I was expecting this news, say, ten months ago. But most signs pointed to surprising number of PSP owners actually buying UMD movies, which is why it's rather confusing to hear now that movie studios are scaling back UMD production due to low sales.

The Variety article reports that comedies on UMD do well, but studios are dropping the release of dramatic movies like Goodfellas. This isn't too much of a shock; If you buy a DVD, you may watch it once and then put it on the shelf, to maybe be watched on occassion later. But PSP movies need mileage, as they're bound to be watched over and over as a way to pass time on bus rides or car trips or waiting in line. How many times do most people watch Goodfellas versus the few billion times Napoleon Dynamite fans have rewatched the film (or just quoted it word for word from beginning to end while talking to other people)?

The other plan to combat this problem is to make UMDs playable on regular TVs.

In a bid to boost the format, execs from SPHE and sister unit Sony Computer Electronics America, which sells the PSP, are touting a new adapter that would allow a user to watch a PSP pic on a TV. If it's successful, that could overcome widespread criticism that consumers have to buy two separate copies of a movie to watch on PSP and TV.

Nice plan, with one catch: The PSP displays at a resolution of 480x272. Regular TVs display at 640x480, with HDTVs reaching up to resolutions of 1920x1080. UMD films are saved at the PSPs resolution both because there's no reason for them to be bigger, and because they need to be smaller to fit on the 1.8 gigabyte disc. They're going to look, let's say, lower than DVD quality on a regular TV, and look, let's say, like retched ass on an HDTV. But a lot of people still have standard TVs.. Will the buying public notice? Will they care? On that, we'll have to wait and see.

Source: Variety