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Bandai to Ship UMD and DVD Discs Together 79

Posted by Zonk from the magical-girls-on-disc dept.
Anime publisher Bandai has announced that they will be shipping UMD and DVD discs together for some of their releases, and GamesIndustry.biz has the tale. From the article: "Brand new anime series Eureka 7, which has been created by the team behind the hugely successful RahXephon, will be the first to get the treatment - with a single box housing both UMD and DVD, for slightly more than the price of buying both separately." UMD stands for Universal Media Disc, and is the proprietary format that Sony uses for the PSP.
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Bandai to Ship UMD and DVD Discs Together More

Bandai to Ship UMD and DVD Discs Together

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  • Heh (Score:5, Insightful)

    by brotherscrim ( 617899 ) on Tuesday April 19, 2005 @01:20PM (#12284164) Journal
    "with a single box housing both UMD and DVD, for slightly more than the price of buying both separately."

    Wow, what a deal.

  • Typo ?!!? (Score:1, Redundant)

    by Bobbysmith007 ( 717813 )
    a single box housing both UMD and DVD, for slightly more than the price of buying both separately.

    Cool I can get both for only a little more than it would cost to buy them both separatly!

    And this is a good deal why?
    • I assume that was a misspeak, perhaps translation error, that they would sell both for a bit more than you could buy one OR the other, not slightly more than if you bought both.

      Still not a great deal. Considering most people don't want two versions of the same movie. For $5 more, I'll sell you Star Wars on BOTH dvd AND vhs! What a bargain!
      • Is the Star Wars VHS the original un-bastardized version?
        • Yes, except in this one, Greedo is shot by a bystander, by accident, right before he shoots Han Solo (who, in this version, is against all weapons, not just light sabers).
      • I would buy it. Keep the good one, sell the other one on eBay cheap, and make a bit back. Or give it to a friend. This will be good for movie rental places, too. Buy one disc, rent it out to two people.
        Actually, screw buying the movie new. Why not just buy the cheap version for a fraction of the cost the new one would go for, as in point 1?
      • DVD and VHS?!


        w00T! This'll be rad for my suitcase VHS deck!

    • Or it could be "price of buying either seperately" I can see how either can be mistranlated a lot easier than more.
    • I like how this is modded redundant, even though it was posted in the exact same minute as the FP. You snooze, you lose.

      Of course, by the time I preview this post a couple of times someone else will post the equivalent...

    • The only reason I can see is because as has been pointed out, people in Japan are often have very little space for random junk. Putting both in one case would save space, as opposed to needing 2 different cases.

      It might still be a typo or something, but if it's not, that's a possible reason.

  • Slightly More??? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by alta ( 1263 )
    I hope you mean they are going to sell them for slightly less, or not to many people are going to buy them together...
    • I hope you mean they are going to sell them for slightly less, or not to many people are going to buy them together...

      Even the article states "more" not "less" so ... um ... yeah. Apparently Sony hates the environment and is trying to promote the development of trash.

  • So... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 19, 2005 @01:22PM (#12284183)
    A "Universal Media Disc" is proprietary?
    Boy, I hate marketing people.

    • Re:So... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by BrookHarty ( 9119 )
      Sounds more like false advertising, its not universal is it.
    • It's universal because if you use Sony's tools, you can put any kind of data on the disc (That doesn't violate the Universal Copyright and Content Laws), then you could in theory share that data with aliens that also has PSPs!

  • for slightly more.. (Score:2, Offtopic)

    by gl4ss ( 559668 )
    ...

    uh..

    so... well, there's a sucker born every minute.

  • Universal? (Score:4, Funny)

    by yotto ( 590067 ) on Tuesday April 19, 2005 @01:25PM (#12284204) Homepage
    Am I the only one who finds it odd that the proprietary format for the PSP is called "universal"?
    • I believe it means it can hold lots of different types of data, like movies and games (just like DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc)

    • Re:Universal? (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Sony's marketing execs changed it because they thought "Unversatile" wasn't as catchy.

    • Makes sense (Score:4, Funny)

      by Mike Hawk ( 687615 ) on Tuesday April 19, 2005 @01:55PM (#12284586) Journal
      You can use it anywhere in the Universe that you bring your PSP. Universal.
    • "Am I the only one who finds it odd that the proprietary format for the PSP is called "universal"?"

      Not really. No doubt, they meant that it can play back any types of media, not just video like DVDs or music like CDs.

      It's sorta like asking several people whether or not Star Wars is sci-fi.

  • Universal Marketing Disaster (Score:3, Informative)

    by spyrochaete ( 707033 ) on Tuesday April 19, 2005 @01:30PM (#12284271) Homepage Journal
    From the article:

    Japanese media giant Bandai has announced the first movie titles to feature both a DVD and a UMD version in the same box, a trend which was widely predicted when Sony first announced the PSP's movie capabilities but has until now failed to materialise.

    Yeah right. Consumers won't stand for a price hike for a format they can't use. I bet Bandai will be the first and last company to do this. I think the PSP's much touted and more maligned movie capabilities will fade into vapour within 6 months.

    I bet that pink Power Ranger looks just as hot on a 3 inch screen though.

  • Don't you just love that. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Captain Rotundo ( 165816 ) on Tuesday April 19, 2005 @01:36PM (#12284333) Homepage
    ITs always the proprietary, closed formats that get names with words like "universal" in them. Universal to what? The disc that is universally used in psps? how retared is that?

  • Heck! Give It A Shot... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by blueZhift ( 652272 ) on Tuesday April 19, 2005 @01:43PM (#12284419) Homepage Journal
    Except for the weird pricing, this might be worth a shot. If buying the double disc version is really more than buying both separately (which I doubt will remain the case) then I hope there are more extras thrown in to make it worthwhile. In any case, episodic content, like a TV anime series, is a good fit for the PSP and UMD media if DVDs ship with the UMD versions. I can see commuters and students wanting to catch an episode of their favorite series on the train or during lunch in the park.

    The problem I see for TV episodes on UMD is that a lot of TV is already available online for download which means why bother with UMD when you can put shows on a memory stick. Right now most TV show downloads are illegal, but eventually legal services will pop up which will make the UMD even less attractive for TV content. Still, my guess is that downloads won't have the extras that can be placed on a disc, so there may still be a niche for UMD to thrive in. The trick and fun here is that this is all terra incognita, no one knows how the market is going to develop!
    • If buying the double disc version is really more than buying both separately (which I doubt will remain the case) then I hope there are more extras thrown in to make it worthwhile.

      Well, hell. I hope when the price for milk goes up at the supermarket that they throw in a small container of cream for my coffee to go with it. I hope when the price of gas goes up they give away a quart of oil with a fill up.

      By your logic, if the price goes up it's a good thing, because it's more likely the companies will g
      • Actually, I hate having to pay more than necessary and am willing to forgo extras in most cases. But there's been a trend in the Japanese market to offer extras with CDs and DVDs, sometimes at slightly greater cost, in an effort to appeal to dedicated fans to buy legal copies rather than pirated merchandise. I don't know how well this approach would work in the U.S. where the collector's culture is not as prominent.

        So yes, if prices are going to go up anyway, I want more for my money. Otherwise I may start
        • Bonus tracks are offered on the Japanese pressing of CDs to appeal to the domestic market. Often it's cheaper for the Japanese customer to buy a CD imported from the US or UK than it is to buy the domestic version.
    • I find it kind of funny that we are referring to the memory stick as the fallback for content instead of using the UMD.

      Good thing that the memory stick is a standardized method of storage...er.
    • You've got the best joke site on the 'net. Uh...yeah...conquering the world. Here's some money.
    • "The problem I see for TV episodes on UMD is that a lot of TV is already available online for download which means why bother with UMD when you can put shows on a memory stick."

      How many memory sticks do you have? If you got a UMD with most DVDs, then you could just drag them along and not have to worry about juggling more than one expensive "MemoryStickTM".

  • ummmm... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Rs_Conqueror ( 838344 ) on Tuesday April 19, 2005 @01:51PM (#12284538)
    Does even bandai realise that most people can simply rip their DVDs to an avi format and then convert them to UMD with a 3rd party hack?

    What follows is a tutorial for doing just that

    (lovingly stolen from my friends redvsblue journal).

    March 26th, 2005 The tutorial for getting RvB on PSP Important Step Skipped, try again if you didn't get it before.

    OK. Many of you have been wondering, WTF, why can't I just drag and drop my files, and bam there are my movies? One of the sad things about the PSP is, the lack of a program on the computer that easily sorts out the files.

    Go here [connect.com], and watch the tutorial. If you don't have time... just connect your psp to the computer and make a folder on it entitled: "MP_ROOT." Then make a folder within that called: "100MNV01"

    Note: "MP_ROOT" should be right next to the folder called "PSP," not inside of it.Also, although not tested, I don't believe you need a video saying, congradulations on getting video to your PSP.

    Download this [nurs.or.jp], next

    This is the 3GP website. For those of you that want to know the source of the site, its in Japanese.

    When you get it downloaded, unzip the file, and then install the software. EDIT IMPORTANT: Double click SETUP and change it to MP4, PSP (you can use "direct" if you have USB mode set up on your PSP). You'll know that you're good so far when you see a program that looks like this:

    http://www.nurs.or.jp/~calcium/3gpp/images/3GPPC onv_01.gif You can change the language to English.

    Set a directory (unless you want it to hog up the desktop, two files will be made each time you start a conversion. Drag and drop an episode of your choice, and the program should begin a conversion. Watch the log, to see if it is making good progress. If you want episode fifty-two, the episode is downloadable at the bottom for PSP play.

    I ran into a problem with both Windows Media Video, and .mov formats.

    Divx versions of the episodes worked fine.

    Once you recieve TWO output files, with the beginning numbers "M4VCXXXX" (x=numbers) with a .mp4 extension and a .THM format, drag and drop the two files into "100MNV01."

    Enjoy

    For those of you who are redvsblue members and would like to go mod him up,the entery from which I stole is Here [redvsblue.com]

    • Re:ummmm... (Score:3, Informative)

      by lumpenprole ( 114780 )
      You realize of course, that you can not "convert them to UMD" with this method.

      UMD is a disc format. You need a UMD drive. There is no such thing as a consumer UMD drive, AFAIK. That's why Sony is using it. They know you're going to put stuff on your memory card. But if you want a collection of stuff, you're going to have to buy stuff on their format.

      • Re:ummmm... (Score:1, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        There is no such thing as a consumer UMD drive, AFAIK

        Theres no such thing as a non-consumer UMD drive either. Developers don't get one, they get a PSP that hooks to a computer to play games (along with other cool features like profiling battery usage to let them know just how CPU and battery-intensive their algolrithms are). To get an UMD with the game on it they ship the image to sony and get an UMD back.
        • So they can't profile disk access? Sony really loves to shoot themselves in the foot with their formats...
          • So they can't profile disk access?

            It should be easy enough for Sony to insert an intentional delay to the network access, to approximately simulate CD effect. However, to do it right, they'd need to include spin-up/spin-down, and the fact that disc access uses more electricity, etc.
        • Well, to split hairs there is a non-consumer UMD drive, it's just not available to developers. Sony has them.

          But your post is dead on in clarifying that Sony is being so closed about UMD that not even developers get them. It'll be interesting to see if they can hold that position. Somewhere, somebody must be looking at a wide-open market in producing UMD. I guess it depends on how strict Japanese patent law is, something I know nothing about.

    • That's like saying, "Does Microsoft even realize that people can simply open DOC files with OpenOffice instead?" It's not going to stop their business practices.
    • You are correct Sir!

      This is the same problem that Apple is facing with their iTunes thingamajig. Who in their right mind will pay for something that they can get for free already?!? Baulderdash!

      ( Note: tongue firmly in cheek )
  • Can be found here: http://www.bandaivisual.co.jp/press/2005/press050 4 18.html [bandaivisual.co.jp]

    Unfortunately, I can't read Japanese, so I'm relying on Google's translation. It kinda looks like the DVD only version is 3,900 yen, and the DVD-UMD bundle is 5,250 yen. I don't see how much the UMD would be by itself, so I don't know how much of a savings (or not) you would get through the bundle.

    • I'm guessing that a UMD will be more than the 1350 yen diffreence there. 100 yen can be loosely estimated to about 1 US dollar. UMD movies coming out this week in the US are $15 retail, and one is $20 (House of Flying Daggers). Since US DVDs aren't generally $35-$40, I'd wager that a UMD release in Japan would be a little more expensive than in the US, too, so the two-pack looks to be a good deal, relatively. That's assuming you'll be able to make decent use of the UMD, of course.
    • Alright, since I can read Japanese, I'll help you out: You're correct for the first release (two episodes = 50 minutes). After that, you get four episodes (100 minutes of content) and the bundle is 8,190 yen while the DVD only version is 6,300 yen. They'll be releasing once a month. There is no information about a UMD only option listed on that page. (You can also just rent the DVD, which will be given to rental stores on the same day of its release. Costs like 250 yen here for 3 days, maybe 400 if yo
  • Wah wah wah, price hike for proprietary format, wah wah wah.

    More importantly, RahXephon was hugely successful? I mean, I loved it, but I thought most people saw it as a crappy Evangelion clone for some reason. Hopefully this new series can be anywhere near as good.

    • I liked RahXephon, too, I think partly because it felt a bit different than Evangelion and still managed to be a crazy psychological confusion-fest. I mean, I guess the central story was a kid pulled completely out of anything he recognized as reality and thrust into some crazy defense role at the helm of a mysterious organic fighting robot thing with a mysterious girl with mysterious origins, and... oh. I think maybe it felt a little more concrete somehow than some of the Evangelion stuff did, though, and

  • Video On PSP (Score:3, Interesting)

    by JustJon ( 731538 ) on Tuesday April 19, 2005 @04:15PM (#12286163) Homepage
    I commute daily for 45 minutes each way on a bus, and I regularly download television programs and put them on my PSP to watch on the ride.

    I've seen the UMD movies that are coming out and have said that I won't buy them when I can buy the exact same movie on DVD for about the same price, but the DVD will work on my computer, DVD players, etc, and I can rip the DVD for viewing on the PSP.

    If the price increase of a combo pack wasn't too much of an overhead, I would definitely consider spending a few extra dollars on the UMD movie in the same package for viewing on my boring bus rides.
    • Same here, and I don't even have bus or train rides. So not only do I have a 40-60-minute commute, I have to be paying attention to the stop-and-go traffic to make sure I don't die. I guess the benefit is that if I ever feel like going somewhere other than straight home, I can.

      But yeah, I'd probably pay an extra $5 or so to get a DVD with the UMD version included. $15-$20 is more than I'll pay for movies with no features and that will only play on the PSP.

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