lack of Video-output support, Sony Computer Entertainment executives will begin discussing plans with Hollywood studios to add TV output support to the PSP.

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Why would any pay DVD prices for something that can be only played/viewed on proprietary hardware ?

Sorry the novelty wore off, for the same money I'd much rather buy the DVD re-encode it myself and put it on the psp.

Long live homebrew!
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This is so typical for Sony. They come up with new formats or gadgets and then shoot themselves in the foot because of the proprietary nature of all their stuff. Never thinking about the consumer or should I say caring about the consumer. The UMD disc is just another example.
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The irony... "UNIVERSAL" Media Discs, eh?
"UNIVERSAL Media DISASTER" comes closer to reality!

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About time that Sony leaves it's ivory tower and looks around for a solution to what WE want:
COMPATABILITY!!!

[Treebeard]

Already being discussed here
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=297207