Blu-ray disc offers PSP owners portable movies

by Andrew Yoon { Jan 7th 2008 at 5:20PM }

The upcoming BD Live standard (Blu-ray Profile 2.0) brings good things for PSP owners. Movies that follow the updated Blu-ray protocol can optionally offer handheld versions of the movie to be copied off the disc. You can, for example, have a Blu-ray version of Men in Black on your PS3 and copy a handheld version of the movie directly to PSP. "This way, you can have a portable copy you can take with you," explained David Bishop, president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, to PC World.

Sony's attempt to create a new format with UMD never worked out, but their efforts with Blu-ray have been more than commendable. With the HD format wars looking clearly in their favor, it's great to see that even PSP owners will be able to benefit from Sony's next-gen disc medium. We can't wait to take advantage of BD Live.

[Thanks, Russ M.!]

Tags: bd-live, blu-ray, ces, ces-2008, ces2008, ps3, psp

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Charizard @ Jan 7th 2008 5:26PM

Sound like a good idea, but I hope that the movies won't take up excessive amounts of space on your PSP.

At the very least, I hope they'll include a feature to choose the video quality for the people who currently lack the money for a 16GB Memory stick.

Robert @ Jan 7th 2008 6:03PM

I don't think they'll take up a considerable amount of space. I mean, they are releasing the 16GB in March for $300 - I'm sure they'll realize that the mainstream public isn't going to buy that. Why offer a feature that the majority of PSP users couldn't use unless they dropped more than 3/4 of the price of a PS3 on a Memory Stick?

TrackSol @ Jan 7th 2008 6:33PM

Richard, you said:
"Why offer a feature that the majority of PSP users couldn't use ...?"

That sounds precisely like the new Skype feature....

TrackSol @ Jan 7th 2008 6:35PM

Ooops, I meant Robert.

Kspraydad @ Jan 7th 2008 11:19PM

The movie wouldn't need to be any more than 1.8 GB MAX (that is the biggest you'd get on a UMD).

Generally though a DVD quality rip is going to be around 700mb in my experience.

Robert @ Jan 8th 2008 7:51AM

Yeah, I'm not going to be using Skype at all. None of my friends use it, plus we're all on Verizon so when we call each other it's unlimited.

I'm sure there's three people out there that will make use of it.

Lars @ Jan 9th 2008 1:58PM

A 2 hour movie reduced to PSP resolution and stereo sound takes just a couple-hundred megabytes.

And I just have to say, THIS IS FREAKIN' AWESOME!

FixtSux @ Jan 7th 2008 5:26PM

Anyone have any idea why we can't play DVDs and BDs via Remote Play? Is it DRM issues?

ClarkyCat @ Jan 7th 2008 6:31PM

I really hope this opens the door for Remote Play streaming, I'm not sure why it isn't possible now, you're able to stream music CDs and games (well, PS1 only), and indeed DVDs from a computer if you're using the media server although that's a bit complicated. Apparently it's copyright issues but I don't see the problem, it's not like by streaming a movie to a 4" screen you're sharing it with the world.

dronesensor @ Jan 7th 2008 5:57PM

i don't have a lot to say about this, since i don't own a PS3, but man... the black PSP is so much sexier than my silver.

Iddy @ Jan 7th 2008 6:01PM

I hope sony has found a way to stop ps3 owners from hiring blurays then copying them to psp.. i mean we could just copy the movie to our psp, then to the computer!! what would that do to the movie industry..
but this is going to be so handy, and i might even watch movies on my psp now too. The relationship between ps3 and psp is getting so much sweeter every day!

NeoRaiden @ Jan 7th 2008 6:29PM

It's called DRM my friend. And besides, you can already do that now by decrypting Blu-ray movies. And on top of that, noone wants a low-res PSP version of a movie, when they're are thousands of DVD HQ rips out there of the same movie.

Iddy @ Jan 7th 2008 7:22PM

True, DRM saves sony again.

Tim Parsons @ Jan 7th 2008 6:26PM

Sweet now this is cool

Kattleox @ Jan 7th 2008 7:00PM

QUESTION:

I don't carry around my PSP much anymore, since I don't much care for hiking up my pants inceasently and wearing multiple belts. The big Pocket Bulge doesn't help image either. What did I do? I stayed in the Sony camp and bought a Walkman, of course! (Not so say that I neglect my PSP, though. A big screen is always needed)

It uses the same video codec as the PSP, a similar menu system, and even a Walkman icon pops up when you boot up the PS3 with it plugged in. Iv'e been able to sync most of my PS3s videos to my PSP without difficulty. The folder layout is identical to the PSP's too, down to the MP_ROOT folder. Does anyone know if this will be compatable with ALL sony products or just the PSP? That would be shortsighted, no?

Akamaru @ Jan 8th 2008 9:32AM

That is a great question. I would hope that it would work because I have a really old Network Walkman (NW-HD1) and the PS3 support it's flawlessly (album art, copy to-and-fro) so I would think that the newer video enabled Walkman would be even better supported.

Hashbrown_Hunter @ Jan 7th 2008 7:16PM

Now I feel like picking up a PS3.

...and maybe one of those damn-fine-looking 16GB Sticks :D

John the Snake Man @ Jan 7th 2008 7:18PM

This some very good news.

Joe @ Jan 7th 2008 8:45PM

Well this is cool I really hope it takes off.

Brad @ Jan 7th 2008 9:46PM

I don't understand this story. I mean, it's NOT new news. This has always been an advertised _possibility_ for BD profile 2.0. I.e. that it is possible to implement DRM-enabled portable versions of movies, or the ability for a proper BD player to read the movie and convert to a DRM-enabled low rez portable version.

Read this article closely. Nowhere does it say that anyone, including Sony, has made any announcements or commitments to carry PSP versions of movies on Blu-Ray movie discs.

I, personally, would really like this feature.

But, think before you believe that this will take off. TV and Movie companies are holding back from Video iTunes because they are worried not about copy protection, but lost revenue (i.e. in that specific case, giving "too much" profit to Apple).

Why do we think that anyone making a Blu-Ray movie would want to allow us to put a free portable copy on our PSP's or other portable device? They would MUCH rather force us to buy another portable copy, whether on UMD, PSN download, iTunes, etc.

Justin Eaton @ Jan 7th 2008 10:31PM

I agree. This is also just a demo that probably won't ever happen. The key word is demo, and many companies demo lots of functionality. Doesn't mean it is coming, or has plans to be released.

Kspraydad @ Jan 7th 2008 11:24PM

Or the portable version could have embedded ads that offset the 'cost' to the studio and make it 'free' for the end user....

As for it being a 'demo'...well SOMEONE has to show it. Perhaps SONY studio movies will be the first and then it might catch on...

Question: after iPod is the PSP the next best selling portable movie device?

mo @ Jan 8th 2008 5:13PM

Maybe they make two versions of the same movie, one with the mobile content, one without to satisify the studios desire to get more profit. Personally, I'd be willing to spend an extra ten or fifteen dollars for a blu-ray disc if it has the PSP content on it...same goes for games. I refuse to buy the same movie or game twice on DVD/Blu-Ray and UMD. However, if they packaged them together at a slightly raised price I'd happily pony up.

B1gC72 @ Jan 8th 2008 2:43AM

this is great feature. the added value could really make people want to buy PS3's as their Blu-ray players and PSP's to go with it if it's advertised well enough. but in the same voice, tech savy people can get the same functionality out of a DVD now. sure the DVD doesnt look as good as Blu-ray but still. i would also worry about movie companies jacking up the prices of Blu-ray movies even more when this feature is present.

Alien @ Jan 8th 2008 8:14AM

Wow , this is huge ... the PSP gets yet a nother extermly nice feature :D

jango fett @ Jan 8th 2008 11:10PM

How the hell you gonna fit 50 gigs of data in a little memory stick like that of the psp? Or is it the main feature and not the extras?

jango fett @ Jan 8th 2008 11:14PM

Which reminds me. How about the resolution. whats the big deal, i mean if blu ray is better than dvd one of the reasons is because it can out put 1080p right? is the psp gonna show the movies in that resolution? i doubt the screen will do 1080p! i dont know im kinda confused. someone help me out here.