UMD format takes off

Mini-Disc strikes back from the grave....with it's bigger and badder bro....

And the best part is:

And next year expect to see what, for better or worse, industry wags called the killer app for VHS and DVD: porn. Vivid cofounder Steven Hirsch, who's just waiting for Sony to make UMD technology available to less mainstream companies like his, says that his team may start shooting content specifically for the new format. Viewer discretion is advised.

-Josh378
 
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Josh378 said:
Mini-Disc strikes back from the grave....with it's bigger and badder bro....

And the best part is:



-Josh378
Not sure if it's off-topic, but Spectravision can't like that. That's the only reason I can see someone buying porn for a portable. I mean, you can't really relieve yourself in public or anything. But at least you don't have to sign a hotel bill with like 5 porn movies tacked on. :lol PEACE.
 
MechanizedDeath said:
Not sure if it's off-topic, but Spectravision can't like that. That's the only reason I can see someone buying porn for a portable. I mean, you can't really relieve yourself in public or anything. But at least you don't have to sign a hotel bill with like 5 porn movies tacked on. :lol PEACE.

LOL...I find it funny that theirs probably someone in a stall right now pumping one out with their PSP.
 
Well, they've already released AV over at Japan. So...

The best option for porn-on-the-go would probably be to buy a gig (or two) of MS. But I guess some people prefer menus and chapter select on their porn...LOL

.Z
 
I don't think that $250 million in revenue on one platform means UMD has taken off as a movie format. At the moment a lot of people will be buying their very first movies for their new PSP. Lets wait and see if the novelty wears off or not. If revenues increase significantly in 2006 and 2007 and other companies start to support the format then we can say that UMD has taken off as a movie format.
 
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Teasy said:
I don't think that $250 million in revenue on one platform means UMD has taken off as a movie format. At the moment a lot of people will be buying their very first movies for their new PSP. Lets wait and see if the novelty wears off or not. If revenues increase significantly in 2006 and 2007 and other companies start to support the format then we can say that UMD has taken off as a movie format.

I totally agree because if we used that same logic, those cartoons released on Smart Media cards for the GBA would indicate Smart Media is taking off as a movie format too.
 
Well what does "taking off" mean anyway?
Obviously Sony fans will think that this means UMD has "taken off".

But what's the standard of take-off-ness here? You know, the point when one can safely say that something has taken off... :???:
 
To me taking off as a movie format means sustained growth over a number of years and support from other hardware manufacturers (Sharp, Yamada ect making UMD movie players). That last bit more then anything else would really signal that UMD has taken off as a movie format IMO.
 
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london-boy said:
Not to sound pessimistic, but i don't see that happening in the near future. Or the one far far away too.


UMD is Sony exclusive...I would doubt it...but maybe a POrtable version of the UMD format (NOT PSP SIlly) really be come a super-success...

-JOsh378
 
I think if the consumer interest proves itself strong enough then it'll happen. I don't so much mean other manufacturers all making portable movie devices BTW (though companies like Archos might do that). I'm talking more about companies like Sharp adding UMD support to various devices such as DVD players.

Josh378, I don't think Sony actually want UMD to stay Sony only though. Surely they want it to be used by as many people as possible.
 
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Teasy said:
I think if the consumer interest proves itself strong enough then it'll happen. I don't so much mean other manufacturers making portable movie devices BTW. I'm talking more about companies like Sharp adding UMD support to their DVD players.
I agree, it would be a stupid move by Sony to allow other manufacturers to produce portable devices that read UMD. In the end, they want to sell PSP, and they're basically saying "If you want to watch a UMD movie, you'll have to buy a PSP, cause it's the only thing that read them!".
Unless they (Sony) start making UMD-compatible PocketPCs. Which would be cool.
 
Teasy said:
Josh378, I don't think Sony actually want UMD to stay Sony only though. Surely they want it to be used by as many people as possible.

But is that really to be expected from Sony? What do they want more, that UMD take off or that PSP take off? :D
 
PC-Engine said:
I totally agree because if we used that same logic, those cartoons released on Smart Media cards for the GBA would indicate Smart Media is taking off as a movie format too.

How much revenue did those movies for the GBA bring in (in the US)?

london-boy said:
Well what does "taking off" mean anyway?
Obviously Sony fans will think that this means UMD has "taken off".

But what's the standard of take-off-ness here? You know, the point when one can safely say that something has taken off... :???:

Fair question. I would think a few of factors would need to be looked at.

1> Fairly broad support from content providers and retailers
2> Minimum revenue
3> A window of time over which this revenue has been generated

Note we can (pointlessly?) discuss where the line can be drawn for each of the above factors but I think these are decent metrics to start with.

Regardless of whether or not the journalist is accurate in their portrayal of the UMD format "taking off", Hollywood seems to be pleased enough for some significant adoption by other studios.
 
I'm with you Teasy just that I don't think Sharp or any other company has to make UMD players just to quantitfy that the UMD format has taken off. My def. of taking off is the UMD format making decent numbers compared to its hardware numbers and then compared to its brothers DVD and next-gen DVD media's numbers. Of course UMD will never outsell DVDs or the next-gen format. But it was never designed too.

So to me if a new DVD like Hitch sold 500,000 units while the UMD released sold 100,000 (not really numbers) then I would say the UMD is currently successful. Especially when you have this coming out in the near future UMDs will be helped big time. Look below.

PSP-1.jpg



Nice huh?;)
 
But is that really to be expected from Sony? What do they want more, that UMD take off or that PSP take off?

Well I suppose they'll have to find a balance between PSP's success and UMD's success. Because IMO its going to be hard for UMD to really take off as a movie format if its limited to PSP.
 
There was word ages back of Sony opening up the format for other hardware companies to use. And no i don't have a link. I just remember useless trivia like this. I believe it was a GI.biz story :p
 
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