Archived from groups: rec.games.video.nintendo,alt.games.video.nintendo.gamecube,alt.games.video.nintendo.gameboy.advance,rec.games.video.sony,alt.games.video.sony-playstation2 (
More info?)
In alt.games.video.sony-playstation2 Android <androvich@nocomcastspam.net> wrote:
> I don't see that happening due to copyright issues. However, what I can
What copyright issue? You are allowed to make a copy of media for your
own personal use. Maybe Sony could find a way to make the UMD writer put
something on its discs that allow it to only play in a specific player?
To me, this seems the only way Sony is going to get people to watch movies
on the PSP - at least in the begining.
> imagine is Sony/Columbia Pictures releasing new movies with both a DVD and a
> UMD in a single case. I mean, really, how much does a single UMD cost the
> manufacturer to make? A couple of dollars? And since Sony wouldn't have to
> pay licensing fees to itself for the format, it could afford to put them
> both together. They could release some of their most popular back catalog
> titles separately on UMD, but whenever newer movies such as Spider-Man 2 are
> eventually released on DVD, it would be cool to get both a UMD and DVD in
> the same package. As for other movie studios, although they may be loathe to
> pay Sony a fee for the UMD format, if the PSP sells well, it will be hard
> for them to ignore. Think about it--if you are the head of a movie studio
> and realize that there are 1 million+ PSP owners who are looking for UMD
> movies, don't you want to be the first one to offer your studio's films to
> that market?
The problem with this is that you'll need to create and buy special DVD
cases that will be able to hold both the DVD and UMD discs. Then there's
the production of the UMD disc itself. I don't know how expensive these
things will cost to produce, but consider this: Even a $1 increase to a
product's BOM (build of materials) can result in $5-10 added to the MSRP.
Even then, how many PSP units do you think will enter the market, and of
those, how many PSP owners would actually be interested in watching movies
on their PSP? Even if 5 million PSPs enter the market immediatly, and an
astounding 100% of all PSP owners start buying DVDs with UMDs packed into
them, there's still 10x the number of DVD players in the market. But
they're all going to have to pay extra for a UMD they'll never use. This
would tell me that the market for UMD movies would be flooded, causing PSP
owners to just pick UMD movies cheap off EBay, rather than buy a new copy
from the store.
I can see there being a small market for UMD rental outlets in airports,
where you could just rent a couple of movies for a few bucks or so. But
even then, I don't see there being that much revenue from such a
business. From casual observation, I would see at most 5 or 6 people
watching a DVD on a flight.
This is why I think the only real way to do this is to allow people to
create their own UMDs from their own DVDs. It shouldn't be too hard to
only allow DVDs to be used as source material, and to put a special code
on the disc that would only allow it to be played in a specific player.
This should make most copyright issues go away even though you know that
some people will crack it and/or find workarounds anyways. No system is
going to be perfect. All you can do is devise a system that makes casual
piracy enough of a hassle to deter most people, while not hampering your
customers' legitimate use (this, IMHO, is the most important point.)
This would further allow the use of ANY DVD - not just ones produced by
Sony post-PSP release. Of course, Sony would be free to release UMD
movies as well, but unless the price is $5-10/ea, I doubt they're going to
get many sales.