Anyone talking about the Sony PSP UMD Movie Discs? (1 Viewer)

[Ed Speir IV]

I picked up my PSP last night at midnight and am very impressed. The system is fantastic.

As most may know, the system also plays movies on Sony's UMD discs. My PSP came with a free version of Spider-Man 2 and I must say the quality rivals my $ 800 Toshiba portable DVD player. It is simply amazing on the 4.3 inch screen.

However, there is one HUGE downside - the PSP screen ratio is 1.78:1 and the Spider-Man 2 movie (which I believe is 2.35:1) is cropped to fit the screen. I'm sure this is to avoid the "black bar" syndrome and I have a feeling that all movies released on the PSP wider than 1.78:1 will be cropped. Very bad business IMO.

Anyone wondering about the video quality on this system should not worry. I really bought the PSP to play games, but now that I've seen the quality of the UMD video, I may pickup HellBoy and a few others.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

How does it look through a regular TV screen? Is there a video output on the PSP?

 

[Lev-S]

Is this a taste of things to come (HD-DVD, Blu-Ray)?

 

[Ed Speir IV]

Unfortunately, there is not a video output on the PSP, although I have heard rumors of an "add on" to be available in the future....

 

[StephenP]

I heard these will cost the same as dvds, is that true? if so no thanks.

 

[ThomasC]

It's a 4.3" screen, for heaven's sake. Movies weren't made to be watched on a PSP.

 

[Kain_C]

Yes, they probably will be at DVD price level. Or rather, higher if you take into account how cheap alot of DVDs are now.

You can however rip your own DVDs to a Sony compliant video file and download it to your Memory Stick Duo. It won't play at native resolution (which the UMD does) but should look good. The whole native res thing is a ploy on Sony's part to push the UMD format.

 

[Lev-S]

The Sony PSP screen is not 4:3, it's 1.78:1. It is 4.3" diagonal though.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Spider=Man 2 was shot in Super 35. Are you sure the whole movie is cropped, or just the effects sequences?

 

[Craig W]

The world does not need a useless proprietary format.

DVD is a very portable format already and portable players are widely available.

PSP is game machine. Keep it that way!