UMD about to be ditched by Wal-Mart?

More bad news for Sony's UMD format: after word last month that several studios were cutting back on UMD releases or dropping support for the format entirely, it now looks like the discs are about to lose coveted shelf space in America's largest retailer. According to reports, Wal-Mart is expected to stop selling UMDs, though the company has declined to comment on the rumors. Nevertheless, a spot-check of a Wal-Mart store by journos at the Hollywood Reporter found the discs to be in scant supply, with just a handful stacked haphazardly among the PSPs. Of course, this may not mean the end for the UMD format; Wal-Mart certainly isn't the only place to buy them. However, as it gets easier (and cheaper) to use tools like the Neuros Recorder to get flicks onto the PSP, the already meager demand for films on UMD is likely to continue to dwindle, further discouraging retailers and studios. But, hey, that means you should be able to pick up remaining inventory for next to nothing on eBay and from liquidators as stores race to clear out stock. That may not be good news for Sony, but it could be a short-term boon for video-hungry PSP owners.

[matt @ Mar 30th 2006 11:16AM]

I always had trouble seeing why I should pay for a movie two times because I wanted to watch it on the go...

[.ed @ Mar 30th 2006 11:21AM]

It makes sense now why the 3 closest Wal-Mart's to where I live replaced thier UMD sections with Nintendo DS wall demo units and generic video game accessories over the past weeks.

Note: I do not often shop at walmart but was looking for a crappy movie in the dollar bins and happened to notice this trend. I never found my dollar movie treasure.

[William @ Mar 30th 2006 11:27AM]

Good move Walmart. Now you can put more "useful" products in place where the UMD movies were.

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Mar 30th 2006 11:27AM]

I do not know about you, but most of my video comes from Internet. I'm huge anime fan - and all stuff appearing on Japanese TV first comes to Internet - ripped, fansubbed and encoded to DivX/x264.

Besides anime, I watch many videos from camcoder. And for TV I still use TV ;-)

IOW, If I can not burn the UMD disk - PSP's video playback capabilities does mean nothing.

P.S. Thou I like idea of small form factor disk. 5" DVDs are way too big for most of my pockets. 3" is about right size. Unfortunately HD/BD-DVD are all again 5" :-(

[Elias @ Mar 30th 2006 11:27AM]

I never understood why they priced UMD movies more expensive than DVD movies. You're going to watch it on a small screen, and not get any special features, content, surround-sound, etc.

-- Elias

[Ed @ Mar 30th 2006 11:33AM]

This shouldn't be a surprise to anybody, not even SONY. I mean c'mon, some of these flix were priced as high as $29.99 when released. Why on Earth would anybody pay that much for less content than you receive on a DVD? These things should have been in the $5-$12 range from the very beginning. At that price, I'd guarantee they'd practically fly off the shelves.

[shoe @ Mar 30th 2006 11:40AM]

The argogant stupidity of Sony launching the format was bloody obvious from the get go. Their on-going (and increasingly failing) attempts to have proprietary formats in every possible product category is laughable. Sure they can succeed with GAMES in UMD format as consumers have never had much of a issue with a different game cartridges / discs for consoles - mainly because the games can only be used on the specific console anyways. But to think that they could succeed in getting movies to take off on umd without even releasing other consumer hardware (duh) that uses the format is a retarded joke. Stupid, stupid, stupid - Sony has not succeeded in with a number of attempts to establish proprietary formats now: their a-trac format was big failure for music (they ended up going mp3 - like 2 years after a-trac was obviously a failure), they have only half succeeded with memory stick (at best), and now the management at the company shows the ignorance and unwillingnees to learn by wasting its cash promoting UMD as a mainstream movie format while also promoting blu-ray? Jesus sony - wake up. You obviously are not 1-10th as omnipotent as you think you are. Why in hell would the movie studios suddenly produce movies in 4 formats: hd, blu-ray, existing DVD - and also UMD just for Sony?!?! Should have learned their lesson with Beta-max. Is anybody surprised by this?

[Jake @ Mar 30th 2006 11:41AM]

I agree with Ed, if they really wanted this media format to catch they should have at least made it make sence to purchase. The other big problem with UMD is its basically only used for the PSP, no other players, not even the PS3. But the single biggest problem is its not an open format. If they released a UMD burner and blanks I'd be willing to pay up to $150 for the burner and $1 a disc. But they didn't so I'm stuck with my 1GB MS duo (until 4gb comes out) and having to swap out my MP4 movies that I've encoded from DVD to it. Maybe the UMD format was created to drive MS duo sales?

[funnymansony @ Mar 30th 2006 11:42AM]

I am suprised. What do you guys mean that you weren't "suprised" or "shocked"? I've collected over 100 UMD titles thinking it'd be the form factor of the future. How could sony have been wrong? Why, why why?

[Tareq Ashry @ Mar 30th 2006 11:46AM]

I mean you can get DVDs for �5, instead of UMDs for �15-20

[iptydafu @ Mar 30th 2006 11:49AM]

Whatever their push on the hardware end, Sony perpetually and psychotically insists on their ridiculous proprietary formats. I cannot comprehend how a company the size of Sony, has endured with this mindset. Honestly, is it in their corporate charter somewhere? Who keeps this idea going with them? They just continue to get burned, and otherwise very nice products wind up being marginalized because of it.

[Robert @ Mar 30th 2006 11:50AM]

Jake makes a good point about Sony's use of their memory stick format. I think it's interesting that Sony would invent the UMD format so that publishers could release content on it, and then also boost their memory stick format which completely bypasses the reason to by any content in UMD. Sony made the format fail and no one else is to blame for poor sales.

It makes you wonder if downloading content to the harddrive of the PS3, either music, games, or movies, will just be Sony's second attempt to kill another media format in thier BD discs.

[matharvest @ Mar 30th 2006 11:52AM]

This could be particularly pleasant if it spurs Sony to release UMD recorders. So long as they were re-writable, it could provide a cheaper alternative to mem-sticks for video/music/downloaded games (remember, Sony is launching the game downloading service later this year).

Imagine being able to burn 1.8gigs of your purchases to a UMD, even if not rewritable, so that you don't have to keep it on your memstick?

[Jason @ Mar 30th 2006 12:01PM]

Open it up and offer blank media and burners {what they should have done from the get-go}, or move to a hard drive based PSP and ditch UMD all together.

[Ash @ Mar 30th 2006 12:02PM]

Considering these costs upto �15 more than the equivilant DVD at normal retail prices is it any suprise it failed miserably?? If they were �5/�8 I would buy them, or if they packaged them with DVDs I'd use them, but buy them for extra, when I can buy the DVD, rip it to a memory stick and play it back without using nearly as much battery... Hmmm.. Tough decision that!

[Cal @ Mar 30th 2006 12:03PM]

i'd love to pick them up on clearance, if you're traveling they make it easier to carry around video content than anemic 1 and 2 gig memory sticks

[marcin @ Mar 30th 2006 12:08PM]

Maybe this wil force Sony to make UMD-R burners and some UMD players aka dvd players

[Brian @ Mar 30th 2006 12:09PM]

The Wal-Mart nearest me has a big selection of them. There's some near the PSP and other video game stuff, then there's also actually a whole rack devoted to them with the rest of the movies.

[Andy @ Mar 30th 2006 12:42PM]

I agree with several others in this post. The format is doomed from the start being proprietary. UMD copying although it would promote illegal game copying would also inspire many more to use the psp boosting unit sales.
I dunno but as a psp owner myself I would be more apt to continue using unit if I could just burn whatever I want to a umd disc versus using a 2gb duo stick that costs almost as much as what I paid for the psp.

[charlie @ Mar 30th 2006 12:45PM]

Yeah, these things might have actually been successful marketed at $7 or $8, people could by them on the whim. At the full price of a DVD (often more), people will always go with the DVD.

[Ethan @ Mar 30th 2006 12:45PM]

A format with limited use is essentially worthless. Put UMD in laptops, pcs, pdas, stand alone players, introduce a burner, and make it a legit form of media.

Otherwise, it will end up with a limited fan base and all but disappear -- just like the mini disc.

[Chris @ Mar 30th 2006 12:52PM]

I had to break the bad news to my mom last weekend that the UMD she bought a few weeks ago can't be played in their DVD player. I wonder if many UMD purchases are due to ignorance?

[Woody @ Mar 30th 2006 12:58PM]

The price was exactly why I never bought any UMD's. Huge rip off. It should be a companion to any DVD's that you bought. You already own the movie, so technically all you should pay for is the cost of the UMD itself, not the movie. You are legally able to my backups of your own movies. And this could technically be called a backup, as long as you own the DVD.

It was a poor move to price them so high. They could have at least started them out low, and as the sold more, slowly raise the price.

I'm glad to see them go. Hopefully other store will follow suit, especially online store. I hate going to the PSP section only to see that all the new releases are UMD's and not games.

[hemmy @ Mar 30th 2006 1:03PM]

@6: You can thank Hollywood studios for setting those outrageous prices...

[Thill @ Mar 30th 2006 1:14PM]

I am starting to think that in about a year, you can do a find and replace for "UMD" with "Blu-Ray"....

[Jamie @ Mar 30th 2006 1:29PM]

Will Sony ever learn that it'll never win the format wars with its proprietary technology.

Betamax, MiniDisc, MemoryStick, ATRAC3 and now UMD. History repeats itself repeats itself repeats itself...

Slightly OT, but what made me laugh most of all was the fact that they took so long in allowing their Network Walkman products (MP3 players to any normal person) to play MP3 files rather than those DRMed ATRAC3 files that you could only load using that horrendous SonicStage software. Works for Apple with iTunes, but you were a bit late to the game Sony, as always!

[Dster76 @ Mar 30th 2006 1:32PM]

I was confused by Sony's ridiculous insistence on closed, proprietary formats, until I remembered what kind of company Sony is. Not only do they sell consumer electronics, but, for many many years, they have also been content purveyors.

Yes, there have been format failures over the years. But , for the most part, consumers have been willing to pay over and over again for overlapping content in different formats (reels, 8-tracks, records, tapes, CDs).

I hope that what we're seeing is, like in so many other places, the unique result of widespread digital content - we are becoming hostage less and less to formats, since a bit is a bit is a bit.

[Thill @ Mar 30th 2006 1:38PM]

#24. I am not even Jewish and I was offended by your remark about Hollywood. This is not 1939 Nazi Germany you dirtbag... Educate yourself before making such racial idiotic remarks like this. Last time I checked, Sony had their own movie studios in Hollywood and can set their own damn prices. And last time I checked, Sony was a Japanese held company. Don't think there are too many Japanese Jews out there last I heard.. Your such a moron....

Why don't you face the music and realize that UMD failed just like half the other Sony formats failed.

If there is a moderator on this site they should ban you from posting such ignorant comments like this in the future..

[new0rder @ Mar 30th 2006 2:00PM]

99 cents bins here I come. Love the news.

[oshean @ Mar 30th 2006 2:20PM]

I just got the Neuros MPEG4 Recorder 2 earlier this week and it's well worth the price. $150 buys you what... 7-8 UMD discs or a Neuros Recorder with unlimited video encoding.

[Adam @ Mar 30th 2006 2:25PM]

Sony, once again you throw something out there expecting it to be the best and better than everything but once again you're wrong..........Beta, Minidisk, rootkits in CDs, UMD. Sony needs to accept the fact that they need to stop making proprietary stuff and expecting the whole world to conform to its thoughts and plans. You should make products that consumers want, not make products and expect consumers to want it.

[PS3RULEZ @ Mar 30th 2006 2:26PM]

Holy crap, I didn't think both the retards who routinely post to this site and the dumbass interns who rewrite the press releases would actually fail to see the rather broad joke in railing at Hollywood Jews in an incoherent, misspellt diatribe.

Guess I overestimated even you...

[Tom Kelman @ Mar 30th 2006 2:33PM]

@31 - Just noticed that the post has been removed, but couldn't have put it better myself. Good.

[Thill @ Mar 30th 2006 2:39PM]

#31. Thanks Engadget for banning this idiot.

PS3Rulez, "misspellt" is not even a word in the dictionary, your feable attempt at a recovery is not going to work here..

Go back and get your GED... Maybe Sony has some "Sesame Street" videos on UMD format that you can use to improve your communication skills...

Enough said..

[PS3RULEZ @ Mar 30th 2006 2:50PM]

My "feable" attempt at recovery?

Uh, did you intend to type that, bonehead? :-)

[Raider @ Mar 30th 2006 3:09PM]

Even though I can understand why they would get rid of those. They still sell movies on tapes, which hardly anyone ever buys. At least at all the WalMarts I've been to anyways.

[Thill @ Mar 30th 2006 3:10PM]

Oops.. Maybe I need to borrow that Sesame Street UMD video when you are done with it :)

Doh.. I forgot, like nearly the rest of the free world, I don't own a player that supports the UMD format...

[JetJaguar @ Mar 30th 2006 3:11PM]

Well, I'm a big PSP fan, but even I found UMD unforgiveable and - as Jamie (#25) pointed out - inexplicable given the abject failure of their previous proprietary formats.

What's obvious to everyone, except Sony, is that the conflicts of interest between their hardware and content arms are irreconcilable. A formal and final split of the two is long, long overdue.

[Robert @ Mar 30th 2006 4:00PM]

Interesting. I actually just noticed that walmart near me. Regina, Saskatchewan Canada. Just put up a huge display of UMDs. Before i never noticed them being there. Although personally id never buy a movie to watch on a handheld device. I got the impression that because of the new rather large displays that it was indeed really popular.

[skuzmak @ Mar 30th 2006 4:22PM]

RE:#37
I always thought Regina was a pretty cutting edge place... :)

[raindog @ Mar 30th 2006 4:26PM]

If Wal-Mart is about to dump UMD movies, it's sure not for lack of trying. As of the last time I was in my local Wal-Mart super center, about a week and a half ago, they had an entire endcap of just UMD movies as well as half a case full in their PSP section (presumably taking up the space available due to a lack of games that move enough units to make Wal-Mart happy.)

The DS didn't even have its own case, instead taking up half of the Xbox case, while its display unit with True Swing Golf was about 20 feet away attached to the GBA case.

I always assumed that Sony was doing some kind of "if you promote the UMD stuff, we'll give you twice as much marketing money for all our other stuff" backroom dealing with the shops who position the PSP and UMD movies as if they're wildly popular, because I have yet to even meet someone in real life who has one, yet they're prominently displayed in every store while the DS is relegated to somewhere in back. I know more people who are willing to watch Desperate Housewives reruns on a 2" ipod screen.

[Camperton @ Mar 30th 2006 4:26PM]

Price. Price. Price. Like someone said : Who wants to pay a huge premium on something with such limited use. Expecially one (devoid of extras) that can only be watched on one device. If the PSP had video out built in from the get go and the discs were priced at around $10-12 for new releases and $8-10 for catalog I think they might have had a chance. It's funny, writing those numbers even they seem high.

[daschupa @ Mar 30th 2006 4:35PM]

It's a strange format anyway, I mean, why would anyone pay more for less content at a lower resolution. To me, if you are going to release something for an inferior format, you should add bonuses like mini games to play on the psp or psp demos (a lot of movie companies have their own game development studios). Or at least videos should be released that aren't your typical DVD variety, package Mega Man 8 with the Mega Man anime UMD disc.

[WGIII @ Mar 30th 2006 6:18PM]

I'm not really too surprised myself. As being an early psp owner (i purchased mine in Japan at release) and just only picking up one umd movie later on. I had always hoped that the price of umd movies would drop after the intial release. I agree with the forum posters about price and format alienating a large public demand.

I wonder does this mean a possible price reduction on current supply from stores to releave their inventory.
One can only hope for $9.99 umd movie deals.

[Reg @ Mar 30th 2006 6:32PM]

Is there any way yet of encoding video in the PSP native screen resolution of 480x272...?

The video on UMD discs looks so sharp because it is at the full resolution, whereas self-encoded video (including that Neuros thing) maxes out at 368x208.

I wonder if the death of UMD would cause Sony to open up full resolution playback?

[TyLord @ Mar 30th 2006 6:37PM]

Sony is the greediest company EVER! I hope this makes them lose alot of cash.

If they didn't charge such a rediculous price and not keep everything proprietary, maybe it would've worked. But no one with half a brain, is going to buy a movie, with less features on a sh*tty format for more money than a dvd. Complete idiocy. F*CK SONY!

[TyLord @ Mar 30th 2006 6:41PM]

And f*ck blu-ray too. The media world has completely lost there ways and minds.

http://fuckbluray.com/boycott

[Reg @ Mar 30th 2006 6:43PM]

This shows why a company like Sony is an "old media" company, and a company like Apple is "new media."

Sony thought UMD could follow DVD - the old method of video distribution. Apple used internet downloads - the new method.

Now, the 4" PSP widescreen is much better than the 2.5" iPod 4:3 screen for watching Battlestar Galactica (I download torrents of them and encode them using PSP Video 9), but Apple's model is far more successful, because they get how people want to obtain video. Sony had UMD versions of Doctor Who, which is good show, but I'd never buy it in UMD form.

What Apple really needs is a 4" widescreen in an iPod.

If/when one is released, my 60GB iPod will be on EBay faster than you can say "portable video nirvana!"

[c.Lake @ Mar 30th 2006 6:56PM]

Do you think Sony has finally learned their lesson? No? I don't either.

[c.Lake @ Mar 30th 2006 8:20PM]

If you guys want to get a BIGGER laugh... read the actual article, it's from Yahoo News. Then pick your jaw up off the floor.

Isn't Sony in the business of MAKING money? Or are there dumb-ass working for Sony? Connect the PSP to the TV? WTF? I really hope that the movie studios tell Sony where to stick it this idea. Man, I never thought I see the day when I'd be rooting for the MPAA, but here it is.