How does everyone feel about UMD (PSP) movies? (1 Viewer)

[Ryan Tsang]

I have a camera phone not by choice but because the model I like for looks/size happens to have a camera also. It was fun for a couple days...that's it. I can't believe people actually take pictures with it. The quality is so crappy why bother even building them? Its only use is to personalize the background. And now they got video phones. So the same shit only longer.

Remember the Nokia N-Gage? What a joke.

PSP? Meh...For games I suppose it's great, though I'm not a gamer. But movies? Get out and do stuff. Not get out and watch the same movie, only smaller and apparently with artifacts and ghosting. Waste of money. No wonder our countries are full of fat credit card debts and even fatter asses.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I originally Bought a PSP to use more as a Media Player, I even have a 1 gig stick on order and have done a bunch of TV Shows and movies to PSP format. UMD looks pretty nice, but I agree that I'd rather have the DVD for often less money. I'm getting pretty Disillusioned with the Media Options ffrom the Memory stick as well. Sony Crippled the machine to not allow for the screen resolution so basically you are stuck with converting to 320x240, you can stretch things and go 368x208 for Widescreen stuff but still it's the same resolution as the stuff I convert for my PDA, trouble is the encodes look better on my PDA becasue the PDA does not have the great screen of the Sony. Sony's excellent screen makes the lower Res really stand out.
Also there's some color smearing becasue of the refresh rate. With my PDA I can use Xvid and use 640x480 res and it looks pretty nice on the PDA and great when I play back on my Dell Widescreen Monitor or my TV. If Sony allowed you to convert to screen res it would look pretty sweet. This may eventually get Hacked in, but for now I think my PSP will remain strictly a Game Machine. Archos is coming out with a 7" Widescreen version of it's Media Player that will have a 40 or 100 gig Hard Drive. Unfortunately the price will be prohibitive. So I'm still looking for the great Handheld Multimedia device.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

To be fair, much of the use of handheld game and/or video devices is when the user is stuck on a train, bus, plane, or other place that they can't "get out and do stuff".

 

[Kain_C]

It just seems to me alot of these "thoughts" (negative ones, that is) are based on complete lack of knowledge or hands on experience with the unit. People say, "oh, it sucks because it's business card sized" and other very incorrect assumptions and they probably haven't even seen one!

I have seen one and, in fact, I sell them and get to play with a demo everyday. I don't have one because my PDA fulfills my multimedia desires and does alot more, which I purchased instead of a PSP. But the PSP is one nice looking unit and it's capabilities are endless. Plus what it does now it does very well, including movies.

BUT the price of the unit, the games, AND the PSP UMDs are outrageous. I know it's portable, and that's what you are paying for. But I still think it a bit much.

I just encourage people to actually mess with one before they make up their minds about it.

 

[TravisR]

"People say, "oh, it sucks because it's business card sized" and other very incorrect assumptions and they probably haven't even seen one!"

I've seen the unit and the screen is 6 inches. That's much bigger than every other handheld but it's smaller than every TV. Technically, it's about the size of 3 business cards.

I'm sure it's cool for games and all but I, personally, can't understand watching a movie on it.

 

[PeterMano]

I have the unit and the screen is 4.3'. That's it. Very large by handheld gaming standards. Very small by movie watching standards. The audio is more impressive than the video presentation when you go through a quality set of headphones as you suffer from fewer compromises. The volume is on the low side, but a good set of earbuds should take care of that.

Imo,the psp is thoroughly impractical for a full length movie. And vids you transfer to mem stick will not have umd quality. But, you're not transferring vids for quality viewing, but rather to kill some downtime. The video capabilities are a perk. The cartoons came out the best of the stuff I've transferred. It's a very bulky mp3 player as well, but, the audio quality is very good.

People need to realize that this is primarily a handheld gaming device. The extra features are just that, extra features. Individuals looking for this to be their handheld multimedia center need to look elsewhere. The whole umd movie thing i view as a fishing expedition. They throw out a few movies and see if anyone bites. An inferior product should carry a lower price tag. POTC on umd is something I might pay for at $10canadian and then again, my $10 would probably be better spent elsewhere. At $30plus canadian, all I can do is point and laugh.

The psp is for playing games. If you're not into games, I don't know why you would bother with a psp. Sony is fond of the swiss army knife approach with their gaming products, but gaming is the core focus here.

 

[Frank@N]

Generally speaking, the PSP is designed to generate revenue for Sony.

For example, the PSP is basically a miniature PS2.

If Sony had wanted to, they could have designed a somewhat larger unit that could have played regular PS1 games, PS2 games, CDs, and DVD software.

One part could have clipped to your belt like a CD player.

A cord could have connected this to a viewscreen/controller like the existing PSP.

However, this design would have generated no significant new software sales and everybody knows that companies loose money on hardware.

Enter the current closed system: buy new games inspired by existing console games and buy new UMDs with existing DVD content.

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Sony has also locked out home-brew development with something called 'Magic Gate'.

Essentially, you can't run a program on the PSP unless Sony authorizes/blesses it.

Forget about emulation...if you want to play on the PSP, Sony must get the software sale.

Even video clips transferred to memory sticks don't display at the PSP's native resolution by default, tipping the scale towards lucrative UMDs.

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Will I buy a PSP? Not likely...

Unless I was stuck on a cramped train for two hours a day.

Even then, I'd still want to use the CDs, games, and DVDs I already bought.

 

[Kain_C]

Yes, but it would not have been PORTABLE, which is the whole point to the PSP.

 

[Holadem]

Thank goodness I grew out of my "gadget" phase. 5-7 years ago I would have been drooling over this thing, not any more! After the initial euphoria, this weird boredom and emptiness settles in... which can only be cured by ANOTHER expensive gizmo. Sounds familiar? I am free and clear

--
H

 

[Jose Q]

I agree with the statement that said that this is a gaming machine first and a multimedia gadget a distant second when it comes to playing movies.

As a PSP owner I can appreciate the extra feature. Some here like to say "screw you Sony" and I guess if you are looking for a place only to look at movies I can understand why. Hell, the battery life ain't great as it is so unless you are a gamer some of you people are barking at the wrong tree here.

A $250 tree.

 

[JohnS]

I have a PSP, and am amazied by it, and never thought I'd be watching movies on it.

I'm a Blackjack dealer and get lots of breaks, and regularly use my PSP, since it fits so nice in my pocket.

and buying PSP movies is perfect for me instead of lunking around my portable DVD player and not having to worry about keeping it still.

The picture quality is outstanding!
you also get some trailers on it which is also cool.

I bought
Ounce Upon a Time in Mexico (OAR)
Pirates of the Caribbean
Resident Evil 2

And they just announced another batch of sony movies to come out soon, these are the ones I'm buying soon.

Charlie's Angels
Hitch

I'm VERY surprised that Fifth Element wasn't announced as a first UMD release.
Fifth Element would look amazing!

SIDE NOTE: WOW! Store(AKA Tower Records) has the cheapest price I've seen for House of Flying Daggers $14.99
everywhere else is $17.99 or $19.95

 

[Chris Will]

I have a PSP but I bought it just for games. I love the thing but I haven't even though twice about buying UMD movies. For me, it is a game machine only. Movies belong on my 50' TV (and movie theaters). Maybe if the UMDs were under $10 but I'm not going to buy Hellboy for $18 on UMD when I can get the 3 disc DVD directors cut for the same price.

 

[Kain_C]

Yes, that about sums it up.

OT, but Chris, is that a Masters Replica item in your sig? My Best Buy recieved some MR Sabers and I was thinking of picking one up.

 

[AaronMK]

I don't think people have to have hands on experience with this device to form opinions about it as a movie player. Of course, I would hope someone would not comment about compression quality and refresh rate issues without hands on experience. However, I don't think people would need hands on experience to say that $250 to watch movies that cost the same price as a DVD on a 4.3 inch display just isn't worth it to them.

I don't have first hand experience with the PSP. Even if I had bought the unit for games, the compression was lossless and the refresh rate infinite, paying DVD prices for movies that can only be played on a 4.3 inch screen at a resolution of 480 x 272 is not worth it to me. That is how I feel about UMD movies. Since I don't need to have experience with a PSP to know the size of a 4.3 inch screen, the maximum qualtiy of a 480 x 272 image, and the price of a DVD (or a UMD for that matter), I feel that opinion is every bit as justified as the person who sees the PSP in action and bases their opinion the video's compression quality and quality of the display.

So please, let's not just automatically invalidate the opinion of someone just because they don't have first hand experience with the device.

 

[Kain_C]

True, and from now on, I think we should accept reviews about DVDs regardless whether or not the reviewer has actually seen the DVD.

That's just nonsense. I really can't believe you even said that. Maybe I am different, but it's hard for me to listen to somone give an opinion on something when they have no experience with it, REGARDLESS of what it is. Sure, they can say it's too expensive or whatnot, but their argument is ALOT more substantial if they have actually interacted with what they are talking about.

It's like saying, "I know the quality of the DVD format, especially if it's 16x9, and given the size of my HUGE HD TV, this copy of ______ will look great.I don't have to see it to know that."

Then you find out that DVD is actually the movie "Hero".

 

[Glen H]

I have the PSP and bought a couple movies Tuesday but really feel that UMD movies are going to be a better as rentals. DVD's I want to own, UMD's I will probably just rent when I know I will be on a road trip or long flight.
I don't see many people thinking about UMD Movies as rental items but if the prices stay high then that is the only way to get them affordably. Has anyone seen them at Blockbusters and the like? (Got enough DVD's that I haven't watched that I haven't rented a DVD/VHS in many years)

 

[AaronMK]

It is also like reading a review saying "I just saw a demonstration of _________ system. The picture quality was incredible, with no compression artifacts or edge-enhancement to be found. The sound made me think the onscreen action was happening right inside the speakers, and that the speakers were silently moving to exactly where the sound should be placed and then making it."

Then you find out it was a demonstration of "Circuit City's Divx".

Are you saying that everyone here who felt certian other aspects inherent the format that made it worthy of extinction would have actually had to use that product first hand to come to that conclusion?

 

[Mario V]

I've read that in Japan, the animated series Koukyoushihen Eureka Seven is coming out on DVD for 4000 yen (about 38$), and in a dual DVD/UMD package for 5000 yen (47$). That's still a little too expensive, but makes more sense - you get a DVD to watch it the right way when you're at home, and a UMD to carry it with you if you want, without paying twice for the same content. It creates less extra revenue than the model Frank@N described, but I think more people are likely to find it compelling. At least I hope this will end up being the norm.

 

[David Galindo]

Time for a good bump.

UMDs have really evolved lately. The New Line UMDs even have 2-3 commentaries and some good bonus features. Prices have gone down from insane ($30) to very reasonable ($12-18).

Not only that, but UMDs are set to pull Hollywood out of a DVD/ticket stump:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9379116/site/newsweek/

UMDs have become quite the interesting format lately...