UMD flops -- like Blu-ray
Over the last few weeks have come many announcements from retailers and film studios that they will be dropping the UMD film format. The format was developed by Sony for use with their PSP video game system, it allowed users to buy films to watch on the PSP.
However from the offset it was obviously going to fail.
1) Who would actually buy a film twice? No thanks.
2) Portable DVD players which have better battery life can play your existing DVD films and are cheaper than the PSP.
One high ranking Universal executive writes "It's awful. Sales are near zilch. It's another Sony bomb -- like Blu-ray".
We have standards for a reason. DVD is the film standard, and HD-DVD is the HD film standard. If you want to watch on a very portable device you re-encode the content for that device - HD-DVD allows that in the specifications.
31st March 2006 13:37:48, 146 words, 231 views
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I'm not a Blu-ray researcher, or a Sony affliate or whatever but I can assure you this: HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc, imply both the same software protection, so HD DVD does NOT ALLOW YOU TO RECODE the content.
It would not suprise me, that you would be working for M$ or Toshiba or anyone affliated with the HDDVDPR.
By the way, most shop clercks know nothing about new technologies and know only what their shop has to give and rumors. (Now please note I said MOST).
Look at this: HD DVD has got only 42% of the studios behind. It has far less capacity (in GB). Blu-ray Disc has a far better coating protection. Almost the ENTIRE industry is behind Blu-ray Disc. Do you really think Blu-ray Disc is Sony only and HD DVD is Toshiba only? Do you really think a HD DVD 'Promotion Group' with managing members: Memory-Tech, NEC, Sanyo and Toshiba can blow away a Blu-ray Disc 'Association' with managing members: Memory-Tech, NEC, Sanyo, Toshiba
Apple, Dell, HP, Hitachi, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Thomson, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK, 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney and Warner Bros..???
Please read some technical white papers of both formats, read FAQs and get some serious background information before you post such extreme stuff like that.
I'm sorry, but I'm really getting bored by this format war, and it hasn't even started yet.
HD-DVD has Universal Pictures behind it, I'm willing to bet most people's films are Universal. It also has more films available on launch than Blu-ray and is much cheaper.
The HD-DVD is the standard format, backed by the DVD Forum and it's hundreds of members.
What's disgusting is Sony and others are a member just so they can steal all the goodies and veto decisions to slow the Forum down. Which is what they did with the + writable formats, which slowed uptake down by years - you have to wonder why they do it, Sony is a film company - slowing down DVD writers seem like a good idea from their position.
Their blatent anti-customerism is intolerable.
AND Blu-ray still isn't supporting iHD so it'll get no support from me. The last thing I'm doing is installing 3rd party bloatware from Sony on my PC - I don't want any rootkits thanks.