RSSSony Brings PSP Movies to Memory Stick
By Ed Oswald | Published July 12, 2006, 11:07 AM
With the company's UMD format faltering, Sony on Wednesday turned to its Memory Stick as a new way to deliver movies to its popular PSP portable game system. Starting in August, the company will ship 1GB and 2GB sticks that come with a DVD copying application that would be able to transfer select movies from DVD to the PSP.
To use the application, the installer would be loaded onto a PC. From there, the user would enter an unlock code that would permit them to transfer one movie from the DVD over to the device. Movies that would be permitted to be transferred will be "Hitch," "S.W.A.T.," "The Grudge" or "XXX: State of the Union."
While the movies would be viewable only for the PSP, Sony said the Memory Stick could be used in any compatible device.
"The Memory Stick Entertainment Pack bundles fun with function," said Mike Kahn, senior manager for Memory Stick Media at Sony Electronics. "This collaboration with Sony Pictures provides a quick, simple way to get a full-length movie onto Memory Stick media at no extra charge."
The 1GB Memory Stick will retail for $60 USD, while the 2GB model would sell for $100 USD.
It is not clear if the move signals a possible end to the UMD format for movies. Reports earlier this year indicated many studios began to silently withdraw their support. Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures and Image Entertainment all have stopped producing movies on UMD; 20th Century Fox and Buena Vista have cut back on new releases. Even Sony Pictures itself has scaled back its UMD release plans.
a new format for the psp is not to be confused with sony flogging a dead horse.... er dead tiny horse thats portable...
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|Another format bites the dust, followed by an even sillier idea. I don't get the midget screen thing at all. In the real world of video display, bigger is always next, never smaller. Look too at the new video formats, can you imagine watching HD-DVD or Blue-Ray Hi-Def movie on a PSP? This seems to be another example of Sony screwing up after losing touch with consumers.
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|well they need some form of income for the next three years before the ps3 finally comes out....
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|The umd format failed because unlike the DVD player - not everyone owns or is interested in owning a PSP, so it's completely beyond logic to sell these tiny discs for the exact same price as a brand new DVD that can be played on any/all DVD players AND Macs/PCs. Personally I was just about to buy a PSP....I mean, it's 150 bux, plays games and plays videos and mp3s so I had nothing to lose - then I took one look at the price of a umd disc and thought, no way in hell, cuz' in no time the format is going to flop and then what the hell will I do with my PSP? It's not like I game that much and hell, I have a zen. I just feel bad for all the kids and people like me who actually bought the thing expecting a wide wide range of movies.
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|Can you imagine what kind of rootkit Sony can put on a memory stick?
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|Like this matters. I've had a memory stick and a program for converting movies of almost any type to PSP compatiable for over a year. It's a nice idea, but one that is already in place.
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|Maybe UMD would catch on better if they'd release a decent catalog on them. The stuff I've seen looks like the Saturday re-runs on USA/FX/TNT. Complete garbage. Now they're pushing a [potentially] better idea, but again, they're shoving the crappiest movie selection at us. This will fail also. Sony has no brain for marketing.
I have a PSP. Not because I bought it for myself, but because it was an xmas gift. The text entry for web browsing, etc. SUCKS. SUCKS. I wish RIM would make a berry with PSP screen and gaming features and a mem stick slot. That would rock. The berry still has the best interface for text entry and navigation. Oh yeah, and it fits in your hands better. The PSP is nice, but it could have been better engineered.
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|Whew. After reading the headline, I thought that Sony was going to let PSP users copy *any* DVD to a Memory Stick in part due to Sony Pictures' latest deal with GUBA:
http://blog.guba.com/pre...rtainment_and_guba.html
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|UMD is Faltering? I thought it was just following the normal path of Sony formats such as Beta, MiniDisk, Memory Stick...now add UMD and while you are at it, make room for Blu-Ray
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|Amen brother another fiasco by Sony! But then whats new?
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|you forgot laserdisks and the proprietary rootkitdisk!
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|well someone blew some s*** up in the middle east again....
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|The problem lies with MPAA/RIAA/BSA. Those kind of associations should be banned worldwide and Corporations should be able to deliver really cheap licenses to let customers copy as much as they want by just paying a few dollars. That would be some true capitalism and not the current socialistic-pseudo-capitalism we got in the last 20-30 years or so.
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|But aren't the MPAA/RIAA/BSA the "corporations that should be able to deliver really cheap licenses..."?
What you are not getting is that those companies do not want to charge just a few dollars, and unlimited copying would destroy their business.
What does all this have to do with UMD anyway? I am pretty sure it is not licensing issues that made the format fail.
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|" I am pretty sure it is not licensing issues that made the format fail."
yah, actually, that about sums it up.
little to do with security too.
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|no the reason it failed is because sony designed it to be so different and only useable with one thing so they didnt have to worry about licensing...
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|Sony. Please, just go away, already.
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|amen!
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