Author Topic: It's about time, DVD-UMD Bundles (Read 8612 times)

Shecky · « **on:** February 09, 2006, 02:29:27 AM »

Looks like Sony finally plans on releasing DVD-UMD bundles. Seems rather reasonable too, $5 or so premium.

Every PSP owner I know hated the concept of individual UMD movies for ~ $30, expressing that they'd rather pick up a bundle for a slight premium. I wonder what took Sony so long to come out with them... arrogance in the format? or clever marketing to get the most profit out of the format?

Source

UncleBob · « **Reply #1 on:** February 09, 2006, 02:51:29 AM »

I can see the commericals now...

"Coming soon, DVDs you already own, now packed with UMDs - for $15 more than you paid for the DVD!"

vudu · « **Reply #2 on:** February 09, 2006, 08:02:56 AM »

My crystal ball tells me there will be a lot of people buying the bundle then selling the UMD for $10 (for a profit of $5). People will then buy the UMD "used" for $15. Sony will lose profits because their UMD revenue will go from $20 per unit to $5. Nintendo will rule the universe.

Arbok · « **Reply #3 on:** February 09, 2006, 09:12:30 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Shecky
Every PSP owner I know hated the concept of individual UMD movies for ~ $30, expressing that they'd rather pick up a bundle for a slight premium.

Every PSP owner I know was mad that:

a: they couldn't play DVDs on their PSP
b: that they have to spend more on a movie to watch on their PSP versus a more feature loaded DVD version

This is a partial helper to that problem, but I don't see many other companies jumping on board of this now that profits for selling UMDs will drop due to it being packaged in with a DVD version. This is more to push the format then keep other companies interested.

Also, anyone see some of the related articles at the bottom there?

Quote
"I think in 12 months it's going to be clear," he predicted. "The combination of Blu-Ray and PlayStation 3 machines is going to overwhelm any HD-DVD presence and all studios will have to support Blu-Ray."

All of this stuff seems to assume that stores have unlimited shelf space, but really how much are they going to allot for Sony's two new formats?

Ages · « **Reply #4 on:** February 09, 2006, 10:45:33 AM »

I know this is off topic, but did anyone notice the 2nd half of that press release? $24 for new Blu-Ray movies? So much for the price advantage HD-DVD's supposed to have over it

Smash_Brother · « **Reply #5 on:** February 09, 2006, 10:58:43 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Arbok
Every PSP owner I know was mad that:

Whoa, WHOA...you KNOW a PSP owner?!

Quote
All of this stuff seems to assume that stores have unlimited shelf space, but really how much are they going to allot for Sony's two new formats?

COUGHbetamaxCOUGH

Oh, and...

ACHOO!minidiscSNIFF...

–SB

JonLeung · « **Reply #6 on:** February 09, 2006, 10:59:25 AM »

So Blu-Ray's likely to be the format of choice, but HD-DVD sounds better.

And UMD is the dumbest name ever. Unless Sony makes their other products use it, but unless they're portable, why would they if they're pushing Blu-Ray?

Ages · « **Reply #7 on:** February 09, 2006, 11:02:39 AM »

Does HD-DVD actually sound better? or are you just meaning in a general sense? I know some have said that Blu-Ray's images are sharper than that of HD-DVD, so I'd imagine the soudn would be clearer as well. Gah! I'm sick of Sony and their repeated attempts to take over mainstream media (see betamax, minidiscs, UMD, and now this). This time it seems, they will succeed

ShyGuy · « **Reply #8 on:** February 09, 2006, 11:26:42 AM »

I thought all the PSP users were just stealing movies off of bittorrent and copying them to their memory stick...

stevey · « **Reply #9 on:** February 09, 2006, 11:29:43 AM »

"$24 for new Blu-Ray movies?"

No, $ony is letting retailers set their prices and the price it going to be more than $24. It going to end up as $35 after they mark it up.

JonLeung · « **Reply #10 on:** February 09, 2006, 11:39:10 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Ages
Does HD-DVD actually sound better? or are you just meaning in a general sense?

Sorry, I should've been more clear. I meant the name.

While it may be clunky, being five syllables instead of two, it's more easy to understand what it is. It's an HD-DVD...with all this talk about "high-definition" and "digital versatile discs" the current norm for movie media, someone who just heard of it would know what it is.

"I just picked up the Star Wars Anthology on a single Blu-Ray!" It's, like, what? A ray? You picked it up on some light? Technically the machine does, but HD-DVD has "disc" in its name and makes more sense.

Both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players are supposed to be able to play DVDs, so HD-DVD also sounds like a natural progression. More people will need to be told that Blu-Ray players can, otherwise they might be hesitant about buying new DVDs if they expect a new format to totally obliterate their DVD collections.

Smash_Brother · « **Reply #11 on:** February 09, 2006, 11:49:54 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: ShyGuy
I thought all the PSP users were just stealing movies off of bittorrent and copying them to their memory stick...

Shhh!

What Sony doesn't know won't hurt them...

...or will cost them millions in UMD sales. I forget which.

–SB

Shecky · « **Reply #12 on:** February 09, 2006, 01:50:59 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Ages
I know some have said that Blu-Ray's images are sharper than that of HD-DVD, so I'd imagine the soudn would be clearer as well.

Hogwash! The quality of a movie's video/audio has everything to do with the way it was encoded and nothing to do with the media it's on. You can tell them I'm told you so next time someone tries to tell you otherwise

Shecky · « **Reply #13 on:** February 09, 2006, 01:54:01 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Arbok
All of this stuff seems to assume that stores have unlimited shelf space, but really how much are they going to allot for Sony's two new formats?

I'm sure that if you'd ask them, Sony formats should be the only things on the shelf

Ages · « **Reply #14 on:** February 09, 2006, 02:15:41 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Shecky
Quote
Originally posted by: Ages
I know some have said that Blu-Ray's images are sharper than that of HD-DVD, so I'd imagine the soudn would be clearer as well.

Hogwash! The quality of a movie's video/audio has everything to do with the way it was encoded and nothing to do with the media it's on. You can tell them I'm told you so next time someone tries to tell you otherwise

True, but you could probably get a slightly sharper image from the format with the larger amount of storage space

Spak-Spang · « **Reply #15 on:** February 10, 2006, 05:09:40 AM »

Well...The Blue-Ray movies being either $24 or $35 is too much. HD-DVD if they wanted to go for the throat could easily sell them for $20 a movie, or cheaper allowing a slightly higher price point for special editions. I personally welcome the format war because it will definately help keep prices low.

Sony is finally doing one thing right with the UMDs. Really I couldn't believe anyone would buy a PSP to play movies, because for the same price you could get a portable DVD player. And those UMDs are just stupid.

The sad thing is, IF sony would have focused all this time on getting quality portable gaming out for the PSP it could have over taken the DS. Now, it doesn't have a chance. DS has captured too much of the market and creating too many quality games for PSP to compete. What is worse, Nintendo could EASILY, release a means to download music and movies to the DS and cut into Sony's market that is already being killed by Apple.

UncleBob · « **Reply #16 on:** February 10, 2006, 02:22:47 PM »

Keep in mind that the prices being given for these next-generation movies are the "Suggested Retail Prices".
Mind you, the suggested retail price for most new DVD movies is $20-$30, but you can get 'em at Wal*Mart/BB/CC for $15 the week they come out.

vudu · « **Reply #17 on:** February 16, 2006, 06:03:14 PM »

Studios slow UMD movie production

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Paramount Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video, and yes, even Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, are cutting back on UMD releases because of poor sales

Now if that's not the funniest thing you've read today you have a better life than me.

Shecky · « **Reply #18 on:** February 16, 2006, 06:18:16 PM »

Even better:

"To hype demand for UMDs, Sony is said to be pushing an adapter that would let PSPs play UMDs on televisions."

Brilliant!

capamerica · « **Reply #19 on:** February 16, 2006, 06:18:38 PM »

okay to clear something up, On Digg we talked about the whole Blu-Ray Movie for $24, $24 is NOT how much the consumer will be paying. See Sony used their sly tactics to confuse people just like how they keep sending out figures on how many PSPs that were "Sold" to stores and not actually consumers. Sony seems to really like to do this so they seem better then they really are.

Here is the quote about the price "Blu-ray disc titles will wholesale for $17.95, about the same as DVDs when that format hit the market in 1997."

This is key, No DVDs were sold to consumers for $17.95 back in 1997. DVDs were closer to $35-40 in 1997, the only people who got the DVDs for $17.95 were the stores. When they say that the Movies will cost 17.95 for older movies, while new releases will be priced at $23.45 that is how much the stores will be paying, The consumer on the other hand will be paying $35.90 for Old movies and $46.90 for New movies.

Arbok · « **Reply #20 on:** February 16, 2006, 06:39:11 PM »

IMDB also has something on the dissapointing UMD sales, along with a quote from someone at Warner Bros:

"We are reevaluating our position on any future releases at this time. ... We're disappointed with consumer demand."

And one with Virigin Records:

"There is a modest demand for [new titles], but there simply hasn't been a consistent growth of this new format to justify making more space for it."

http://www.imdb.com/news/sb/2006-02-16/#film4

The Omen · « **Reply #21 on:** February 16, 2006, 09:05:39 PM »

Gee, it took this long for people to realize Sony was basically raping their fanbase?

Ghisy · « **Reply #22 on:** March 11, 2006, 03:07:01 AM »

I'm no Sony hater but I'm glad the UMD format is going down.
I mean, it's just plain stupid, who would pay freaking 20 bucks for cr*ppy quality and NO extras compared to the dvd?
PSP owners just dowload stuff off the Internet anyway...

Arbok · « **Reply #23 on:** March 11, 2006, 03:15:09 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Ghisy
I'm no Sony hater but I'm glad the UMD format is going down.
I mean, it's just plain stupid, who would pay freaking 20 bucks for cr*ppy quality and NO extras compared to the dvd?

Doesn't the mark up increase it over $20? Not to mention that they don't decrease in cost, unlike DVDs...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BMY2L0 ($12)

vs

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BMSY5U ($26)

nitsu niflheim · « **Reply #24 on:** March 11, 2006, 06:07:11 PM »

Sony tries to hard to own the format, I suspect that when Blu-Ray comes out, people are going to wait and see if blu-ray or HD-DVD becomes the true successory before buying their movie collection over again, and then look stoopid because there is nothing wrong with their DVD collection already, as just because they are shown in HD doesn't mean they should be replaced, as the majority of people will buy HD stuff and not know they are still watching everything in the lower definition.

News:

Author Topic: It's about time, DVD-UMD Bundles (Read 8612 times)