UMD movie rentals?
posted April 1st 2005 3:40PM
Engadget pal
Dave Zatz delivers again with a special report for us about the prospects
for renting UMD movies for Sony's new
PlayStation Portable (several places have already rent
UMD games). Let's just say that the prospects look dim, at least for the near future:After speaking with several companies it seems like everyone is in wait-and-see mode right now, they'd like to see
what the market penetration of the PSP is first, whether the demand is there for UMD movies, and of course whether Sony
is going to add support UMD drives to set-top boxes or the PlayStation 3. They're also concerned about Sony's plans to
sell online video downloads.
Netflix spokeswoman Catherine England confirms that they definitely have no plans to rent UMDs right now. I assume
this probably due to the shipping system they have in place which is currently designed only for sending out single
DVDs. It might not make sense to invest in the infrastructure needed to deliver UMDs unless there is sufficient
consumer demand.
Blockbuster has no projected availability, but their spokesperson gave me a spiel about it being dependent on what the
distributors and movie studios decide about supporting the UMD format.
Gamefly, a company that offers Netflix-style video game rentals through the
mail hasn't decided yet whether or not they plan to offer UMD movie rentals. They're already offering UMD game
rentals, so they do have the infrastructure in place.
I think Gamefly makes the most sense. Thier customer base is more likely to own a PSP, and they're already renting the UMD games. Netflix is wedded to the DVD untill that format is replaced by something better. Blockbuster might, but I doubt they want to invest the capital in a new format of the same movies they already have in thier stores.
This is such a load of crap.
When will you liberals stop complaining about President Bush and UMD's? We KNOW that the military still hasn't been able to find UMD's, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any.
Please stop all of this nonsense. No more talk about UMD's.
BTW, happy 4/1.
Unless major players like Bluckbuster or CrystalVideo(large chain in PR) adopt this media it is not going anyware in terms of rental.
Nick,
I tink you be mixin up dem UMD's wit da BLT's.
booyakasha
The people who need to be renting these will be AirTunes and other airport-based services. It fits directly in with their business model of renting full DVD's for in-air viewing.
I think those guys at the airport might try them, along with renting the PSP and some games too at the same time. It really fits with that business model.
Here is the problem with UMD... it's only 1.8gb. It would be stupid to put a umd drive in the ps3 or other set top boxes, at least for movies. DVDs are already bad enough, imagine how crappy a low-res downsampled/compressed movie would be on a big screen tv. Sure it might not be that bad if the compression is good, but it still seems like a step backwards. I know I personally wouldn't want UMDs in my movie collection.
You have to think about where people will watch their movie rentals. If someone is staying at home, he'll rent a DVD, since he'd probably rather watch the movie on his TV rather than his PSP.
It seems that most people will watch UMD movies while travelling, like on a plane or car trip. One nice thing about Gamefly is that it's mail-based, so you can drop your UMD rental at any mailbox in the country. If you're there for a couple of days, you could temporarily change your address to where you're staying so you can receive your next UMD movie.
Since Gamefly already rents UMD games, it wouldn't be much of a stretch at all for them to offer the movies. I would rent UMD movies for my quarterly trip from Los Angeles to Vegas, even if I am driving...
What's the point? If I have time to plan a movie night I'll rent or buy the DVD. Picture & sound quality are superior, there's extra features and it's truely universal. And if I'm hellbend on watching it on the go, I can rip the DVD and reencode it for the PSP.
A UMD rental store at the airport might be a different story. But then they would have to let me return it at my destination. And nowadays most airlines have on-demand flight entertainment, so there isn't really any point in rolling your own.
It is purely a question of installed base offering a sufficient subset of customers. Until the numbers are there it's isn't worth considering. When the PSP hits 10 million users in the US it may be a viable market.
The question from there will be the range of choices. If you were renting a title per week you might exhaust the library in just a few months.
Maybe when they cost $3?
Does anyone know where I can rent a copy of Spiderman 2 on UMD?
Man that's a good movie!
Is Kill Bill written by Hillary?
I am waiting for children's titles as UMD rentals. (Baby Einstein, Veggie Tales, Blue's Clues) Hear me out... When you take your young kids out to eat it is nice to have something with which to occupy their attention. We've used a portable DVD player in the past, but the PSP is so much smaller, and it is something we might have already be carrying with us for our own entertainment.
I got good news for psp movie watchers. I recieve an email from Gamefly saying that they will have UMD movies available for rental. This should happen around mid to late may. I cant wait since i enjoy watching movies on my psp more than my dvd player.
I am writing to you now beecause I was looking for a a place to rent UMD's. Enough said! Oh and I am in on buiding the business.
BTW, there are already a few other sites out there renting UMDs beyond Gamefly. Check out Gamelender, RedOctane, Gamerang, and GotaPlay. While you can indeed rip DVDs (or even P2P them) to a memory stick, it's still a pain in the ass for lazy folks like me.
Even if you daily commute, it's nice to be able to watch stuff on UMD. Ultimately it's personal pref. But, I agree UMD is a lame format and likely will never catch on. Seems by creating this lame format that Sony is just begging people to go and get their content elsewhere.