CES: Download Blu-Ray Movies To PSP

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Future Blu-Ray movie releases will include versions of the films optimized for the portable PSP, Sony announced at CES today.

By inserting the disc into a PlayStation 3 and connecting the PSP, disc owners will be able to copy the special lower-resolution version of the movie onto the Memory Stick in the PSP and watch it on the go.

An interesting feature, although it falls short of simply allowing users to rip movies and copy them to the PSP themselves. And Sony hasn't said which films will include this feature. It'll be interesting to see if Sony restricts this to PlayStation 3 owners, or if they allow the files to be copied from BD-ROM readers on PC. Or, for that matter, if there's any DRM attached to the movie files.

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Bigloww

Ooohhh. A low res (480x270) BD movie on a 4'' screen... Gimme,Gimme,Gimme.. At least it will be 16:9..

BobY

Is the BS marketing from Blu-Ray ever going to stop?

"Optimized"? In other words "Downgraded to less than DVD quality".

Let's see, it's not 1080p/24 so how is it related to Blu-Ray other than SONY trying to scam people with misleading marketing (as usual) to tie the two together?

It would be much more desirable to download DVD, as there are many orders of magnitude more films available on DVD than Blu-Ray and at a resolution less than DVD, who cares what resolution they started at?

edders

could they even call it BluRay?

BobY

I gather it's included on a Blu-Ray movie disc, but based on that logic, you could encode movies at 480p and call them Blu-Ray...

electrictroy

I don't understand the negativity?

It's approximately equivalent to saying, "Insert a DVD into your Macintosh, and you can download the same movie onto an Ipod." Of course it's going to be lower-quality since Ipod only has a small LCD, but still it's a nice feature to have. Well of course there will be DRM. Hollywood doesn't want you hooking-up your PSP to friends' and making 30 copies in the course of a single schoolday, or workday.

They want to discourage thieves.

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BobY

Not quite the same. They are talking about encoding a low-res movie on the BD disc, not simply being able to download the BD disc to a low-res player.

So what does it have to do with Blu-Ray? They could just as easily have offered software that would downscale any DVD and port it to the PSP, which would have been a much more desirable product for PSP owners rather than limiting their selection to the far smaller number of Blu-Ray movies. It won't be Hi-Def anyhow, so, again, what does Blu-Ray have to do with it?

It's just a marketing ploy. Basically the replacement for UMD (another failed SONY format).

electrictroy

And what's wrong with that? There's plenty of room on a Blu-ray disc to hold any data you want. High-Definition. Standard Definition. PSP-definition. A movie soundtrack for your stereo, or your Ipod.

I don't understand why it's wrong to include multiple copies of the same movie on the same BD disc, each copy aimed at a different piece of hardware.

Explain please. Yes and Apple could use a standard USB bus on their Ipods, so I don't have to buy their exotic proprietary cable. Or Nintendo could use standard DVDs instead of smaller non-standard discs for their Cubes/Wiis. ----- But they don't. And Sony doesn't. It's about trying to get people locked-into Nintendo/Apple/Sony products. To make money.

Again, what's wrong that? Is it so wrong for corporations to want to make money?

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BobY

...Sigh...

The point is, this is no big deal. It's just a marketing ploy that plays on people's ignorance.

It's nothing but a sales promotion tool for Blu-Ray and the PS3 and is not likely anything any PSP owner asked for--"OK, all I need to do to watch movies on my PSP (instead of using UMD) is buy a PS3 and Blu-Ray movie discs. But hey, they're Blu-Ray movies, so they must be great even downscaled to sub-DVD resolution!"

electrictroy

Well I gotta disagree it's "no big deal" else so many people would not be calling Sony various unflattering names.

Me:

I think it's a great ideal to include both High-def and PSP-def movies on a single disc. It gives subway or train riders an option to watch while they ride. I don't see the drawback.

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mshulman

I usually agree with most of your posts, but I totally disagree here.

I think your biggest issue is how they are marketing it, but I don't really think it matters. Point is they are allowing you to buy a blu-ray disc and then view that movie on your blu-ray player AND on your PSP. If a consumers is stupid enough to think it will look great simply because its coming from a blu-ray disc, then too bad. I think most realize you won't be viewing it in the same quality.

My only complaint is that they should allow you to view it on any portable, not just their own brand.

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edders

I would suspect Sony's motive in including these low resolution "add ons" is to defend against ripping movies for portable devices. They can now say that if you want to play such a movie on your portable device, you must purchase their BR disk. Sony is one of the companies really feels threatened by any kind of duplication even that which would seemingly be allowed under "fair use doctrine."

BobY

To me this is another example of SONY giving consumers what SONY wants to give them, not what they might actually want.

If a PSP owner wants to watch movies on their PSP, there's no reason they should have to buy a PS3 and Blu-Ray movies, which is probably the most expensive solution to the problem with no benefit whatsoever over simpler, cheaper approaches (like online downloads of low-res movies) and also happens to make SONY the most amount of money.

Basically this is for PS3 owners who want to buy Blu-Ray movies and who also have a PSP.

It's not useless, but it just doesn't deserve much attention--there are already better, cheaper, simpler solutions available. SONY has been playing on the gullibility and ignorance of consumers with Blu-Ray from day one (anyone remember "Only 1080p is True HD").

electrictroy

(1) I think it's a good idea. Legally copying a movie from a Disc to my PSP is a *lot* easier than trying to rip it, compress it, and then move it. Every disc should include two versions: One for the full-screen; one for the portable.

(2) Not just sony; RIAA also feels threatened.

The latest news is that RIAA (recording industry association) is going after people who copy their legally-purchased CDs onto their c: drive. Let me repeat that: RIAA is suing people who copy legal CDs onto their c: drive.

Ouch.

What they're basically saying is, "You don't own the music even though you paid for it, therefore you can not copy it. Ever. Not to your PC. Not to a cassette. Not even a backup CD. If you make copies, RIAA will come after you."

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edders

Let us know how that one turns out. Guess everyone will have to trash their mp3's on their computer to stay out of the slammer.

Ed