Could Blu-Ray kill UMD?

[cliffbo]

Sony's PlayStation Portable isn't turning out to be the hot new movie platform many in the bizbiz had hoped.
With sales falling below expectations, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Paramount Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video are cutting back on movie releases for the PSP.

While comedies that appeal to the core young male gamer demo are doing well, execs say other PSP movies simply aren't selling.

Sony handheld device plays games, movies and music.

In a bid to boost the format, execs from SPHE and sister unit Sony Computer Electronics America, which sells the PSP, are touting a new adapter that would allow a user to watch a PSP pic on a TV.

If it's successful, that could overcome widespread criticism that consumers have to buy two separate copies of a movie to watch on PSP and TV.

Execs plan to visit other studios to tout the adapter in the next month.

"It would be a huge boost to (PSP movies) if we can arrange for the disc to play on TV players," said SPHE prexyprexy Ben Feingold.

In the meantime, Sony is cutting back on new releases and adding to its comedy slate for PSP with Monty Python content and "Not Another Teen Movie." Feingold said comedy has turned out to be the sweet spot on the format -- the top-selling PSP release is Fox's "Napoleon Dynamite."

Paramount's biggest PSP successes have been TV comedies such as "Chappelle's Show -- Vol. 1" and "Beavis & Butthead -- The Mike Judge Collection: Vol. 1."

ParPar has no new PSP releases planned for the coming months, though a spokeswoman said the studio would continue to look at releasing select films in the format.

Top PSP movie performers generally sell more than 100,000 units, though the average release posts sales closer to 40,000-50,000 units.

Some have reasoned that sales may have slowed recently because of a shortage of new titles in the last month and because users may be illegally copying films from DVDs onto a memory chip the PSPs can read.

Sony is hoping to combat online piracy starting in March when it begins selling movies online via its Connect digital media store. Users will be able to download a pic and watch it on PSP without a disc.

Warner Home Video, which only began releasing movies in the format in November, pulled six planned PSP titles, including "Goodfellas," from its slate of releases previously set for an April-June rollout.

"We are re-evaluating our position on any future releases at this time," said Jeff Baker, Warner senior VP and general manager of theatrical catalog. "We're looking at this on a case-by-case basis. We're disappointed with consumer demand at this time."

The studio moves come as retailers are said to be cutting out shelf space for PSP movies with hit-and-miss sales.

"We continue to carry most new titles," said Virgin buyer Chris Anstey, "and there is a modest demand for them, but there simply hasn't been a consistent growth of this new format to justify making more space for it. We have been encouraged by the results of a couple successful campaigns that we've featured to help promote them, but the overall impact of the format has still been nominal."

Industryites say retailers are being flooded with new discs and view underperforming PSP movies as an area for cutbacks with upcoming high-def releases set to reach market in the coming months.

"With standard definition, HD DVD, Blu-ray and PSP, all these formats take up space," said one retail source. "Consumers aren't going to buy three or four configurations of the same movie. Something has to give."

Sony recently announced it would start bundling some DVD and UMD titles, including "The Grudge," "Underworld""Underworld" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," in combo packs priced at $28.95, slightly higher than for DVDs alone.

Overall, Sony has shipped more than 6 million PSP units worldwide since it went on sale a year ago, making it a moderate success but not a smash hit. Nintendo DS, another handheld gaming system that went on sale a few months earlier, has shipped 14.4 million units

Six million???!!! thought it was more than that.

link:http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117938320?categoryid=18&cs=1&s=h&p=0

[venomv]

Big suprise there, appearently the chick fliks aren't doing well on PSP! Last I heard they were suprised it was doing so well, not the other way around.

And I could have sworn I saw 10 Mil somewhere here, and that was in January.

[BlueTsunami]

I would just rip whatever DVD I have and put it on my memory stick. UMDs just seem like a convenience thing more than anything. Though...I can't talk since I still own a 32MB MS Duo...

:(

I did encode a 15MB video file once...just to see what video on PSP looks like...

Note: Yes that 15MB video file was porn

[Viper]

Where's that guy with the sig knocking my predictions for UMD now?



The 6 million shipped figure sounds way, way too low. Shipped is probably closer to 13-14 million. Perhaps the 6 million figure is for UMD's?

[CrumCon]

Well, sony could focus using UMD for portable devices. I thought they already announched this, that they will release UMD music/video portable player to the market.

If they dont want to kill UMD.. it should be wise to not make any UMD drives for the living room, UMD/DVD/Blu-Ray player combo for example.

[xbdestroya]

I don't even understand what this article has to do with BLu-ray knocking off UMD at all. Shelf space concerns? Cliffbo you gotta work on these thread titles! Something better would have been: "UMD sales slowing down"

Anyway good read, I'm interested to see what form the TV adaptor might take.

[Domination]

Big suprise there, appearently the chick fliks aren't doing well on PSP! Last I heard they were suprised it was doing so well, not the other way around.

And I could have sworn I saw 10 Mil somewhere here, and that was in January.

And you were right....or atleast somewhat close. business chart (http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/bizdatapsp_e.html)

Note that this is February and not December...anymore. :thumbl:

[Viper]

Based on sales since then, I'd guess 16.1 million now.

[cliffbo]

And you were right....or atleast somewhat close. business chart (http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/bizdatapsp_e.html)

Note that this is February and not December...anymore. :thumbl:

thought so! where'd they get the figure 6 from. cheers

[Viper]

I was guessig it might be the number of UMDs shipped. I haven't seen many figures on that before and last I saw it was 4 million sometime last year.

[cliffbo]

I don't even understand what this article has to do with BLu-ray knocking off UMD at all. Shelf space concerns? Cliffbo you gotta work on these thread titles! Something better would have been: "UMD sales slowing down"

Anyway good read, I'm interested to see what form the TV adaptor might take.

"With standard definition, HD DVD, Blu-ray and PSP, all these formats take up space," said one retail source. "Consumers aren't going to buy three or four configurations of the same movie. Something has to give."
he's basically saying here that he may pull umd off of his displays because of blu-ray and hd-dvd. :)

[xbdestroya]

he's basically saying here that he may pull umd off of his displays because of blu-ray and hd-dvd. :)

Yeah but that one sentence is hardly the thrust of that article. Not to mention, he doesn't even imply that he'll take one of the shelves - just exclaiming that 'something has to give,' which certainly I would agree with from a retail store perspective.

[cliffbo]

Yeah but that one sentence is hardly the thrust of that article. Not to mention, he doesn't even imply that he'll take one of the shelves - just exclaiming that 'something has to give,' which certainly I would agree with from a retail store perspective.

and if its umd it could kill it. to be honest with Sony set to push downloadable content on PS3 this isn't looking good for UMD. still interesting though. :)

[Domination]

Where's that guy with the sig knocking my predictions for UMD now?



The 6 million shipped figure sounds way, way too low. Shipped is probably closer to 13-14 million. Perhaps the 6 million figure is for UMD's?

I'm going to be honest. I haven't purchased a UMD movie since I had my PSP, although I'm really considering Final Fantasy: Advent Children. But I believe as long as UMD movies are limited to the handheld unit at the price they are, sales are going to continue to fall. And with Sony now advancing to location free, it's only going to make it worst for those not prefering to carry around a dozen UMD disc, or disc period, everywhere they go. So really, they are kinda competiting against themselves.

I mean really, since the memory stick is designed for multi media, I try to take advanatge of it in every way.

[bilbobob007]

Just an observation. I think the movies are just too expensive at the end of the day. Plus, who wants to own two copies of a movie one just in case they get bored of games playing on those long journeys. Or when your following the old woman doing the shopping. They do look mighty good tho on those little screens.

[cliffbo]

*edit* sorry

[cliffbo]

Just an observation. I think the movies are just too expensive at the end of the day. Plus, who wants to own two copies of a movie one just in case they get bored of games playing on those long journeys. Or when your following the old woman doing the shopping. They do look mighty good tho on those little screens.

go to userCP at top of page and spruce it up a little bilbo. i agree by the way, and even though i don't know you i'm liking you already :)

[Raijin]

The number they are giving for PSP is way too low! ~8M PSP were sold in the end of December and around 10M shipped. However, I'm not too surprised if UMD arent flying from shelves off. We didnt hear PR annoucement since months on UMD movies. So yeah, not too surprised here...

[cliffbo]

The number they are giving for PSP is way too low! ~8M PSP were sold in the end of December and around 10M shipped. However, I'm not too surprised if UMD arent flying from shelves off. We didnt hear

as someone pointed out earlier i think they got their wires crossed and posted the sales figures for the UMDs themselves (accidentally of course) there are 15million PSPs out there.

more than DS i believe (http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/bizdatapsp_e.html)

[Fats]

Well, this certainly sucks. UMD movies seemed to actually be doing well for a while but as someone mentioned before with Sony pushing for downloadable content the sales of UMD's are sure to drop.

[Viper]

as someone pointed out earlier i think they got their wires crossed and posted the sales figures for the UMDs themselves (accidentally of course) there are 15million PSPs out there.

more than DS i believe (http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/bizdatapsp_e.html)
Sorry but DS still leads though the race is and has been a very close and good one.

[Fats]

Well it would do, what with the high PSP selling point and pretty crap line up!

*pout*

[Coded-Dude]

Um, UMD did surprisingly well, becasue of that they flooded the market with all kinds of crap movies that no one wants to buy or watch while on the run.
Why did it do so well in the first place.......?
Becasue they strategically launched certain movies: action, anime, comdey - those will contiunue to do well(IMHO)
Also, becasue there were limited games at first...movie sales did better than games, but I would expect a complete reversal of the two sales trends once more of a variety of games come out(which is happening right now).
and yes Viper I still think your statement was exagerated

[venomv]

There are movied for UMD that I might buy if I had a PSP, well maybe not since I don't buy movies, but if I did I would, lol.

[Fats]

I'm going on holiday this year, so I'm sure I'll buy a few... Or I could just buy a memory stick.

[cliffbo]

The company has sold 14.4 million DS units worldwide including 6 million in Japan, and aims to reach sales of 10 million DS devices in Japan alone by the end of 2006, Iwata said.
these are the 15 feb 2006 fugures by the way.

15.03 million units (Japan: 4.20 million/ USA: 5.81 million/ Europe: 5.02 million)PSP
these are 31 dec 2005 figures.

has the DS done that well considering they had a good headstart. looks like the PSP is selling more to me

[xbdestroya]

PSP is strong in the US and Europe, but surprisingly (almost shockingly) weak compared to DS in the Japanese home market. I think that PS3 will increase PSP's appeal greatly however. Not sure if UMD will leave UMD in the lurch though or what, since it definitely seems that it will be moving to being a digital content platform. Still though Blu-ray movies bundled with their UMD counterparts could aid in increasing adoption of all Sony's tied-in platforms in a complementary fashion.

[Viper]

these are the 15 feb 2006 fugures by the way.

15.03 million units (Japan: 4.20 million/ USA: 5.81 million/ Europe: 5.02 million)PSP
these are 31 dec 2005 figures.

has the DS done that well considering they had a good headstart. looks like the PSP is selling more to me
Those are shipped figures, not sold.
DS has actually sold over 15 million now.

[Domination]

PSP is strong in the US and Europe, but surprisingly (almost shockingly) weak compared to DS in the Japanese home market. I think that PS3 will increase PSP's appeal greatly however. Not sure if UMD will leave UMD in the lurch though or what, since it definitely seems that it will be moving to being a digital content platform. Still though Blu-ray movies bundled with their UMD counterparts could aid in increasing adoption of all Sony's tied-in platforms in a complementary fashion.

In fear of revealing too much about the PS3, I think Sony is holding back a lot of information on the PSP. So all this new stuff we're hearing about the handheld right now, I think it's only the begining of what's to come.

As far as the bundle, I still think Sony is comepting with themselves, but this may be a start to correcting the slumping sales. I mean, don't get me wrong. Not only do UMD movies have a much better resolution rate than most preloaded content, but it also allows you to take advantage of more PSP features when in playback mode. But I just don't think the difference is enough to sway consumers by the amount they're hoping for, especially if Blu Ray provides an equal to greater resolution rate on the handheld. We'll see what happens.

Those are shipped figures, not sold.
DS has actually sold over 15 million now.

Well, seeing how those numbers were taken at the end of last year and this being the middle of February, at the rate the PSP's been selling, theoretically, we can infer that those numbers aren't very far off at all. But that's in theory. :) Frankly, I don't really care. In my eyes, both handhelds have done a phenomenal job in the portable space. So as a end result, the both are considered winners, IMO.

[Z]

first off, let us not make this a sale comparison thread between two units since tis isn't the topic of the thread.
and of course, DS and PSP are both doing exceptionally good. PSP is Sony's best selling and fastest groing unit in its history (yes, even biggere than PS2's record!) and Ninty couldn't be happier with DS sales. both have sold 15+ million units in around a year from launch. if that isn't impressive, I don't know what is. remember; you don't have to be in the lead to make profits and be successful- especially if it is such a close race.

another thing is; what has BD have to do with UMD? someone might want to clear this up or we need to change the threat title.

[Coded-Dude]

another thing is; what has BD have to do with UMD? someone might want to clear this up or we need to change the threat title.
might they be tempted to scrap UMD and create some microBD disc.....?
Thats abotu all I could imagine as areason for BD to kill UMD
But whos to say Sony is not making money on UMD already.
( there are a lot of titles out there now - movies and games - some even platinum)

[Danji]

Seriously though, am I the only person ever who has enjoyed UMD movies? Not like "man I wish they were cheaper" or "hey I have this on DVD but now I want it portable" but instead the sentiment is "now it's convenient enough for me to spare the time to watch this finally!" I don't know a single soul who shares that sentiment..

[Smokey]

i have never bought a umd i just burn them off dvds i have. i have about 16-20 gig worth of movies on dvdrws and more coming.

[Coded-Dude]

Seriously though, am I the only person ever who has enjoyed UMD movies? Not like "man I wish they were cheaper" or "hey I have this on DVD but now I want it portable" but instead the sentiment is "now it's convenient enough for me to spare the time to watch this finally!" I don't know a single soul who shares that sentiment..

I enjoy them, but I usually don't have time for an entire movie.
(except of coure for weeks like this one)
flying to LA, driving to vegas and back, then flying back to Sac
I will obvisouly play a lot of games, but I will also watch several movies.
But day to day, I usually just watch formatted TV shows(family guy, chapelle show) and music videos mostly
I own about a dozen movies and two dozen games!

I with you Danji :drunks:

[edoshin]

I enjoy them a lot. It is not a substitute for a dvd collection by a far margin, but I like having some of my favorite movies on UMD. I will not buy it for the "lesser" movies .. those I will rip to ms. But movies such as Kung Fu Hustle, or the LOTR type movies, I would not mind owning both the dvd version, and the UMD version. In a way, I can see why UMD struggles. As much as I like UMDs, I will not build as large a library as I would for the dvds. I hope UMD does well enough to always have the latest greatest titles.

[OmniCloud]

I don't see the need for UMD...I mean soon PSP will have legal downloadable movies with Connect-then down the road all the cross-platform media sharing with your PS3. What's the point? Resolution? I'm sure u can put some High-quality movies files on your PSP-if those damn memory sticks would come down in price a bit-which they will soon enough. Don't get me wrong, my girlfriend is probably gonna get me one (PSP) for my birthday and i couldn't be more excitied. I am RPG fanatic so there really isn't all that much a reason for me to pick up a PSP just yet-but then again neither is it one for DS either. I want to get a couple games and watch movies on the go. But UMD's really are like an appertizer and the main course is DVD-and soon HDDVD and BD. They should have realized that and made UMD $15 and less...U can't charge full price for a portion of the meal. BTW-I am one of the few people waiting for AC in April-but u can bet ur ass if i have a psp by then I'll download that sucka right onto on memory stick...And do PSP sells match DS worldwide? I know DS hardware and software are spankin everyone's ass in Japan, but what about worldwide-some credible statistics would be appreciated.

[Coded-Dude]

VIper did a great sales chart comparison thread, but I didn't see it in a quick search.
*goes to dig deeper*


....its was you right Viper?
[EDIT]
BOOM HEADSHOT! (http://forums.e-mpire.com/showthread.php?t=50516&highlight=sales)
there is the sales chart my friend
{I thought uk was in there too, but after looking, it only US/Japan}

[Danji]

Hrmm..well the reason why I like UMD movies is because I don't sit in any one place long enough to watch movies. I like how I can pick up right where I was when I have some spare time. I think it's awesom and I'm more open to buy movies on UMD than DVD because of that.

As for sales of the DS and PSP..really, who gives a crap? Yay, Sony's doing good. Yay, Nintendo's doing good. What about us? I don't post my financial income up here? (though that is an interesting thought..) I mean, it's interesting stuff but this is not the thread for that.

Anyone looking for a DS VS PSP war go to the DS boards..they won't stop it. :eek2:

[cliffbo]

might they be tempted to scrap UMD and create some microBD disc.....?
Thats abotu all I could imagine as areason for BD to kill UMD
But whos to say Sony is not making money on UMD already.
( there are a lot of titles out there now - movies and games - some even platinum)

if you read the quote at the beginning of the thread you will see why i called it this. its simple: shelf space. its not technical its logical. if you own a shop and want to sell a perticular product some things are sometimes sacrificed in order to have a good showing of the product you wish to sell. blu-ray being new could take the umd space which would effectively give umd a poor showing in a lot of retailers. a poor showing collates to a lack of support. a lack of support consequently leads to lower profits. lower profits cause producers of said product to drop further support. consequence: death of the format. thats without downloadable content in the pipeline and possible Umd movies sold embedded on blu-ray. this is not a contentious issue, its logic. :)
"With standard definition, HD DVD, Blu-ray and PSP, all these formats take up space," said one retail source. "Consumers aren't going to buy three or four configurations of the same movie. Something has to give."
that something he's talking about is PSP

[OmniCloud]

As for sales of the DS and PSP..really, who gives a crap? Yay, Sony's doing good. Yay, Nintendo's doing good. What about us? I don't post my financial income up here? (though that is an interesting thought..) I mean, it's interesting stuff but this is not the thread for that.

Anyone looking for a DS VS PSP war go to the DS boards..they won't stop it.
Wow...i didn't know handheld wars were that serious...I mean-its easier to get more than one handheld i thought-i mean, i know PSP is kinda steep but still, these are portable machines?! anyway, i hope there is some way to burn UMD's to ur PSP in the future.

[Z]

Seriously though, am I the only person ever who has enjoyed UMD movies? Not like "man I wish they were cheaper" or "hey I have this on DVD but now I want it portable" but instead the sentiment is "now it's convenient enough for me to spare the time to watch this finally!" I don't know a single soul who shares that sentiment..
I fully agree with you. I am one of those that thought the screen will be too small that I won't even see the eyes of actors clearly. small things will look fuzzy and so on. boy was I wrong. thank God Sony bundled it with not only movie and music video footage, but with a full feature movie! that really showed people how good the quality is. and that is the reason I never got a handheld (ever!) because everything on the market was pathetic. I want something with at least acceptable quality (by my standards). I want to look at a picture and not having it look like a freaky mosaic portraits from all the squares! i want to see videos that look as good (if not better) than what I get on my TV, not like those illegal laundry movies! I want to play games that make me feel they came out sometime this century, not excavated from some dinosaur dig somewhere. I got all that on my PSP and I'm lovin' every second of it (have you seen Tekken PSP?! God Damn Hot!).

I don't see the need for UMD...I mean soon PSP will have legal downloadable movies with Connect-then down the road all the cross-platform media sharing with your PS3. What's the point?
the point is that broadband downloads of full feature movies and games hasn't taken off yet. hard formats will be around for a lomg time. sure PC publishers have been working on digital distribution, but ti is still far from being main stream. we are going there, though.

might they be tempted to scrap UMD and create some microBD disc.....?
mark my words: the next Sony gaming handheld will have BD UMDs (without the case cover) and a Cell! and it will be released in March 2009! by that time, Duos will be 30G in size and cost only $99. which means publishers may try to use small and cheaper ones with or in place of BD UMDs. oh, and it'll have another damn analogue nob!

[OmniCloud]

Well i won't ponder into the future just yet..I'm still focused on the near future of PSP.. I already own a DS and even though its sales are tearin it up in Japan-I hardly use the thing. I guess Mario and Nintendogs just doesn't interest me anymore. But I don't want to get a PSP with a dying format and expensive memory either..."sigh" What should I do?..:shrug: