MTV and SCEA team up to bring back UMD

by Andrew Yoon { Jan 24th 2008 at 3:30PM }

It's not dead! Sort of. Sony Computer Entertainment of America and MTV have announced a collaboration to bring new UMD movies to store shelves. In fact, they should be available now. "Jackass," "Beavis & Butt-head," and "Aeon Flux" are all available for $14.99 (MSRP) beginning this week.

"This collaboration with MTV is a key first step in meeting the needs of our consumers, who are utilizing PSP as a video player more than ever and are thirsting for more content, particularly short-form videos," said Phil Rosenberg, senior vice president of sales and business development, SCEA in a press release. "MTV's programming is hugely popular, and SCEA can utilize our internal resources to appropriately manage the publishing and distribution of these hit shows on UMD. This demonstrates our commitment to supporting the UMD video format by delivering what consumers want to watch at the right price. SCEA will continue to license movie, TV, and other video content, leveraging our sales and marketing strengths, as a strategic focus moving forward.

The price is certainly nice, and this is planned to be the first of a growing library of UMD movies to release in the future. Does the $15 price make you want to bite? We'll see how consumers respond.

Gallery: MTV on UMD

Tags: aeon-flux, jackass, mtv, scea, umd

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Maninatrunk77 @ Jan 24th 2008 3:55PM

Wow, Let's hope so UMD movies are pretty much non-existing in any stores except maybe a gamestop

ThekonamiMan @ Jan 24th 2008 4:09PM

I've actually been seeing more and more UMD movies in stores recently. Targets and Best Buys have been the big two that I've been noticing the movies at. The only problem is they still want too much for the movies.

drdre74 @ Jan 24th 2008 4:44PM

I'd pick up that Aeon Flux if i had a PSP slim. I never look at movies on my psp unless I'm on a plane which is once a year at most.

The Dark Trooper @ Jan 24th 2008 5:37PM

Why would you have to have a PSP Slim?

Necro_Deadite @ Jan 25th 2008 8:26PM

prb cuz you can video out on the slim.

beast @ Jan 24th 2008 5:11PM

yes with the lower price and psp tv out functionality this is a good idea i hope the ads come on tv agian someting about hearing "availiable for DVD and PSP " gets me happy

gotsomeideas @ Jan 24th 2008 5:10PM

UMDs were pretty much worthless before the PSP Slim, if you ask me. I can see why Sony would want to give the format another try, considering video-out is probably the most notable new feature with the Slims.

William T. Foxtrot @ Jan 24th 2008 5:18PM

I really hope Sony and the movie studios give UMDs another try. Video-out on the PSP Slim makes them worth buying. I noticed on the Aeon Flux box that it says "2 Disc Set." Does that mean that single movies will be less than $15? I would actually be willing to pay $15 for a 2 disc TV show or something, and probably around $10 for a movie.

Justin @ Jan 24th 2008 6:01PM

I like the price point of $15 and would buy more movies at this price. UMD movies are never on sale that I have seen at either Best Buy or Target. Why pay $20-$25 when the DVD is on sale for $15 and I can just use a program to rip it to a memory stick. I will be buying Aeon Flux and B&B this weekend if I can find them. Would like to see more the the MTV animation shows like The Max or stuff from Liquid Television get released.

Imbro @ Jan 24th 2008 6:10PM

While I like the idea of portable movies, I dislike the idea of buying the same content several times. I want to author my own UMDs, ripping content from my legally bought DVDs or even BDs (yes, other people than pirates have a use for this). Please open the format. While I in general love sony stuff, I hate their proprietary ways of thinking.

pixelator @ Jan 25th 2008 11:19AM

I believe we should only have to buy stuff once, myself - but in this case, you have options. You don't need a hacked PSP to rip your DVD collection to Memory Stick, and with 4.0GB 'sticks out there going for $35 lately, it's hard to see the downside of putting a bunch of movies on a flash card or two to take with you.

Much as I despise corporate sponsored repurchasing of media (and the stupid licensing threats we have to wade through), I don't feel that studios are obligated to provide cross-format content for one price. The fact that Sony is going forward with PSP format films to download off PS3 Blu-Ray titles is a plus. So are $14.99 season collections of animated shows like Beavis & Butthead or Aeon Flux.

The whole 'is UMD dead' argument is a dead horse. It's neither really dead, nor did it ever really live. It's there - you can buy them - and some are priced properly. Some aren't. The problem (and benefit) of the PSP is that it's so well tuned to DVD ripping that anyone with a spare couple of hours in their day can circumvent duplicate purchases by using their own existing collection... Unless you plan on buying BR's, in which case you may not even need to rip.

Kspraydad @ Jan 24th 2008 7:33PM

"I peed in the gym once."
"Really? Yer pretty cool Beavis."

Salty Soil @ Jan 24th 2008 11:21PM

All episodes of Aeon Flux for $15? DO WANT

I'm not a big fan of MTV's shows, but if other companies are willing to put out quite a bit of content at that price I'd be glad to give umd video another try.

Brad @ Jan 25th 2008 3:06PM

Nope. Still too expensive. UMD's need to go for $9.99 before I get interested. The few that I own I only bought because they were on sale for $5.99.

With the world moving to Blu-ray, why would I pay a discount DVD price for a UMD?

brian @ Jan 25th 2008 11:17AM

I might buy the B&B collection for $15, that sounds like something easy to watch when i travel. however, i also agree that i will not buy something that i already own on dvd, it would be silly and wasteful in general.

I think that the best way for sony to move forward with UMD is to be increasingly creative with their UMD titles; if people aren't willing to buy doubles, than you just have to put out material that most people don't own on dvd.

all in all, i don't think sony is making $$ off the movies on UMD, it's just another one of their lingering failed formats. like (consumer level) betamax and MD. (i know that there are plenty of enthusiasts for both of those formats, but they both tanked comercially)
it's hard to be sure of sony's intentions, but i am guessing that UMD movies are just one of the marketing promises that sony still feels obligated to fullfill from the early psp days. it was marketed as a kind of all-in-one multimedia package that you wear around your neck.
with smaller and more expensive memory cards, it was difficult to make movies on the psp a reality without UMD releases.
and now? well, obviously the recent boost in psp sales with the slim light, and with better game releases and increased online functionality... it's much easier for Sony's UMD department to score titles from MTV and so on.
but my prediction is that it just can't last.
sooner or later, 16GB cards will run for $25 and who wants to watch an inferior UMD copy of a movie on their home theater for $15 when they can rent it from netfilx?

pixelator @ Jan 25th 2008 11:40AM

Betamax hasn't lingered. It's dead - except perhaps for a handful lunatic fringe with ED-Beta or whatever, lurking in their cluttered basement along with the reel to reel tapes and Super 8mm movies.

UMD is not like Betamax. It's still in stores, it's still being sold. It's also unlike either MD or Beta because it was never meant to be a 'wide' format. MD players were made by several manufacturers, as were the discs. Same with Beta, Laserdisc, Videodisc, etc. -- UMD only works on PSP.

Strange, I don't see people calling Nintendo the despotic progenitor of 'another failed format' because they put a few videos on GBA carts (long before UMD)...

Alien @ Jan 25th 2008 12:09PM

Now this is what Sony should have done at the beginning . Portable friendly movies on low price ... the perfect plan :)

jake @ Jan 25th 2008 1:00PM

this is what killed umd's in the first place, they have to drop the prices! They really do, i mean 15 isnt all bad but you limited battery life and most of the umd movies offer only the movie and nothing else, no scene selection or features.

KeelJoy @ Jan 25th 2008 2:56PM

now why the heck would i pay that much for a UMD when i can buy a DVD for around the same price and watch my shows on a BIG screen?!!

USE UR FRIGGEN HEADS SONY!!!

brian @ Jan 25th 2008 2:19PM

come on, pixilator (nice screename btw), you can't compare the GBA spongebob carts with sony's long documented fetish with proprietary formats.
MD and beta are only the most obvious examples.*

for instance, why do sony products have to use special memory sticks when SD cards are used in what seems to be every other relavant product that i own?

*as a side note, beta never went away. it was used for a longer time in japan and is still surviving today as a professional format that has evolved into hi resolution digibeta. and MD is still around as a "professional" recording device, but we'll see how long that lasts with hard-drive style digital recorders coming down in $$.